School Attendance Procedures

Arrivals

The school gates open at 8:30 am. Staff are on duty from 8:30am.  The playground gates are closed and locked at 8:50 am.

Any child arriving after 8:50am will have to be brought in, by an adult, to the school office. The adult will then have to sign the child in.  No children are to come in through the office unaccompanied.

The school will monitor late arrivals. Continually arriving late means the child is missing key parts of their learning.

Collection

The school day ends at 3:30pm.

If a child is going to be collected by a different person, parents must let the school know in advance. If school is not informed, then the child will not be allowed to leave with that person until their parent has given confirmation.

If parents are going to be late in collecting their child, they should call the school office and inform them of their arrival time. Children who are not collected on time will wait in the school office.

Any children who are frequently collected late may be referred to the Stronger Families Team as this may become a social care issue.

Absences

If a child is ill parents should contact the school office by phone or email, as soon as possible, informing the school of the reason for their child’s absence.  If your child has had sickness or diarrhea then they must remain off school for 48 hours from the last bout of illness.

Is my child too ill for school?

Please see the following link for NHS advice on various illnesses and if your child should remain off school –  https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

If the school is not informed as to the reason for a child being absent, parents will be called during the morning.

If we are unable to get hold of parents, and the child is known to Social Care, then they will be made aware of the absence.

We need to have contact details for two people and if we cannot reach the first person we will call the second. This is due to recommendations for Safeguarding Procedures.

If the school believes that a child may have been taken abroad for reasons such as FGM or under circumstances related to Prevent, the police will be called.

Attendance Levels

Primary aged pupils are expected to have at least 96% attendance for an academic year.

The school will review the children’s attendance each half term and if it falls below 90% parents will be informed.

If there is no improvement, the school will contact the Attendance Support Team for advice, and as a result, Parenting Contracts and an Attendance Panel may be arranged. A Parenting Contract is an agreement with the school that sets out steps to improve a child’s attendance.  A meeting is held, reasons for poor attendance are discussed, and the Contract sets out who is responsible for making changes so the situation improves.  A timeframe of normally a month is set, and if things improve and all involved feel that the problems have been resolved then the Contract ends.  If there has been little, or no improvement that case may become a matter for Social Care.

If there is no improvement, a referral to the Attendance Support Team can also result in a Fixed Penalty Notice being issued. The Attendance Team issue the fine and further details about this can be found on the Hillingdon Council website.

Requested Holidays and Absences

In line with the Department for Education and London Borough of Hillingdon guidelines, Whiteheath Junior School is keen to optimise the learning opportunities for all children.  There are 175 days per year allocated for school holiday & family activities. The only acceptable reason for absence is when a child is ill, absence due to religious observance (as per government guidelines) or in exceptional circumstances authorised by the head teacher. Failure to do so may result in a penalty notice of £60 per parent with parental responsibility.    As a result it is highly unlikely that family holidays will be authorised. If  parents feel they have an exceptional circumstance they should apply for the leave via the exceptional leave form.

The school monitors and records all holiday applications. The school may refer a holiday request to the Attendance Support Team if we notice that holidays are being taken each year during term time or if a holiday request is for a child whose previous attendance is low.  The Attendance Support Team will then decide if a Fixed Penalty Notice will be issued.

Overall responsibility for Attendance lies with the Headteacher, supported by the Pastoral Lead and Welfare and Attendance Officer.