New Government Guidance

On August 19^th, the Government issued new guidance for parents and schools about school attendance and fine information which can be found here - https://www.gov.uk/school-attendance-absence.  Gloucestershire County Council is the Local Authority with responsibility for attendance in our county and further information can be found here - https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/education-and-learning/school-attendance-and-exclusions-and-welfare/.

Schools have to set out registration times that pupils are expected to be present for.  The school day is split into two sessions – morning (am) and afternoon (pm) and as such there are two registration periods.

Morning - Here at Woodchester, the children are able to enter school from 8:45am and must be present by 8:55am for registration purposes.  Registration closes at 9:25am.  As per local authority and Government guidance, if a child arrives after 9:25am when the registers have closed, this is counted as an unauthorised absence. 

Afternoon – The afternoon registration period is 1:15pm until 1:25pm. 

Why is attendance so important?

The Government and Local Authority confirm that:

In an academic year:

• 95% attendance equates to 10 school days missed or 50 hours of learning
• 90% attendance is 20 days missed or 100 hours of learning

Recapturing this time puts additional pressure on pupils to maintain their learning levels.

What does persistently absent mean?

A pupil whose attendance is below 90% is classed as persistently absent, even if the absence has been authorised.

Pupils taking unauthorised leave of absence early in the academic year could be categorised as persistently absent despite having perfect attendance from their return date onwards.

If a pupil is a persistent absentee:

• They have been absent from school for 10% or more of school time
• In one school year they will have missed 19 whole days or more of school
• In five school years they will have missed 95 days or more of school, which is at least half of a school year in total

Where a pupil is persistently absent, schools will follow their attendance and procedures.

Why are school interested in attendance?

In accordance with the DfE guidance the government expects schools and local authorities to:

• Promote good attendance and reduce absence, including persistent absence
• Ensure every pupil has access to full time education to which they are entitled
• Act early to address patterns of absence
• Ensure parents perform their legal duty to ensure their children of compulsory school age are registered at school and attend regularly