Attendance
Education is too good to miss!
All pupils are expected to reach attendance levels of 97% and above to be able to access and achieve their full potential at school. At St Marie’s we take a zero tolerance approach to poor attendance and punctuality. We expect children to be in school everyday, unless they are too ill to come in (or have an authorised reason to be off school)
- Our school does not authorise holidays during term time.
- Pupils only attend school for 190 days per academic year (this means that the other 175 days they are at home with you!)
- Persistent absence from school will be investigated by Education Welfare Service and fines could be implemented for each child to each parent.
- Mr Watson is our Attendance Lead
The percentages below will help you understand our expected attendance levels:
- 97% and above: Excellent Attendance
- 95% - 97%: Good Attendance
- 90% - 95%: Be Aware - Your child's attendance is being closely monitored.
- 80% - 90%: Worrying - less chance of success. Your child's attendance is being closely monitored daily.
Less than 80%: Serious Concerns - Referred to the Education Welfare Service in Knowsley
Why do I go to School?
Here's what Pupils at St Marie’s say
To learn more about everything
To find out about the world
To have fun making and doing things
To be happy with friends
To share what we can do
To work together with everyone
To get a good job
Parents and carers have to make sure those children aged 5 to 16 years receive full-time education and that these children attend school regularly. It's the law!
What about absence?
It is important to get the message to school. If your child is Absent from school and we have not received a phone call explaining the reason , then we will make a phone call to you asking for the reason of the absence by 09:30
Parents/ carers must contact the school on the first day of the absence to explain why their child is not in school.
An absence for an unacceptable or unexplained reason will not be authorised and will appear on your child's attendance record as an un-authorised absence.
What about punctuality?
'Every Minute Counts'
The school day starts at 08:55 but we open our doors to the children at 8.40am so the children can be ready and settled for the register. Each class then goes straight into the teaching and learning. If you bring your child in at 9.30am they will have missed the start to the lesson, or extra time being given by the teacher to help progress your child. If you bring your child in at 10am, they have already missed 1 hour of teaching and learning - this could accumulate to 5 hours of education missed every week! If your child is more than 30 minutes late at the start of the school day, they will automatically get an absence for their morning session.
Punctuality as well as attendance will be closely monitored and we will ask for a reason for the late attendance.
Why does coming into school every day matter?
If children don’t come into school regularly
- They might feel a bit left out
- They may not know how to do the work
- They may get left behind
- They may have to make friends again
Coming into school every day is important because it helps:
- To get the best out of education offered in our school
- To make and keep good friendships
- If they miss school, they miss lessons which may not be repeated. Being absent from school makes it hard to catch up with missed work and effects how well children do.
- Our EWO Joanne Lowry supports the school when parents don’t engage with school systems. If a child is absent for more than 10 sessions (5 days) and no medical evidence is provided a 20 day fixed penalty warning letter may be issued. If attendance does not improve a 20 day fixed penalty notice is served, this states that a child must attend school from 20 days for a fixed period of time. If a child is absent during this 20 day period court procedures may follow.
Holidays taken during term time will not be authorised and fines will be issued, £60 per child per parent.
Information from the Department for Education
Please see policy section for Attendance policy.