Why is Regular School Attendance so Important?

Cherbourg Primary School works closely with children and parents in connection with attendance so that each child can achieve their full potential. By law, all children of compulsory school age must receive a suitable full-time education.

Once your child is registered at school, you are legally responsible for making sure that they attend regularly. If your child fails to do so, you risk getting a penalty notice or being prosecuted.   It is our duty to strive for 100% attendance for all children.

Cherbourg Primary School monitors the attendance of every child in the school and in partnership with the Locality Team, we will work and support those children and their families who are not attending school without sufficient reason.  The routines that children develop around attendance and punctuality at school are the same as the expectation of any future employer in the world of work. 

Good attendance is important because:

• Regular attenders make better progress, both socially and academically
• Regular attenders find friendships, school routines and school work easier to cope with
• Regular attenders are more successful in transferring between primary school, secondary school and higher education, employment or training

Medical

To encourage regular attendance, we recommend that non emergency dental, doctors and optician appointments are taken outside of the school day.

Reporting your child as absent

A child not attending school is considered a safeguarding matter.  This is why information about the cause of any absence is always required.

If your child is absent you must:

• Contact us by telephone as soon as possible in the morning and on the first and subsequence days of absence, stating your name, your child's full name, their class and a reason for their absence - please do not just say they are unwell, we need a reason, e.g. a high temperature.
• Alternatively, you can call into school in person and report the absence with the reception team.

Absences without a reason provided will be classes as unauthorised and may be subject to legal action.

Lateness/Punctuality

It is important that your child arrives at school on time at the start of the day and for all sessions.  

The school day begins at 8.50 a.m. and gates are open from 8.35 a.m. allowing sufficient time to arrive at school promptly.  Children arriving after this time will be recorded as late and will need to be signed in at the main office.

Children who are consistently late are disrupting not only their own education but also that of the other children.  On going and repeated lateness is considered as unauthorised and will be subject to legal action.

Lateness = Lost Learning *(Figures below are calculated over a school year)

5 mins late each day 3 days lost!

10 mins late each day 6.5 days lost!

15 mins late each day 10 days lost!

20 mins late each day 13 days lost!

30 mins late each day 19 days lost!