Attendance
As a parent/carer you want the best for your children. Having a good education is an important factor in opening up more opportunities in adult life.
Did you know that:
- A child who is absent a day of school per week misses an equivalent of two years of their school life.
- 90% of young people with absence rates below 85% fail to achieve five or more good grades of GCSE and around one third achieve no GCSEs at all.
- At least 1 million children take at least one half day off a year without permission.
- 7.5 million school days are missed each year through unauthorised absence.
Absence from school
Children are required by law to attend school 190 days a year. The government states that every pupil’s attendance should be at least 96%.
| Attendance during 1 school year | Equals-days absence | Equals number of weeks of absence |
| 95% | 9 days | 2 weeks |
| 90% | 19 days | 4 weeks |
| 85% | 29 days | 6 weeks |
| 80% | 38 days | 8 weeks |
| 75% | 48 days | 10 weeks |
Good school attendance is very important for your child's academic performance and social interaction with their peers. Ensure your child is in school everyday on time.
When your child is ill, and we are aware that this does happen, you must report it to the school immediately. Please call the school office: 01480 890371 or e-mail office@sps.acesmat.uk. Please do not email teachers or the school office to inform us of absences.
Holidays
We want all of our pupils in school for as much time as possible in order to maximise their learning time and opportunities. We strongly discourage term time breaks and holidays and ask that parents consider very carefully when requesting them.
The Governors would like to draw to parents' attention the following:
The Government has made it clear that parents do not have the automatic right to withdraw their child from school during term time and that Headteachers no longer have the discretion to authorise term time absence, unless it is due to exceptional circumstances. Taking a pupil out of school disrupts their learning and may cause them to fall behind their peers. Absence can also affect a child’s relationship with others.
Term time breaks, when added to unpredictable absences, such as medical appointments and illness, all add up.
If the absence is not authorised and still taken, the case can be referred to the Educational Welfare Service if there are concerns about overall level of attendance. The school’s attendance levels are closely monitored by the School Governors, the Local Authority and nationally, in relation to pupils’ attainment and engagement in their learning. This close monitoring could result in penalty notices being issued to parents by the Local Authority.