Attendance

At St Joseph’s, we place high importance on regular attendance and punctuality of pupils.

Much of the work children miss when they are absent is never made up and this can leave children at a disadvantage for the remainder of their school career. Attending school is therefore vital if your child is to achieve their full potential.

We believe good attendance is everyone's responsibility and therefore we aim to work with parents, pupils and staff across the school to ensure all pupils achieve the maximum possible attendance.

The target attendance figure for all pupils is a minimum of 97% attendance.

At St Joseph’s we track each child's attendance percentage against the Attendance Diamond (below).

We then review the attendance patterns of every child, every week. If attendance is falling week on week we will contact you to check in and see if any support measures are needed.  As a parent it is your legal duty to ensure your child attends school and we want to help you overcome any difficulties you may encounter.

It is important that parents/carers monitor single day’s absence, as these days soon add up to weeks.

Our aim is to address any issues before any pupil’s attendance falls down to a level where a significant amount of learning is lost.

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Reporting an absence

If your child is unable to attend school, please notify the school as soon as possible.

Why is attendance important?

Regular school attendance is essential because:

• It is a legal requirement for children aged 5 to 16
• It supports academic success and future opportunities
• Schools have a safeguarding responsibility for all students
• It helps develop social skills and strong relationships
• Schools have a safeguarding responsibility for all students
• It ensures students gain the qualifications they need for their next steps in education or employment

Attendance expectations

• Students are expected to attend school every day
• Punctuality is important—students must arrive on time for both morning and afternoon registration
• The minimum target for attendance is 97%
• Parents should schedule appointments and holidays outside of term time wherever possible

How families can support good attendance

• Encourage good sleep and morning routines
• Be firm about attending school unless your child is genuinely unwell
• Communicate with the school about any barriers to attendance
• Seek support early if you have any concerns

Requesting a leave of absence

If you need to request a leave of absence during term time, you must complete a leave of absence form and return it to the school office. Please note that email requests cannot be accepted.

‍Please note time off for holidays in term time is always unauthorised.

Morning registration

• Morning registration takes place at 08:45. Students arriving after this time may receive an unauthorised late code, which will affect their attendance record
• Leaving school early without permission will negatively impact attendance

Rewarding Good Attendance

At St Joseph’s, we believe it is important to recognise and reward good attendance.

Children have the following opportunities to win a reward:

*Every day that they are in school on time, they win a Class Dojo point. If they come into school every day that week, the points are doubled. This leads to opportunities to win Dojo prizes.

*At the end of the week, we have a Celebration Assembly where:

-Every child who has 100% attendance for that week gets entered into a ‘Golden Ticket Prizes Draw’

-Every class that has attendance of 97+ will get to play ‘Classopoly’ and roll a dice to land on a class treat