Attendance & Absence
Regular school attendance is essential for your child’s development, wellbeing, and long‑term success. Attending school every day helps establish positive habits from an early age, supporting the routines children need to thrive. When children come to school consistently, they become familiar with their teachers, classmates, and the wider school community, helping them feel secure and connected.
Being in school regularly also fosters a strong sense of belonging. Children who attend daily feel more included in classroom life and are better able to participate in learning, social activities, and school events. This consistency supports their academic progress and prepares them well for the transition to secondary school.
School is a place where children develop a wide range of skills. Through daily learning experiences, they build confidence, learn to make informed decisions, and develop important social skills. Regular attendance also gives them opportunities to play with friends, join team activities, and take part in personal growth experiences that contribute to their understanding of themselves.
By staying engaged in your child’s learning and ensuring they attend school every day, you are supporting their journey towards a positive, successful, and fulfilling life.
Mr Greaves (School Attendance Champion)
KIRTON PRIMARY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE POLICY
Key Findings on Attendance (National UK Data)
· the 95% rule: Pupils with 95–100% attendance are significantly more likely to achieve higher grades. In contrast, missing 10+ days (below 95% attendance) sharply reduces the probability of success.
· "Pupils that have 95% attendance are twice as likely to pass English and Maths GCSE than children with only 90% average attendance!"
· persistent absence: Students classed as persistently absent (missing 10% or more, roughly 20+ days a year) have much lower outcomes
· Only 35.6% of persistent absentees achieve grades 9-4 in English and maths, compared to over 67% of all pupils.
· impact of missed days: On average, 17 missed school days per year is associated with a drop of an entire GCSE grade.
· primary school impact: High attendance in primary school makes a student 30% more likely to reach expected standards in reading, writing, and maths.
· long-term financial impact: Persistent absence does not just affect grades; it is linked to lower future earnings, with each day missed costing an average of £750 in potential lifetime earnings (per day missed!).
Key Takeaways
Every moment matters: Even being late by 5 minutes a day can have a significant on learning outcomes.
Every day matters: Attendance has a cumulative effect, meaning absences in earlier years still impact final results.
Consistency is key: Even small amounts of absence (5 days) over a year, can have a massive impact on results.
Focus on results: High attendance is the single strongest predictor of academic achievement
Achieving good attendance has many benefits:
Academic Achievement: Regular attendance directly correlates with academic success. Children who attend school consistently are more likely to keep up with the curriculum, perform better in exams, and improve their life outcomes.
Knowledge Acquisition: School is where children acquire knowledge and skills that are crucial for their personal and professional growth. Missing days means missing out on valuable learning opportunities.
Social Development: School provides a vital social environment for children and adolescents to interact with peers, develop friendships, and learn essential social skills. Consistent attendance ensures children remain connected to their peer group.
Building Routine: School attendance establishes a structured routine in children’s lives, teaching them time management and responsibility, which are valuable life skills.
Community Well-being: High levels of school attendance contribute to the overall well-being of communities.
Teacher Interaction: Regular attendance allows for meaningful teacher-child interactions. Teachers can provide personalised support, address questions, and assess individual progress more effectively when children attend regularly.
Preventing Knowledge Gaps: Frequent absences can lead to significant knowledge gaps, making it challenging for children to catch up with missed lessons, potentially resulting in long-term academic struggles.
School Engagement: Children who attend school regularly are more likely to engage in extracurricular activities, sports, and other enriching experiences that contribute to their overall development.
Monetary fines linked to poor attendance
Penalty notices are issued by Lincolnshire County Council for any unauthorised holidays of children at Kirton Primary School. These are £160 per parent, per child, per holiday!
Penalty notices can also be issued for sporadic, unauthorised attendance (non-consecutive days).
The attendance team regularly reviews attendance if a child has 10% or more unauthorised absences. In these cases, a parent will be informed of the situation (this could be via a letter, email, phone call or chat with a staff member upon collection or drop of a child). Following this, an official “Notice to Improve” letter will be posted to the parents. The letter will have targets that need to be achieved over the next three to six weeks (this letter is also sent to the county council attendance team). Failure to achieve the targets could result in a penalty notice (PN) being issued by Lincolnshire County Council.
Please remember that three lots of 10% (or more) unauthorised absences within a three-year period means your case will proceed straight to a magistrates’ court where the fines are much higher than the original penalty notice and you could end up with a criminal record.
If you are contacted by the attendance team, please work with them to stop a penalty notice occurring and help your child to achieve their true potential!
