Attendance & Punctuality

Why Is Attendance Important?

Good school attendance is crucial for your child’s learning and development and is directly linked to improved learning outcomes. Good attendance also supports children to develop positive self-confidence, close friendships, age-expected social skills and good mental health.

The Government’s Education Hub highlights the importance of attendance, stating:

• Pupils with higher attainment at Key Stage 2 (KS2) and Key Stage 4 (KS4) had lower levels of absence compared to those with lower attainment.
• Generally, the higher the percentage of sessions missed across a key stage, the lower the level of attainment at the end of that stage.
• Among pupils with no missed sessions across KS2, 83.9% achieved the expected standard, compared to 40.2% of pupils who were persistently absent.

At Holy Trinity, we expect attendance to be at least 95% and for pupils to arrive on time every day. Attendance of 90% or below is classed as persistent absence and will attract the attention of both the school and the local authority. Please refer to the Department for Education (DfE) guidance for further information.

Punctuality

Being punctual is really important; when pupils miss the start of a lesson, this creates gaps in learning. Punctuality reduces anxiety and ensures that pupils don’t feel embarrassed. It also helps pupils to build essential life skills like discipline, responsibility and reliability for future work. 

Pupils should arrive at school between 8:45am and 8:55am.

• Pupils arriving after 8:55am will be marked as late.
• Pupils arriving after 9:30am will be recorded as unauthorised absent for the morning session.

Illness and Absence

If your child is unwell and you are unsure whether they should attend school, or how long they should remain at home, please refer to this NHS guidance.

If your child is too unwell to attend school, you must report their absence by calling the school on 0207 254 1010 and asking to speak to Mr Aaron, our Attendance Officer. Please note that we no longer accept absence reports via Google Forms.

What will the school do if your child is absent?

If you have not reported it to us already, Mr Aaron will contact you to find out the reason for your child’s absence on each morning that they are away. All absence is tracked and monitored and any attendance which is causing concern will result in parents / carers being asked to come in for a meeting to discuss their child’s absence / punctuality. In these meetings we explore whether there is any support the school can provide to bring about an improvement. For attendance and punctuality which does not show improvement over time, the school will provide a warning but will ultimately refer for a penalty charge notice (PCN).

What are your legal responsibilities?

By law, all children of compulsory school age (four to sixteen) must receive a suitable full-time education. Once your child is registered at a school, parents and carers are legally responsible for ensuring they attend regularly.

How can you support your child’s attendance?

You can help your child to be successful in school by:

• Establishing a good routine from an early age and sticking to it.
• Ensuring your child understands the importance of good attendance and punctuality.
• Helping your child understand the potential consequences of poor attendance for both the child and parents.
• Taking an interest in their education and encouraging participation in school activities.
• Discussing any concerns your child may have and informing their teacher or the headteacher where appropriate.
• Avoiding time off for minor ailments or holidays during term time.

To minimise disruption to learning, appointments and outings should be arranged after school, at weekends or during school holidays.

Term-Time Holidays

There are only 190 school days in each academic year and it is vital that children attend school every day unless they are genuinely unwell.

We do not authorise holidays during term time. Any unauthorised absence for holidays will result in a referral for a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).

Collection and Drop-Off

Drop off and collection for full time pupils is from the gate on Roseberry Place. Pupils in Year 5 and Year 6 may walk home independently only with parental consent and the agreement of the headteacher. Requests must be submitted in writing to the school office and will be reviewed by the class teacher and headteacher before permission is granted. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 are not permitted to collect younger siblings.

Unless attending after-school clubs, children should be collected promptly at 3:30pm. Any child collected after this time will be recorded as ‘late collection’. Please note that we charge for late collections.