Attendance

For a child to reach their full educational achievement an excellent level of school attendance and positive behaviour is essential in order to raise standards of pupil progress and attainment.

Windhill21 are committed to providing an education of the highest quality for all our children and endeavour to provide an environment where all pupils feel safe, valued and welcome. Parents/Carers and children play a part in making our school so successful. Every child has a right to access the education to which he/she is entitled. Parents/Carers, staff and governors share the responsibility for supporting and promoting excellent school attendance and punctuality for all.

It is our duty to consistently strive to achieve a goal of 100% attendance for all children if they are fit and healthy to do so and expect a minimum attendance of 97%. Every opportunity will be used to convey to parents/carers and their children the importance of regular and punctual attendance and we believe a principal factor of promoting excellent attendance is having a positive attitude towards school and learning.

Excellent attendance is important because:

Statistics show a direct link between under-achievement and absence below 95%
Regular attenders make better progress, both socially and academically
Regular attenders find school routines, schoolwork and friendships easier to cope with
Regular attenders find learning more satisfying
Regular attenders are more successful in transferring between primary school, secondary school, and higher education, employment or training.

Windhill21 aims to:

Provide a safe, caring and happy learning environment

Raise achievement through the promotion of excellent attendance and punctuality
To create a culture in which excellent attendance and punctuality is valued
Continually strive to improve the attendance and punctuality of all children
Make attendance and punctuality a priority for all those associated with the school including children, parents/carers, staff and governors
Provide support, advice and guidance to parents/carers and children
Promote effective partnerships with the LAAO and with other services or agencies as necessary

Responsibilities of Parents/Carers:

Ensure their child attends school regularly, punctually, dressed in Windhill21 uniform, equipped and ready for learning having had appropriate rest, sleep and eaten breakfast each morning
Impress upon their child the importance of attending school regularly and following the school’s positive behaviour policy
Ensure holidays are never taken in term time
Avoid arranging non-urgent medical appointments during school hours/term time
Inform the school daily, of absence and communicate the reason for their child’s absence by telephone, email, letter or in person to the school office
Maintain regular communication with the school about any concerns/issues which may lead to poor or non-attendance
Take an active interest in their child’s school life and work

Responsibilities of Pupils:

Attend every day unless they are genuinely ill or have an authorised absence
Attend regularly, on time, dressed in the required school uniform
Adopt the schools ‘Pillars of Being a Successful Citizen as detailed in the school’s behaviour policy

Punctuality

At Windhill21 the classroom doors are opened at 8.30am and your child’s teacher/teaching assistant will greet the children into the classroom. Windhill21 encourage all parents to arrive with their child between 8.30am-8.40am. This enables the children to settle and be ready to learn at 8.45am when the registers will be taken. If your child arrives between 8.45am and 9.15am, he/she will be marked as late in the register but counted as authorised. Arrival after the close of registration at 9:15am will be marked as an unauthorised late mark.

Persistent lateness means:

Children miss out on essential information and instructions given at the beginning of the day
Children may feel awkward arriving to the classroom when everyone else is settled
One child arriving late, disrupts the entire class and the teacher – everyone’s education is compromised

Parents/Carers of pupils who have patterns of lateness will be contacted to discuss the importance of punctual time keeping and how this might be achieved.

Absence Procedures

Request for Leave of Absence

There is no legal entitlement for time off in school term time to go on holiday and the rule at Windhill21 is that leave of absence will not be authorised unless it can be defined as exceptional irrespective of the child’s overall attendance. Parents/carers wishing to apply for leave of absence need to fill in an application form in advance.

If term-time leave is taken without prior permission from the school, the absence will be unauthorised and if the number of sessions absent reaches the thresholds set down in Hertfordshire’s County Council Code of Conduct, parents/carers can be issued with a fixed-penalty fine or other legal action in accordance with the code.

Leave of Absence Request Form