“When a child attends school on a regular basis, they take an important step towards reaching their full potential, and are given the greatest opportunity to learn new things and develop their skills.”
Good attendance and punctuality play a vital role in the education of our children at Sandfields Primary School. The school attendance target is currently 95%.
Regular, unbroken attendance is vitally important in order for your child to reach their full potential.
To help us improve attendance please could you:
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inform us as soon as possible on the first day of your child’s absence from school
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wherever possible try not to take your child for routine dentist / optician appointments during the school day.
Holidays taken during term time will be recorded as an unauthorised absence.
Missed Days Add Up!
100% attendance = no school days missed.
90 – 95% attendance = At least 2 weeks of learning missed.
85 – 90% attendance = At least 4 weeks of learning missed.
80 – 85% attendance = At least 5 and a half weeks of learning missed.
Below 80% attendance = At least 7 and a half weeks of learning missed.
Lateness Adds Up!
Being late by 15 minutes every day, will add up to TWO WEEKS of school being missed each year. Please ensure your child arrives in school by 8.50 am at the latest. The doors open at 8.40 am. Breakfast club is also available for all children from 8.10 am each day.
Education Welfare Officer (EWO)
Good attendance is intrinsic to achieving the best outcomes possible for individual learners. We have an Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) whose role is to provide help and support to families where regular school attendance is an issue. The EWO is supported by the school office staff who make ‘first day response’ calls/texts to parents of absent pupils.
Penalty Notices
Welsh Government has instructed all Local Authorities to implement Penalty Notices under the Education (Penalty Notice) (Wales) Regulations 2013. The Local Authority believes that any absence from school, for whatever reason, is detrimental to a child’s long term life opportunities, so should be avoided if at all possible. A Penalty Notice is an alternative to prosecution with the aim of seeking to secure an improvement in the child’s attendance at school.
- Every September we have an attendance awareness month where we complete lots of topic work based around attendance.
- Pupils log their weekly attendance in their attendance booklet.
- Pupils who achieve 100% attendance in a week get sticker to bring home!
- Attendance certificates are given out half termly and termly.
- An attendance raffle takes place termly where the children have a chance to win a £5 voucher.
- We sing an attendance song in our assemblies and have an attendance focused assembly every half term.
- When a child’s attendance falls below 80%, they receive an action plan to support them in coming to school.
