Lateness and Absence | Tuckswood Academy

Lateness and Absence Procedure

The school day at Tuckswood Academy and Nursery begins for all children at 8.40am and gates are opened at 8.30am. There is no reason why children should be late and 5 minutes late every day, would equate to 3 days of absence across a year!

Why is it important to be punctual?

So we can start the day settled with everyone else
So that our teacher can meet us and greet us
So that we meet everyone else entering school
So we don’t miss messages
So we get into good lifetime habits
So we get to do our reading, writing, phonics and maths

Lateness

Morning registration will take place at the start of the school day. Afternoon registration after lunchtime.

The school gates are opened at: 08.30
The morning registration will be at: 08.40
The registers will close at: 09.00 (any child arriving after 08.50 will be marked as late whilst the register remains open)
The afternoon registration will be at: 13.00
The registers will close at: 13.25.

Any pupil arriving after these times will be marked as having an unauthorised absence unless an explanation given is accepted as grounds for authorising the late arrival.

If your child is frequently late, you will receive a supportive phone call to discuss the reasons this may be happening, but continued lateness will result in formal proceedings.

Absence

As a school, we promote the importance of daily attendance. We recognise good or improved attendance in many ways, such as certificates, prizes and extra play. The aim is for every child to be at school 96.5% of the time. If your child is absent for 10 days, they will only achieve 95% attendance.

Missing school days can…

Disrupt friendships
Make us feel ‘out of the loop’ - not know what is going on
Cause us to have gaps in our knowledge - some of which can impact other areas of learning
Stop us practising skills
Mean we miss information
Create time to engage in anti-social behaviour.

First day of Absence

Parents are required to contact the school office, before the start of the school day if possible, to confirm their child’s absence. If no contact has been made, the office will send a text to determine the whereabouts of the child.
If we do not get a response then the Family Support Worker calls in the afternoon.
If we do not get a response after 24 hours then two members of staff will carry out a home visit. Absence details will be passed on via an attendance log located in the registers. Details will also be logged by the class teacher when (s)he has received notice from parents of forthcoming holidays/medical appointments.

Frequent Absence

In cases where a pupil begins to develop a pattern of absences, the school will try to resolve the problem with the parent/carers, through letters and interviews. If this is unsuccessful the school will refer to the Local Health Adviser if the problem appears to be a medical one. In other cases the school will discuss the problem with the County’s Attendance Improvement Officer.

Safeguarding and Attendance

Where a lack of attendance, or patterns of attendance, are raising safeguarding concerns we will follow our safeguarding procedures.

Holidays in Term Time

On entry to the academy, absences are not authorised for annual family holidays following changes in DFE legal requirements. Choosing to do so could result in fines.

Requesting Absences

The authorisation of planned absences is at the discretion of the headteacher. The request should be completed on a form from the office at least 20 days prior to the event if possible. Holidays in term time will not be authorised unless they are exceptional circumstances.