ATTENDANCE:
updated September 2022 in line with the Dfee Working Together Attendance document that all school adhere to. Please read Attendance Policy for further details and for links to named documents.
An Every Day Approach
At Berry Hill Primary School, we recognise that every lesson counts, every school day in a child's education: punctual and regular school attendance is essential to support each child to progress and have the best education in preparation for life ahead.
Setting good attendance patterns from an early age, from Pre-School all through primary school, will help your child as employers want to recruit people who are committed and reliable. Children who have a poor school attendance record, may have less chance of getting a good job.
Being on time is important because learning starts immediately and Morning Tasks are short repetitive tasks that help commit facts in Maths and spelling to long-term memory. So being late or absent, hinders their learning opportunities. Plus late arrival is disruptive to staff and other pupils as well as being hard to walk into a purposefully learning room of peers.
Education is much more than academic learning.
Being in school helps each child develop a sense of community, social integration and the important sense of belonging and commitment. Through being in school every day, we commit to enabling Berry Hill children to become Successful Learners, Confident Individuals and Responsible Citizens' and will pro-actively support those families who find this a challenge.
All parents and carers of children of school age have a legal responsibility to ensure their children attend school every day.
Attendance Lead: Rachael Boiling
Attendance Governor: Mrs Sue Burrows
Family Support Worker: Mrs Jacqui Reddan
If your is ill/absent:
ring Admin Office and speak to Mrs H Elsmore or Mrs H Porter. (01594 832262) no later than 9.30am . Give the reason for the absence so the appropriate code can be entered in our register.
If we have not heard from you by 9.30am, the Admin staff will contact you.
We need to know that your child is safe, and contact may be made with the the police if we have no response and are concerned.
Children remain the responsibility of their parents until the start of the school day and in the Juniors should arrive no earlier than 08:30 unless they are booked into the Buddies Breakfast Club, running from 07:30am until the start of the school day, where they will be accompanied by their adult to sign them in.
Juniors (Year 3 – 6)
Doors open from 08:40am to reduce 'rush-hour' in the cloakrooms and a Morning Task is provided.
Registration opens at 08:50am
Lesson starts at 09:00am
Registration closes 30 minutes after it opens at 09:20.
Codes:
L - late will be registered for arrivals between 09:00 - 09:20.
U - unauthorised will be registered after 09:20 when Junior Registration closes.
Infants (R – Y2)
Doors open at 08.45am
Registration opens at 08:55am
Lesson starts 09:05am
Registration closes 30 minutes after it opens at 09:25am
Codes:
L - late will be registered for arrivals between 09:05 - 09:25.
U - unauthorised will be registered after 09:25 when Junior Registration closes.
Children arriving through the Front Office/Reception door must inform the Admin staff if they are vegetarian, main meals or packed lunch to ensure enough food is prepared as we are cooking to numbers as a waste reduction Eco-School initiative.
Morning break 10.30 – 10.50am
Infant lunch time 12.00 noon to 12.45pm (afternoon registration closes 1:15pm)
Junior lunch time 12.30pm to 1.15pm (afternoon registration closes 1:45pm)
School ends 3.15pm Infants; 3:20pm Juniors
At Berry Hill, the school week for the infants is 31 hours 40 minutes (6 hours 20 minutes per day) and for the juniors 32 hours 30 minutes (6 hours 30 minutes per day).
Good Attendance is recognised and rewarded:
Pupils and parents are informed of attendance through:
- Assemblies Celebrating whole school attendance termly (terms 2, 4, 6)
- School celebration of Improved Attendance termly
- Termly class attendance
- Sharing of class attendance in assemblies
- Annual certificates are awarded for 100% attendance
- Shared information in the Bulletin
We are here to support you:
There may be a number of reasons for late/ absence - please communicate with us if you find you are in need of support or guidance.
We continually review the attendance of all our children to ensure that they are in school as often as possible, and are therefore getting the best learning and development experience from their time in school.
- 96 – 100% is GOOD attendance
- 90 - 96% ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
- Below 90% attendance is of CONCERN
- Below 85% attendance raises serious concerns: in line with Gloucestershire County Council and Department for Education guidance, an Attendance Improvement Meeting will be held and a plan produced with agreed targets for improvements.
If there is regular late arrival at school, we will make contact with parents/carers to discuss how this can be improved and how we can support if it is required. Where there are SEND, or specific medical circumstances, these will have been arranged in communication with the Interim Head Teacher, FSW and SENDco.
Request for Absence:
Holiday requests:
The DfE advice states that parents should not remove children from a school for a holiday. The school emphasises that parents do not have a right to take children out of school for a holiday during term time and as a rule will not be allowed such holidays. If a parent wishes to request permission for a holiday they must fill in a holiday request form at least 7 days prior to start date, which can be obtained from the Administration Office, or the school website. Any such requests received will be considered on an individual basis following guidelines issued by the DfE and Local Authority and only considered in exceptional circumstances. The school reserves the right to refuse to authorise holiday absences:
. If they are not considered to meet exceptional circumstances
. If they interfere with assessment tests
. If the pupil’s attendance is poor (see below for percentges)
If in term time, leave is not granted, taking pupil out will be recorded as an unauthorised absence and may result in a Penalty Notice being issued. A fixed penalty notice is when 10 sessions (5 days) of Unauthorised absence / late after the register has closed in a 10 week period for EACH adult with parental responsibility including step-parents would receive a Penalty Notice of £60. Each adult would be required to pay, per child. The school cannot give a leave of absence retrospectively (after the event); those requested afterwards will not be authorised.
Absence request form link below:
Please see the updated Attendance Policy for more information in the Policies section of the website