We’re working hard to build lifelong skills for attendance and punctuality.
At Westwood, we want the children to be at school, learning, on time. We have set a challenging target of 97% attendance and will push ourselves until we meet and sustain it! This is part of our commitment to providing a full and efficient educational experience to all our pupils. We believe that there are benefits to pupils throughout their lives from teaching them that good attendance and punctuality are crucial life skills. As a school, we will organise and do all we can to ensure maximum attendance for all pupils. Any problems that impede full attendance will be identified and addressed as speedily as possible.
Our school gives a high priority to conveying to parents and pupils the importance of regular and punctual attendance. We are confident every child in the school can tell you what our target for attendance is! (It is 97% by the way). We recognise that parents have a vital role to play and that there is a need to establish strong home/school links and communication systems that can be utilised whenever there are concerns about attendance.
If there are problems that affect a pupil’s attendance we will investigate, identify and strive in partnership with parents and pupils to resolve those problems as quickly and efficiently as possible.
On the link below is our Attendance Policy:
Westwood Academy Pupil Attendance Policy Dec 2022
Term time absence.
We actively promote children being at school during term time and will not, unless there are exceptional circumstances, authorise any leave of absence during school term time. We work with the local authority’s Missing Education and Child Employment service to ensure that if a child misses school regularly through unauthorised absence, that there is a dialogue to try and change the absence or measures put in place to try to make term time absence more difficult. This may include a penalty notice.
If you do want to request an authorised leave of absence, the form to complete is available below:
The following is an extract from our attendance policy, highlighting the parental responsibility to ensure that children are in school during term time.
Parents do not have a right to take children on holiday in term time. Taking a child out of school during term time could be detrimental to their educational progress. A pupil who takes 10 days absence will only attain 94.7% attendance in the year. 10 days absence also means the pupil will miss 50 hours of education.
There is no entitlement to parents to take their child out of school during term time; however, they may apply to the school for leave of absence if they believe there are exceptional circumstances. Leave of absence may only be granted by a person authorised in that behalf by the proprietor of the school. As from 1st September 2013, the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 amended Regulation 7 to prohibit the proprietor of a maintained school from granting leave of absence to a pupil, except where an advance application has been made by the parent with whom the pupil normally resides, and the proprietor considers that there are exceptional circumstances relating to the application.
If a parent requests leave of absence during term time an ‘Application for Leave of Absence during Term Time’ form must be completed together with a letter outlining the exceptional circumstances. The Headteacher will determine whether the leave can be granted and the number of school days a child can be away from school.
If the absence is not authorised and the leave is still taken, the case will be referred to the Missing Education and Child Employment Service who may issue a Penalty Notice for £120 (or £60 if paid within 21 days) to each parent for each child taken out of school. If the penalty is not paid within the time scale the penalty will increase to £120. If the higher penalty is not paid within 28 days, the Missing Education and Child Employment Service will then institute legal proceedings in the magistrate’s court under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996 for failing to ensure a child attends school regularly.
In compliance with the Education Act 436A (Chapter 2, Part 6) the school will, after making appropriate checks, report all Children Missing from Education to the Local Authority Missing Education and Child Employment Service, which has a duty to investigate the whereabouts of such children and negotiate their prompt return to suitable education.
Paper copies of information and policies are available on request, for free, from the school office.
Please find attached Government guidelines for exclusion periods for various infections and illnesses:
Exclusion Periods for various infections and illnesses – updated Public (5)
Punctuality information:
