Attendance
Our Attendance Aims:
- Setting high expectations for the attendance and punctuality of all pupils
- Promoting good attendance and the benefits of good attendance
- Reducing absence, including persistent and severe absence
- Ensuring every pupil has access to the full-time education to they are entitled
- Acting early to address patterns of absence
- Building strong relationships with families to make sure pupils have the support in place to
attend school - We will also promote and support punctuality in attending lessons.
For further information please see our School Attendance Policy
School Timings
At Redmarley Primary Academy we open the gates at 8.40am with all children being in class and ready to learn at 8.50am. If you arrive after the gate has closed, please bring your child to the front office where you will be asked to sign them in as late. Pupils arriving between 8.50 and 9.00 will be marked as late. If they arrive after 9.00, we mark this as an unauthorised absence.
Afternoon registration is at 1pm and the school day finishes at 3.15pm for all year groups.
Lateness can have a real impact on children, effecting self esteem and wellbeing as well as the obvious loss of learning. Being punctual is an essential skill to develop, ensuring children are ready for the world beyond Redmarley. The below diagram illustrates the impact of lateness really well:
At Redmarley Primary Academy, we have high expectations for attendance. The attendance ladder below captures 'what good attendance looks like' and is a useful guide to visualising the amount of days your child hasn't attended school and how this looks as a percentage. Days off school equates to lost learning. This learning cannot be caught up, which impacts on a child's confidence and achievement. The longer the absence the more impact this will have. When we look at attendance in school, anything below 95% begins to become a concern. We send letters out early in the spring term to alert you if your child's attendance has fallen below 92%. This offers a chance for a meeting to look to see where improvement can be made.
However, we do understand that children can be unwell and unable to attend school. We know that children's attendance can be impacted by this and our approach takes account of this. The NHS Is My Child too Ill for School? provides useful at a glance information as seen below.:
Is My Child too Ill for School?
Leave of Absence and Term time Holidays
A leave of absence is granted at the headteacher’s discretion, including the length of time the pupil is authorised to be absent for. We define ‘exceptional circumstances’ as one off events which are unavoidable, examples may include the death of a close relative, attendance at a funeral, respite care of a looked after child or a housing crisis which prevents attendance. Leave of absence will not be granted for a pupil to take part in protest activity during school hours. As a leave of absence will only be granted in exceptional circumstances, it is unlikely a leave of absence will be granted for the purposes of a family holiday. The school considers each application for term-time absence individually, taking into account the specific facts, circumstances and relevant background context behind the request. Please contact admin@redmarley.gloucs.sch.uk for a leave of absence request form as a paper copy or download LEAVE OF ABSENCE FORM. Please be advised that in order for the headteacher to consider this, we ask for 6 weeks notice minimum. A response will be given in the form of a letter, stating whether the request is authorised or unauthorised.
