Attendance
Swinton Fitzwilliam Primary School is committed to promoting a culture of high expectation, achievement and excellence.
Good attendance is crucial if children are to take advantage of the opportunities available to them and complete a successful journey through their time at our schools and as they move on into higher education or the world of work.
For our children to gain the greatest benefit from their education it is vital that they attend regularly and arrive, on time, every day that the School is open unless the reason for absence is unavoidable.
Children and young people who attend regularly:
- Achieve more
- Make better progress, socially and academically
- Find school routines and expectations easier to cope with
- Enjoy learning
- Find transitions easier
- The school day is broken down into 2 sessions – Morning and Afternoon.
- School gates and registers open at 8:45am. Please make sure you child arrives at school promptly.
- Children who arrive after registration has closed at 8:55am are classed as late. Children arriving after 8:55am will be allocated a late mark. An unauthorised absence will be allocated for the morning session if a child arrives after 9:25am. We may contact you if we are concerned about your child’s lateness.
- If your child is ill or unable to come to school, please contact the school office before 9:15am. If a message has not been received by the school by 9:15am, we will endeavour to contact parents/carers. If we do not receive notification of your child’s absence, this will be marked as unauthorised.
- Afternoon registration is at 1:00pm. The school day ends at 3:20pm.
- If a child or young person is not collected within 30 minutes of the end of the school day or after school activity and school cannot contact a parent/carer or other named contact person, school has a duty to contact the Local Authority call centre or Social Care duty officer to refer the child to a place of safety.
Please contact Mr Cotton or Miss Justice on 01709 874418 for any queries regarding your child’s attendance.
Mr Cotton is Head Teacher and has responsibility for monitoring attendance in school. If Mr Cotton is unavailable, Miss Justice will be able to help.
Please ring the school number 01709 874418 before 9:30am and let the office know the reason for your child’s absence. If the line is busy you can leave a message on the answer machine, please state the nature of the illness in the message. For persistent illness, you may be asked for a doctor’s note or medical appointment card. Please be aware that you must contact the school every day to report the absence, not just on the first day.
Please try to make appointments out of school hours. If this is not possible you will need to inform the school office. Children must attend school until the appointment time and be returned afterwards if possible. You will need to bring the appointment card/letter when you collect him/her from school.
Please contact school for further information.
Swinton Fitzwilliam Primary School’s policy regarding holidays is in line with the Department of Education’s guidelines and White Woods Primary Academy Trust guidelines.
Parents/Carers do not have the right to remove their children from school for a holiday. The Head Teacher can only authorise leave in EXCEPTIONAL circumstances for a limited number of days.
If parents or carers take their child out of school without permission, their child’s absence will be recorded as unauthorised in the class register. Unauthorised leave may result in the issue of a Penalty Notice under the provisions of the Education Act 1996 (as amended).
Please note: Children whose attendance falls below 90% including 10 sessions of unauthorised absence may be referred to our attendance team. This will happen when communications and discussions with parents/carers have made no improvement to a child’s attendance. If no improvement is seen after intervention from the attendance team, parents/carers could face prosecution through a court of law. It is a legal requirement to ensure that your child/children attend school.
Children’s attendance is monitored closely in school and we will contact you if we have any concerns.
Did You Know?
The more time your child misses from school, the more learning time is lost and the more difficult it is for them to catch up.
- A child who arrives 10 minutes late each day loses 32.5 hours of learning time over a school year. Lessons begin as soon as the doors open therefore a child who arrives 10 minutes late may have missed the first lesson of the day.
- One day’s absence per week is equal to almost 8 weeks of missed lessons during the school year. Over 5 years this is 1 year of missed lessons!
- Staying away from school can lead some children into truancy.
Further information can be found in our Trust Attendance Policy on our Policies page here.
