Absence and Attendance
Our school day begins at 8.45am and finishes at 3.15pm.
Good attendance is vital if your child is to achieve and make good progress. Poor attendance can result in slow rates of progress and lower attainment, as well as missing out on learning experiences and the possibility of problems socialising with other pupils. We monitor attendance daily. Term time holidays are not authorised and could result in fines being issued.
Please find procedures in place for dealing with attendance at Foxhill. Schools in England open for 190 days per year and this means that parents have 13 weeks each year when they can arrange family holidays. Head teachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. Every request for leave of absence will be considered on a case by case basis. However, holidays in term time and extended leave are not classified as exceptional circumstances and will not be authorised. Where children have unauthorised absence, school may request that a fixed penalty notice be issued by the Local Authority. If your child is absent for more than twenty days, there is also the strong possibility that your child will be removed from roll and they may lose their school place. Please see our Attendance Policy 2023 below for more information. Thank you for your support in making sure that your child has excellent attendance and punctuality. We want them to do their very best and develop good habits by attending regularly and on time.
Our expectations
Attendance is very important because:
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A child who is absent just 1 day per week will miss the equivalent of two years of their education.
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90% children with attendance levels below 85% will not get 5 or more good grades at GCSE, and 33% of those children will get no GCSEs at all.
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Poor results will limit young people’s life options and suggests to colleges and employers that these students are unreliable.
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Poor school attendance is also closely linked to crime. 25% of school age offenders have truanted repeatedly.
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Children have difficulty maintaining friendship groups.. They miss out on the social life of school and extra curricular opportunities and experiences
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Absence can also affect their enjoyment of learning, confidence and motivation.
Please be aware that term-time holidays cannot be authorised without exceptional circumstances.
Attendance and Local Authority Fines letter
Sickness
Please do not send your child to school if they have a temperature. If they have sickness or diarrhoea please leave 48 hours from the last time your child was ill before they return to school. If your child is ill, please telephone the school office by 9.00am to notify us of the reason why your child is absent. In order to ensure the safety and well-being of your child, we will contact you if we have not received notification from you. We will always contact you if your child is unwell at school and needs to go home so please let the office know if you change your mobile/home phone numbers.
Absence
We monitor attendance daily and send an attendance report home with each child’s end of term report to parents. If we have concerns about a child’s attendance or punctuality, we will contact you to discuss how this might be improved. We are are keen to work with parents/carers to maintain good attendance at school.
Good attendance is encouraged and a reward is awarded to the classes with the highest attendance in Key Stages 1 and 2 each week.
Any requests for leave of absence in term time must be made at least two weeks before the date of the intended departure. Any unauthorised absence may result in a penalty notice being issued by Bradford Council. Leave of absence forms can be picked up from the school office or downloaded below.
Returning after an absence
If your child is returning to school part-way through the day, please take them to the main office to sign them in. If they are returning on a morning following an absence, please ensure that written confirmation of the reason for absence is provided (by letter or email) if this has not already been done.
Persistent Absence - attendance below 90%
The threshold for persistent absence is below 90%. A letter alerting concern will be sent to the parent of any child whose attendance is in danger of falling to 90%. Any child whose attendance falls below 90% will be monitored closely and further action taken.
Punctuality
Being late for school makes it hard for your child to learn. If they are 30 minutes late each day it means they are missing half day of school every week. If your child is late by 10 minutes a day he or she will miss the equivalent of one week’s learning in a year. If your child is late arriving at school, please take them to the main office to be signed in. If they are a few minutes late, they will receive a late mark. If they are very late, this will be classed as an absence for the session.
Punctuality is a good thing because:
•it gets the day off to a good start
•it establishes positive patterns for the future
•it helps your child develop
•it helps your child make and keep friends
•it leads to self confidence and success
•it is good training for adult life and work
This week's attendance (w/c 20.11.23)
Nursery
98%
Reception
93%
Year 1
93%
Year 2
96%
Year 3
99%
Year 4
98%
Year 5
96%
Year 6
95%
Attendance statistics
