Attendance and Punctuality

At Park Hall Infant Academy our aim is for every child to be in school,

on time, and learning in order to meet their full potential.

95% Attendance equates to 9 school days and up to 45 learning opportunities lost.

90% Attendance equates to 19 school days and up to 100 learning opportunities lost.

This will create gaps in your child's knowledge, skills and

understanding and may affect their progress.

If your child is absent from school, please telephone the school office as soon as possible. The telephone system allows parents to leave a message, which can be left at anytime. The reason for absence provided is noted on our school management systems.

Should a parent fail to notify us with a reason for their child’s absence, this will be recorded as an unauthorised absence. It is important that the office staff account for all pupils for safety reasons.

The Department of Education introduced legislation from 1st September 2013, which does not allow any planned leave during Term Time.  Currently, large numbers of children nationally continue to struggle with regular attendance.

The most recent legislation, from the Government White Paper, requires schools to actively seek to improve attendance for all pupils, pupils at risk of persistent absences and those pupils who are persistent absentees. Please note that Attendance information is routinely collected by the Education Welfare Office (EWO) and therefore failure to attend could result in a visit from the EWO and/or the issue of a fixed penalty notice by Walsall Council.

• No authorised leave will be routinely granted under any circumstances if your child’s attendance has been below 95% during the last two academic years;
• You may request emergency leave by completing an application for Leave Of Absence In Exceptional Circumstances form available from the School Office.

Clearly illnesses are inevitable and unavoidable.

However, we do monitor for patterns of illness and for repeated illnesses. Where this is the case we will work with you to try and improve your child’s health but please be aware we may need to request evidence of illness if it is a recurrent issue.

Routine Appointments

In order to achieve the highest possible levels of attendance for your son/daughter we request that routine medical appointments are taken outside of school hours or during the school holidays whenever possible.

Where this is unavoidable, please endeavour to ensure that your child does not miss an entire school day and provide an appointment card / letter in respect of the absence. We are unable to authorise absence for the appointments of a sibling or family member.

Whole day absences regarding medical appointments will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances.

Punctuality

This is an important life skill and we encourage parents to model this skill by ensuring your child is on time. If for any reason your child is late for school, they must report to the school office to ensure they are registered. The number of minutes your child is late will be recorded in the school management system. Regulations state that if a child is more than thirty minutes late, for any reason, he/she is marked absent for the whole morning/afternoon, equating to half a day’s absence.

Sustained lateness could result in the involvement of the EWO who may visit home.

If extenuating reasons arise which may cause regular lateness, please advise the school, in confidence, who will support the family to achieve and maintain regular punctuality.