At Goldthorpe Primary Academy we are committed to providing a high quality education for all pupils.  Children make great progress in their learning and wider development when they attend school regularly and on time.

We expect children to achieve an attendance target of 96% or above. This means that they would need to attend school for a minimum of 182 out of 190 possible days.

We have a responsibility to monitor the attendance of all children very closely and to support parents and carers to ensure that children come to school regularly and on time. This is why we have introduced the system below:

Traffic Light Attendance System

Timings of the school day

The school gates will be opened at 8.40am and registers will be taken at 8.50am.

If your child arrives after registers have closed, they will receive a late mark and a possible unauthorised absence.

Punctuality

It is really important for children to arrive at school on time. When they are late this can have a significant and negative impact on their learning.

Registers close at 9am and children arriving after this time will receive a late mark.

Pupils who arrive after 9.15am will be recorded as U resulting in an unauthorised absence for the morning. This will affect your child’s overall attendance.

Reporting your child’s absence

All schools have a responsibility to keep children safe which includes knowing why children are not at school and where they are.

If your child is absent, it is important that you call school by 8.40am on each day of their absence. If we have not been notified of the reason for the absence we will call you, followed by all other contact numbers we have for your child.

If your child is absent for two consecutive days and we are unable to make contact we will make a home visit to carry out a safe and well check. If this visit is unsuccessful we reserve the right to make a referral for police assistance to locate the family.

Rewarding good attendance

At Goldthorpe Primary Academy we will reward children in a variety of ways including:

Unavoidable medical appointments

We appreciate that some children will need to attend unavoidable medical appointments during the school day such as hospital or speech and language appointments. Please provide us with a copy of the appointment letter.

We would politely request that all other appointments are made outside of the school day.

Holidays during term time

We are unable to authorise any holidays taken during term time. All holidays taken during term time will be unauthorised and parents may receive an Education Penalty Notice. If you intend to take your child out of school for any reason, please fill in a leave of absence request form available from the school office.

Please be aware that if no leave of absence request has been made and we have reason to believe that your child is absent due to holiday, we may still request an Education Penalty Notice.

The penalty notice is £60 per parent per pupil and if not paid within 21 days this will increase to £120. Failure to pay the full amount within 28 days will result in a summons to appear in the magistrates court.

Attendance Procedures