Attendance
At St Vincent’s we expect high levels of attendance. Absences must be reported to school by 9am. A member of staff from the school office will contact parents if a child’s absence has not been reported.
Attendance is monitored regularly, and if your child’s attendance starts to cause concern, action may be taken.
100% |
OUTSTANDING! |
97% + |
Excellent! Less than 6 days absent in a year. |
95% |
10 days (2 weeks) absent in a year. Attendance level will be monitored. |
90%
|
19 days absent over a year (almost a month). This is classed as persistent absence and is unacceptable. Attendance must improve and action could now be taken. |
85% or below
|
29 days absent over a year (almost a half term). Attendance at this level most certainly will result in the involvement of the Attendance Officer. |
School term dates are published a year in advance so that family holidays can be planned. It is therefore not necessary to take children out of school for holidays and any holidays during term time will be unauthorised.
Punctuality
Lateness is seen as a parental problem rather than an issue under the child’s control. School begins at 8.45am and it is the parents’ responsibility to ensure that the children are on the school premises before this time. Once the gates have been locked parents must bring children to the main Office so that they can sign in. If your child arrives after the close of the register they will be marked as late, unless they arrive after 9.15am when an unauthorised absence will be recorded for the morning session.
Teaching punctuality is an important skill and shows respect for other people. Lateness sets the day off to a poor start for children and staff, prevents learning beginning efficiently for those who did arrive on time, creates extra administration for the office staff and above all is embarrassing for the child. Lateness also impacts significantly on learning – 5 minutes late every day adds up to 3 whole days of lost learning time.
Medical appointments
Any medical appointments should, where possible, be made for out of school hours. If an appointment is within school time we should be notified prior to this appointment and children should be collected / dropped off from the school office.