Attendance at school is an essential component for all pupils at Days Lane Primary School to achieve the best of their abilities in all aspects of school life. 

Our ethos is expressed through a culture that promotes, encourages and rewards good and improving attendance. To achieve this goal, we must set aspirational attendance expectations for all our pupils and follow these up regularly with appropriate support/challenge. Currently, as a policy statement, we expect all pupils to achieve at least 96% attendance for each academic year. 

We recognise that parents have a vital role to play and, of course, a legal responsibility to ensure that their child attends school on time every school day. There is a need to establish strong home/school links and communication systems that we can utilise whenever there is concern about attendance.

If there are problems that affect a pupil's attendance, we will identify, investigate and work in partnership with parents, pupils and other agencies to resolve problems as quickly and efficiently as possible. We will adopt a focussed intervention aimed at returning the pupil to full-time attendance. 

Absence 

Please report all absences daily via the Arbor app or email the school office on absence@dayslaneprimary.co.uk by 8am on each day of absence. 

Please note that if your child has diarrhoea and/or vomiting, the recommended period to be absent from school or Nursery is 48hrs from the last episode.

Please click on this link for Guidance on Infection control in school settings.

If absence continues over a weekend, this should be reported again on the following Monday. 

If any child is missing from school and their absence has not been reported via email, the Arbor app or by phone, we will make all attempts to contact parents to find out the reason for their absence. If this fails, we will contact the emergency contacts that parents provide the school. If we are still unable to ascertain the reason for the absence, a member of school staff may visit the family home to try to make contact in a further attempt to locate the child missing from school. This is part of our safeguarding procedures. 

Returning to school after injury

If your child sustains an injury that will require adaptations to be put in place please report to the school office in order for a risk assessment to be completed. This will ensure we are kept informed of any current medication being administered etc. 

Lateness

It is appreciated that a child can occasionally be late for school and contact by a parent to explain this is perfectly acceptable. However, regular or persistent lateness will be queried as late arrivals can disrupt the start of the school day for others and is a breach of school discipline. Registers are monitored continually to track patterns of absence and lateness. Parents will be invited to school for a meeting with the leadership team and Educational Welfare Officer if children are regularly late for school. 

Term time Holidays

Parents should arrange holidays outside term time. The school and the local authority do not sanction any holiday in term time except in exceptional circumstances. Requests for holiday absence must be accompanied by an explanatory letter and are subject to individual approval by the Headteacher. Where prior approval is not agreed, then holiday absence will be recorded as unauthorised. 

Please be aware that the school will be issuing fines of £60 per child, per parent, for any term-time holidays taken. 

Registers

School attendance registers are a legal document and must be completed for each session (i.e. 1/2 day) the school is open. They are subject to regular audit by the Educational Welfare Department of LA, whose officers may decide on home visits where clarification for lateness or absence is required. 

Security

An entry system is in operation, along with other measures to safeguard children. All parents coming to the school during normal hours must do so via the entry system at the main entrance. No parents or unauthorised visitors are allowed to walk around the school site whilst in session. 

All enquiries are dealt with through the school office. When entry is required, a badge signifying authorisation to be within school premises will be issued, and you will be asked to sign in and out of the building.