Attendance and Success

The school staff at Rowley Hall, alongside the Local Authority, firmly believe that all pupils benefit from regular school attendance in order to make good progress and become successful learners. We know that every day lost to education can have a serious impact on pupils’ attainment and overall progress in school.

As a staff we encourage parents and carers to ensure that the pupils in our care achieve maximum possible attendance so each pupil is able to achieve their full potential, and that any problems that prevent full attendance are identified and acted on promptly, offering support to families when needed to improve child’s attendance Attendance and Absence During term times, your child should attend school regularly unless he or she is ill or the school has authorised their absence.

Regular attendance means 100% of the time the school is open unless you have the permission of the Head Teacher to be absent. In these circumstances the minimum target is 96% attendance. To maintain good attendance, a pupil would need to have less than ten days of absence in any school year. This includes days off sick, lateness and medical appointments.

In order to keep your child’s attendance as high as possible, you can: • Ensure they are in school at the registration time of 8.50am, doors open at 8.40 am.

• Where possible avoid making medical / dental appointments during the school day
• Send your child in to school if you are ‘not sure’ if they are ill. Rest assured that we will send them home if they are unwell in school 
• Ensure that you do not take any time off school for holidays or other days unless there are exceptional circumstances, which will be determined by the Head Teacher.

If children arrive to school late, they must be brought to the school office by their parents/carer, who will need to sign them in using the electronic signing in system. Children receive a late mark (L code on school register) if they arrive late, up until 9.10am. Any child arriving after 9.30am will be marked on the register with a U code, this mark is recorded as an unauthorised absence. This will affect your child’s attendance percentage, so it is important that pupils are Here Everyday Ready On time (H.E.R.O)

Reporting Absence

If your child is absent from school for any reason then you must inform the school by 9.15am by either: • Texting the school absence line 07908 672764 stating your child's name, class and reason for absence or • Telephoning the school office on 0121 559 1400 stating your child's name, class and reason for absence, if is before 8.30 please leave a message for the Attendance Officer.

• If you do need to make any medical or dental appointments during school hours, notify the school office and your child’s teacher beforehand so that your child is registered correctly.
• If we do not receive a reason as to why your child is absent, they may receive an unauthorised mark.
• Where possible please provide the school with medical evidence such as a doctor’s appointment card or letter, this is essential where pupils are off for more than a few days.
• For pupils with poor attendance, you may be asked to provide medical evidence for every absence.
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You may find the following NHS guidance helpful when your child is unwell. https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/ Leave of Absence

Parents/carers are expected to book their family holidays during School holidays. Leave of absence requests will not be granted for holidays to be taken in term time. In exceptional circumstances when leave in term time is unavoidable, a leave of absence request form must be completed as soon as possible (at least two weeks prior to absence) or once the dates of the proposed period of absence are known.

The Leave of Absence Request Form can be obtained from the school office. If leave is taken, without prior authorisation, the child’s absence will be recorded as unauthorised in the school register, which will affect your child’s attendance. The Head Teacher will decide whether or not to authorise the absence having decided whether or not the circumstances are exceptional.

Attendance and Incentives Pupils across the whole school are aware of how important attending school regularly is and there are a range of incentives to promote excellent attendance:

• Introduction of our Attendance H.E.R.O (Here Everyday Ready On time) reward scheme
• Trophies, certificates and stickers for the best attending class, in each phase, are presented in weekly assemblies  Termly rewards for the best attending classes
• Termly Gold, Silver and Bronze attendance certificates and stickers
• Termly prize draw in assembly - everyone with attendance over 96% will be entered.
• 100% attenders invited to Afternoon Tea with the Headteacher.
• Improvement in attendance and punctuality are also recognised

Pease help your child support their class attendance by attending everyday and enjoying the new H.E.R.O reward incentives in school Below you can find helpful information, including our updated Attendance Policy.