Late/Absence Procedures
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ASPIRE - LEARN - FLOURISH
The Aspire Learning Federation is made up of two schools - Elm Park Primary School and R J Mitchell Primary School in the London Borough of Havering.
Registration and punctuality procedures
Registers are taken twice a day, once at the start of the school day and once during the afternoon session. Pupils arriving late but before the end of the Registration period will be coded L (Late before registers close) which is a present mark. The number of minutes late will be recorded in the register. Pupils arriving after the registers have closed will be coded U (Late after registers close) which counts as an unauthorised absence.
The school expects pupils in whole school (excluding Orchard) to be in class by 8:30 am and pupils in Orchard to be in class by 9.00am
Gates open at 8:25 am to give parents and carers a suitable period of time to drop their children off at school.
Only the Head of School or designated member(s) of staff acting on their behalf can authorise absence. If there is no known reason for the absence at registration, then the absence will be recorded as unauthorised, until a satisfactory reason is provided. If the reason given is not satisfactory in the school’s view, and/or evidence of the reason cannot be provided, the absence will be coded as O (Unauthorised absence).
Absence notes received from parents/carers will be kept for the remainder of the academic year; or longer if there are concerns that require further investigation or legal action. If a pupil is persistently late, the Attendance Officer will arrange to meet with the family as soon as the pattern is identified.
First Day Absence Contact
Parents are expected to notify the school each day if their child is unable to attend for an unavoidable reason, such as illness. If the school does not receive notification, we will text/telephone on the first day of absence, to try to ascertain the reason. First day contact will be carried out as early as possible in the school day, in order to notify parents whose children may have set off for school, but not arrived, as quickly as possible.
Please telephone or e-mail the school absence email address on the first day of your child's absence. In the subject heading of your email please put your child's name and class. Please contact the school on day 3 and regularly after this if your child is still absent. When your child returns to school if you have not sent an email, a letter should be sent to school to confirm the reason for their absence.
office.epps@theaspirelearningfederation.co.uk
In line with guidance from the Department of Health to schools, please ensure that if your child has vomited or had an episode of diarrhoea, you must allow 48 hours before they return to school.
Continuing Absence Procedures
In the event of an absence of three or more days without contact from the family, a home visit may be made. Any child who is absent without explanation for eight consecutive school days (85%), who has a pattern of erratic attendance (85%), or persistent lateness after the registers close will be referred to the Havering Attendance Officer so that further investigations can be made. Such cases will be allocated to a Havering Attendance Officer who will visit the home, set targets for improvement, signpost sources of support if needed, and ultimately recommend court action or a Penalty Notice if there is no improvement.
Frequent/Persistent Absence Procedures (absence of 15% or more)
The Attendance Officer will be responsible for putting in place actions for each pupil of concern. Initially the school will try to resolve the problem with parents/carers, but if the pattern continues the school will refer to a Havering Attendance Officer if the problem appears to be a medical one. In cases where there appear to be issues requiring outside intervention to support the family and the child, referral may be made through the Triage system for external agency support. All PA pupils and their parents will be subject to an Action Plan or Parenting Contract. Such a plan or contract may include allocation of additional in-school or external support.
Consequences of Poor Attendance /Punctuality
For pupils whose attendance and/or punctuality fails to improve, after a range of interventions and support measures have been tried by the school, the ultimate consequences may be one of the following:
The school may ask the Council to issue a Penalty Notice on its behalf. A Penalty Notice carries a fine of £60, per parent, per child. If the fine is not paid within 20 days it rises to £120 per parent, per child. If not paid at all, court action will be initiated. Penalty Notices can now be issued for a range of attendance-related offences, including unauthorised term-time holidays, poor attendance and poor punctuality, a child coming to the attention of the police in school time, or located twice or more in truancy sweeps in six months.
DfE regulations (Sept 2013) state that we are no longer able to grant leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. Holidays are not classed as exceptional circumstances.
Any request of absence should be sent into school via a letter addressed to the Head of School giving full details. This should be sent into school at least 14 days before the period of absence.
