Attendance at Lightmoor Village Primary School
Lightmoor Village Primary School is dedicated to working in partnership with parents and the Local Authority to improve school attendance.
Regular school attendance brings enormous benefits to individual pupils, their families, schools and the community as a whole. Without regular attendance, levels of attainment suffer and opportunities are missed to obtain maximum benefit from education.
Persistent absence and lateness will affect a child’s achievement and progress in school. Comprehensive research shows that there is a direct link between a child’s level of school attendance and their level of school attainment.
As a parent, it is your legal responsibility to ensure your child receives a suitable full-time education. It is your responsibility that your child attends school each day and is on time.
A child is classed as persistently absent if their attendance is 90% and below. If your child(ren) are at risk of becoming persistently absent, our Attendance Team will liaise with our Education Welfare Officer to ensure we are offering support and advice to ensure attendance improves.
Don’t underestimate the importance of 100% attendance, even one day missed can have a negative effect on learning.
Punctuality
Pupils must arrive in school by 8:40am on each school day. The register for the first session will be taken at 8:50am. The register for the second session will be taken at 12:50pm for Key Stage 1 and 1:00pm for Key Stage 2.
The importance of being in school on time each day.
Poor punctuality can lead to your child to:
- Feel embarrassed in front of their friends
- Miss the beginning of vital lessons
- Miss important instructions for the rest of the school day
- Learning habits which could affect their employability in the future.
Policies and Procedures
Leave in Term Time Guidance Note and Form for Parents
Working together to improve school attendance
Reporting Pupil Absence
It is the Parents/Carers responsibility to inform the school of their child’s unexpected absence as soon as possible.
Please telephone the school office on 01952 387620 with any absence details on the first day of absence by 9.00am.
Attendance Team
How can I get help with my child’s attendance?
If you are worried about your child/children’s attendance the first port of call is to discuss your concerns with a member of our Attendance Team who may be able to offer support, help and advice.
Please see members of our Attendance Team below:
Mrs Lucy Cowan - Headteacher
Attendance Role -
- Leading attendance across the school.
- Offering a clear vision for attendance improvement.
- Evaluating and monitoring expectations and processes.
- Having an oversight of data analysis.
Mrs Claire Ballisch - School Business Manager
Attendance Role –
- Oversee Administrator attendance role/generating attendance reports for school, governors, Local Authority and other government agencies/policy updates.
- Attend EWO attendance meeting to monitor children punctuality and children with attendance of 90% and below.
- Devising specific strategies to address areas of poor attendance identified through data.
- Arranging calls and meetings with parents to discuss attendance issues.
- Offer and advise targeted intervention and support to pupils and families.
Miss Sarah Goring - Administrator
Attendance Role -
- Check the registers and make first day contact calls.
- Enter ‘U’ code into register for children who arrive after 9:30 and ‘L’ code for children who arrive between 9 – 9:30.
- Enter reason for lates onto our MIS system.
- Updates MIS system on first day of attendance for new arrivals.
- Attend EWO attendance meeting to monitor children punctuality and children with attendance of 90% and below.
- Produce weekly attendance data and alert the attendance team/SLT to any absences.
Some key messages about coming to school on time:
School starts at 8.50am but we have found that opening the gates and classroom doors at 8:40am has made it easier for parents to get their children here on time. The teachers take the children into class at this time so they are ready to start learning.
Please make sure you give yourselves plenty of time to travel and particularly to park your car safely if you come by car.
Children don’t like being late as they miss the start of a lesson, sometimes feel embarrassed, miss out on you being able to talk to their teacher in the morning or they miss out on finding out about what they are learning.
If your child is going to be late due to an urgent medical appointment, please ensure that the office is informed and have seen proof of the medical appointment either before or after they have attended.
Every school day counts but every minute is equally important!
We understand that school mornings can be hectic, but...
Did you know?
Being 15 minutes late each day is the same as missing two weeks of school!
See our minutes lost calculator below to find out how much school you miss each year if you are late:
From August 19th 2024, the Government have introduced a new ‘national framework for Penalty Notices’. (in Telford & Wrekin, the changes apply from 1st September 2024).
There are significant changes that parents/carers need to be aware of:
- If your child has 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a 10 school week rolling period, you may be issued with a Penalty Notice. These 10 sessions may include any unauthorised absence, including leave in term time and do not have to be consecutive.
- Penalty Notices are increasing to £160 from September 2024. This can be reduced to £80 but only for the first Penalty Notice issued, if paid within 21 days – this reduction does not apply to any subsequent Penalty Notice.
- Any 2nd Penalty Notice, to the same parent for the same child, issued within three years of the date of the first Penalty Notice will be charged at a flat rate of £160
- A third Penalty Notice will not be issued within a three year rolling period, to the same parent for the unauthorised absence of the same child - alternative action or legal measures will be utilised for subsequent offences.
- In some circumstances, a ‘Notice to Improve’ may be issued – However, a Notice to Improve will only be used in cases where support is appropriate. They will not be issued in cases of unauthorised leave in term time for holidays, where information for parents/carers is included on schools website or a simple warning by the school that a Penalty Notice could be issued if unauthorised leave in term time is taken will suffice.
‘Parents/carers should always apply to the Headteacher for any request for leave in term time by completing a request form available from school. (DfE guidance states schools should not authorise leave retrospectively so any leave in term time taken without a request being submitted will be unauthorised absence)’.
In developing and publishing the new national framework, the Government has renewed appeals to parents/carers not to take their children out of school during term time. The Governors and Headteacher of this school support this and students will only be given permission to take leave in term time if there are exceptional circumstances. The DfE Guidance Working Together to Improve School Attendance (Feb 2024) states that: Generally, the DfE does not consider the need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance. (Paragraph 38.)
Each application for leave in term time will be considered and if it is agreed and authorised, the Headteacher will determine the duration of any leave. However, if the application is not agreed and the absence occurs, the dates will be unauthorised. Parents/carers will be notified of any decision in writing. This notification may be hand delivered directly to the parent/carer or posted to their home address.
As a school, we are asked to inform you that in line with Telford and Wrekin Council Policy, if your child is absent for 10 school sessions within a 10 week rolling period and that absence is unauthorised, you may be subject to a Penalty Notice fine, criteria is as detailed above.