​ATTENDANCE and REPORTING ABSENCE

Research shows that children who attend school regularly are likely to be successful.  A child who misses a day of school each week misses an equivalent of two whole years in their school life.  Missing school leads to gaps in education that become difficult to fill.

School Attendance is regarded as a very important issue at Brook Street School. If your child is going to be absent, please contact the school on:  Tel (01228) 558724 before 9.30am

If you have not contacted school by 9.30am, we will understandably be concerned as to why your child is not in school and we will therefore carry out the following steps:

First-Day Calling Procedure (School’s Safeguarding Response to Children Missing Education)

1. Registers saved.
2. Details of late children reported to office as soon as they arrive
3. Absence calls listened to/attendance emails checked and all messages taken recorded appropriately.
4. Start calling first name on contact list within 30 minutes of school start time.
5. If no response, we ring down the contact list until a reply is received, ensuring where possible that someone from outside of the family home has been contacted.
6. If we still have no response, we send a text asking the parents to contact school immediately and the Pastoral Team is informed
7. If we cannot make contact by telephone with anyone on the contact list and a text has not been responded to, we inform the Pastoral Team/DSL that this child is absent and no contact has been made within an hour of school start time.
8. If no reply, we send a second text and email to the first and second contacts on the list.
9. A Home Visit is made, if possible/appropriate, either by school or other any agency involved.
10. We contact Police if all other stages have been completed and there is still no contact regarding the absent child.  This is done by ringing 101 number.

Where all children in the same family are absent on the same day without good reason, a home visit will take place. Where no contact can be made at home, a police check may be requested.

As school meals are now cooked to order, we must ensure that meals are ordered by 9.30am so that the cook can begin to prepare the appropriate meals. If you normally order meals online for your child and they are going to be absent, please go online and cancel their meal (we will do this for you if we notice that this has not been done). If you are to come in late for whatever reason, please make sure that we know this so that meals are not cancelled unnecessarily.

School will be very concerned if any child’s attendance falls below 90%. We understand that children are ill from time to time, but if attendance falls to this level, we will contact you to ensure that you and your child are not in need of any additional support. We will speak to parents/carers about low attendance as it occurs. Our Attendance Officer may call at your house to offer support or we may ask you to call  in to school to discuss this.  Our priority is to ensure that you and your child are safe and your child receives the best possible education that they can and we can only do this if they have good school attendance. We are here to support you if you or your child is finding coming to school difficult, so please speak to us if you need help and we will do everything we can to support you. 

Please also help your child by ensuring that they are in school on time. The beginning of the day is very important as it the time when instructions for the day ahead are given to your child. Your child may also be part of a group that takes place at the beginning of the day where they receive additional support to boost their learning and missing this means that they are missing out. The school yard is manned from 8.40am and the bell rings at 8.55am. Breakfast club is open from 8.20am each school day.

The School Day 

School Hours Years 1, 2

Morning lessons 9.00am to 12.20pm. Morning break 11:00am - 11.20am

Afternoon lessons 1:20pm to 3:10pm   

School Hours Years 3,  4 , 5 + 6

Morning lessons 9:00am to 12:30pm. Morning break 11.00am - 11.20am

Afternoon lessons 1:20pm to 3:10pm for Year 3,

1:20pm to 3.15pm for Years 4, 5 & 6

Nursery + Reception

The unit’s doors open at 8:45am and 15 hours nursery sessions finish for the day at 12 noon.

30 hours nursery sessions and reception class sessions finish for lunch at 12 noon  and the afternoon session begins at 12.45pm on 3 days and 1.00pm on 2 days each week.

The day ends for 30 hours nursery/reception sessions at 3pm

Breakfast Clubs

We operate 3 separate Breakfast Clubs (all free of charge and available to all children).

FSU children in the FSU kitchen

Years 1, 2 & 3 in the Main Hall

Years 4, 5 & 6 in the Breakfast Club Room (next to the school library)

They all begin at 8.20am.

At our FREE Breakfast Club there is no need to book and all children are welcome. 

Toast with jam or butter will be on offer every day as well as a drink of milk/water. A variety of other foods such as ie cereal, crumpets, porridge, yoghurts, cheese, scotch pancakes are also available. Hot chocolate is sometimes served on cold days.

All children enter and exit school by Edward Street.

Holidays in Term Time

Government legislation now dictates that holidays are not permitted in term time. Absence in term time will only be permitted in ‘exceptional circumstances’. If you feel that your reason for taking your child out of school is an exceptional circumstance, please speak to the Headteacher, who will ask you to put your request in writing. Unfortunately school cannot authorise absences for weddings or other family celebrations.

Please also ensure that any appointments with the doctor, dentist or optician is made out of school hours unless it is an emergency. There is no need to take a full day out of school to attend an emergency appointment. You should bring your child to school, collect them for the emergency appointment, then bring them back to school afterwards so that they miss as little time as possible. 

In short please ensure good attendance for your child as we can only help your child if they are here and on time every day. Here are some simple suggestions to encourage attendance:

• Be ready - Make sure that your child is ready and prepared for school with their uniform, PE Kit, homework & home/school book
• Ensure that your child has breakfast and be careful about what they eat - Children of all ages need a nutritious breakfast. Snacks, sweets and drinks that are high in salt, sugar and additives are not a good start to the day. Or why not send your child to our free Breakfast Club where they will get a healthy breakfast each morning.
• Be interested - Make sure you have time to talk to your child about school each day, find out what homework needs to be done and encourage and support them with this. Read with them for at least 15 minutes every day or if they are older encourage them to read. You could talk to them about the book that they are reading. Your child is more likely to want to attend school if they feel supported and their anxieties listened to.
• Be positive - Problems in school may occur with other children or with their work. Reassure your child that you and the school will work together to provide help and support.
• Be firm - Unless your child is too ill to attend then he or she should be in school. Make sure your child understands that you do not approve of them missing school.
• Be clear with the school - If your child is too ill to attend school then contact the school on the first day of absence and keep the school informed.
• Be aware - You must not take your child out of school for a holiday during school term time.
• Be available - Let the school know how you can be contacted and provide emergency telephone numbers.
• Be supportive of the school - Make sure your child follows the school rules and you are clear about the school’s expectations, policies and procedures. For example behaviour, uniform and attendance
• Be involved – speak to your child’s teacher or the head teacher if you need to and attend parents' evenings.

Why is regular attendance important?

Having a good education will help to give your child the best possible start in life. If your child does not attend school regularly he or she will not be able to keep up with the work and may miss out on other aspects of school life. They may find it difficult to form friendship groups or to sustain friendships and may miss out on social events.  Every lesson in school matters and if children are often absent it will result in gaps in their learning. This may interrupt the continuity of their education and impede their progress. Setting good attendance patterns from an early age will help your child later on in life. Research has shown that children who are not in school are most vulnerable and are easily drawn into crime or anti-social behaviour. Instilling good attendance during primary school, usually leads to good attendance throughout their school life and beyond. Employers want to recruit people who are reliable; therefore children who have poor attendance may have less chance of getting a good job.

Why is it important my child arrives at school on time?

•  Arriving late at school may be embarrassing for your child.
•  It may disrupt the class if your child arrives late.
• Your child may miss something important e.g. lesson plan, instructions on how to complete a piece of work., phonics or other interventions.
• Social interaction with peers before school is important if your child is to form friendship groups.
• To instill good habits. Punctuality shows reliability. This is a valuable attribute for future working life.
• So your child gets their registration mark.

At Brook Street, we want every child to achieve their best in life, so let’s work together to ensure this happens. If your child is in school every day and on time we can then play our part in ensuring that your child has the best possible education.

An unauthorised absence from school is an absence that is deemed not to be an acceptable reason for missing school. Unauthorised absences from school carry the risk of prosecution under Section 444 or 444(1A) of the Education Act 1966.

The penalty risk is £60, per child, per parent, if paid within 21 days of receipt of the notice, rising to £120 if paid after 21 days but within 28 days of receipt of the notice.

If you would like to discuss this further, please ring school on 01228 558724.