Attendance

As you may be aware, school attendance is currently a key focus for the Government and all schools are required to work to meet certain targets. With this in mind, I am writing to you about certain aspects of your children's attendance at Saltergate.

Support

We are encouraged to support pupils in attending school as regularly as possible, and to working with you as families to overcome any barriers to this. We recognise that some children face particular challenges, and we are committed to supporting all our pupils as appropriate. Some of you have already discussed concerns with your child's teacher or a member of our Senior Leadership Team, if you wish to talk with one of us then please contact the office for an appointment. We are going to increase communication with you regarding your child's attendance by sharing a termly update. This will begin with an attendance section in your child's report for the year and further updates will follow in the Autumn and Spring Terms. We hope that this will be helpful for you and your children.

Absence Categories

Your child’s attendance report will use categories as follows: Green – attendance is at or above 93%. This is the rate of attendance which schools are instructed to strive for. Amber – attendance is between 90% and 93% Red – attendance is below 90%

Appointments during the school day

One of the ways to improve your child's attendance is to ensure that you make their medical and dental appointments during the school holidays or outside the school day. This can also avoid disruption to your child's day, which can be quite unsettling for them.

Medical Evidence

If your child is too ill to attend school, schools must record these absences as authorised. It would be helpful if you could provide medical evidence for your child, as this enables us to explain the reason or exceptional circumstances for absence, to the Local Authority. Evidence does not need to be a letter from the GP, it can be an appointment card, a text confirming your child’s appointment or a prescription.

Reminder of Start Times

Discovery Learning - 8.50am

YR, Y1 and Y2 - 8.50am

Y3, Y4, Y5 and Y6 - 8.45am

Thank you for supporting your children to attend school as regularly as possible. We are always happy to talk with you and to work with you and your children to try and overcome any barriers to school attendance.

New guidance

For your information, we have added a link to the new guidance that comes into effect in August 2024. Page 18 confirms that headteachers are no longer allowed to approve a holiday (the H code is being removed).

New guidance is available here 

Also, for your information, these are the new penalty rules:

• First offence - £80 fine per child
• Second offence - £160 fine per child
• Third offence - Prosecution

Please note that these are not set by the school; all the new guidance and rules are from the Department for Education and all schools will be instructed to follow these.