Regular attendance at school means that your child can make the most of their education and improve their chances in adult life. A regular and punctual attendance pattern will help your child when they enter the world of work.

The link between attendance and attainment in school is clear; the more a pupil is in school the more they increase their opportunities to fulfil their potential.

At Parkhead Community Primary School, we aim to:

• Improve pupils achievement by ensuring high levels of attendance and punctuality.
• Achieve a minimum of 97% attendance for all children; apart from those with chronic health/medical conditions. 
• Create an ethos in which good attendance and punctuality are recognised as the norm and seen to be valued by the school. 
• Raise awareness to parents, carers and pupils of the importance of uninterrupted attendance and punctuality at every stage of a child's education. 
• Ensure that our policy applies to Nursery and Reception aged children in order to promote positive habits from an early age but recognise non-statutory parameters.
• Work in partnership with pupils, parents, staff and the local authority attendance service so that all pupils realise their potential, unhindered by unneccessary absence. 
• Promote a positive and welcoming atmosphere in which pupils feel safe, secure and valued, and encourage in pupils a sense of their own responsibility. 
• Establish a pattern of monitoring attendance and ensure consistency in recognising achievement and dealing with difficulties.
• Recognise the key role of all staff in promoting good attendance. 

Absence Procedures

If your child is going to be absent from school for whatever reason, parents/carers are asked to inform the school by completing an online reporting form on Operoo.  They are asked to provide full and accurate details of the reason for absence and the expected date of return.  This information is used to determine whether an absence is authorised or unauthorised (as agreed by the Head Teacher).

Where we have not received a reason for a child's absence by 9.30am, school office staff will attempt to contact parents/carers and other listed emergency contacts via telephone and email. Where no contact has been received by 10.00am, a relevant senior member of staff may conduct a home visit (known as a 'Safe and Well Check').  We may also contact any older or younger sibling's schools/pre-schools to identify a family pattern of absence. 

Parkhead Community Primary School work with A Star Attendance to ensure a consistent staged response to absence from school.  As part of this, you may be asked to provide medical evidence for your child's absence from school, be part of an attendance monitoring period or be asked if you would like to take part in a Common Assessment Framework. 

In all instances, open and honest communication with parents is essential to allow school to support you with early intervention strategies which may prevent a referral to the Legal Intervention Team. 

Punctuality

Children who are persistently late, miss a significant amount of learning.  Mainly the most important aspect; the beginning of the day is when the teacher explains the learning that will take place throughout the day, and the intended outcomes. 

Once the gates close at 8.55am, pupils who arrive after this must enter via the main school Reception area to be marked as late and accounted for on the registers.  

At Parkhead, Mrs Chard; Head Teacher conducts ad hoc 'late gates' to identify patterns of lateness and increase parental accountability.