It is very important to have a good education behind you if you want opportunities in adult life.
Children only get one chance at school, and your child’s chances of a successful future may be affected by not attending school regularly.
If children do not attend school regularly they may:
Struggle to keep up with school work.
Miss out on the social side of school life – especially at primary school. Poor attendance can affect children’s ability to make and keep friendships; a vital part of growing up.
Setting good attendance patterns from an early age, from nursery classes through primary school, will also help your child later on when they enter employment.
You may find the following links helpful:
East Riding School Attendance
I thought it was important to let you know about national changes to school attendance which the Government have introuduced from this term.
Fines for non-attendance.
Absence fines for leave of absence in term time issued to parents/ carers who are responsible will rise from £60 to £80 or £160 if not paid within 21 days. These will be issued per parent per child. It is East Riding Council's decision whether to issue a fine and to administer them.
From September only two fines can be issued to the same parent for the same child within a three-year rolling period. Any second notice will automatically be charged at £160. Where fines remain unpaid East Riding Council may consider a prosecution.
New ‘notices to improve’ will also be the final opportunity for a parent to engage in support and improve attendance before a penalty notice is issued.
National fine thresholds
From September, schools will have to consider a fine if a pupil misses 10 sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks. They should “not have a blanket position of issuing or not issuing penalty notices." The threshold can be met with “any combination of unauthorised absence." For example, four sessions in term time plus six instances of arriving late.
The period of 10 weeks can also span “different terms or school years." But councils “retain the discretion to issue one before the threshold is met." This could include where parents “are deliberately avoiding the national threshold by taking several term time holidays below threshold, or for repeated absence for birthdays or other family events."
Mandatory daily data sharing
Schools must share daily attendance data with government from September. Sledmere and Wetwang Federation do this by having an "electronic management information system” (Arbor) which DfE can access and allows an automated flow of data. Nearly nine in 10 schools already have this in place. The “View Your Education Data” dashboard will allow schools to monitor attendance and access “near real time data to understand trends in attendance patterns."
Flag long-term sick leave with Local authorities
Schools will have to give councils the name and address of sick pupils who they believe will miss 15 consecutive or cumulative days. Schools will also be “expected to inform a pupil’s social worker and/or youth offending team worker if there are unexplained absences from school."
Be mindful of mental health
Schools should now be “particularly mindful of pupils absent from school due to mental or physical ill health or their special educational needs and/or disabilities, and provide them with additional support." It acknowledges “many children will experience normal but difficult emotions that make them nervous about attending school, such as worries about friendships, schoolwork, examinations or variable moods." But it is “important to note that these pupils are still expected to attend school regularly." Doing so “may serve to help with the underlying issue."
If you have queries on any of the above, please contact me via the office.
Thank you for your support with school attendance.
Mr Richardson
