Melanie Jago is our Attendance, Safeguarding & Medical Officer. An important part of her role is to improve attendance. We are committed to working with you to improve your child’s attendance.
If you would like support, we can arrange a meeting, phone call or a home visit. At this meeting, an attendance improvement plan will be developed, in order to address any barriers your child may be experiencing and to look at any strategies that may support their attendance at school.
If you have any concerns about your child’s attendance you can come and ask to speak to Melanie.
Melanie’s contact details are: 07458 105645 either call, text or message via WhatsApp. Her email address is [email protected]
As attendance is statutory, we all have a duty to ensure that children are in school every day (unless, of course, they are very ill).
Ask Lion has lots of information and services to support you and your family – alternatively you are welcome to contact Melanie.
You may also find the NHS website helpful for information about when to keep your child off school – NHS – Is my child too ill for school?
Individual medals and rewards are given to children for good attendance.
Classes with the best punctuality and attendance have a special visit out of school, such as breakfast at our local community centre. These are provided to the winning children for free.
The class with the best attendance of the week is given the ‘Attendance Cup’.
We use a text messaging service to contact you when your child is not at school. If your child is absent and we haven’t been informed why, we will send you a text message. You will be able to reply to the text message to advise why your child is away from school.
If you do not have a mobile telephone, or we are yet to have a response, we will continue to contact you by telephone. If no contact is made Melanie may attempt a home visit.
Hopefully, by supporting families to ensure that children are attending school regularly, there will be fewer referrals to the Education Welfare.
Please can I remind you to:
Studies confirm that poor attendance at school directly influences a pupil’s achievement. The table below shows the direct impact of their attendance and attainment. Whenever we write to you, we will include this table so that you can check where your child’s attendance falls and what impact it could be having.
Every child’s attendance and punctuality is monitored weekly, and we follow the department of education’s guidance to keeping parents and carer’s informed about their child attendance.
Melanie will be monitoring your child’s attendance and punctuality, making regular contact in order to support you to make improvements with your child’s attendance.
Some reasons for absence cannot be authorised (according to government guidelines). Examples of these are:
The parent/carer is ill, or has a hospital appointment and there is no one to bring the child to school.
The parent/carer doesn’t think the school is open. The dates are on the website, here: https://www.windmillacademy.co.uk/news/term-dates/
If your child continues to be absent due to illness we may refer him/her to health services. We will also request that you provide medical evidence so that the absence can be authorised.
If no improvements are made, then unfortunately the school has no option but to refer you to the Education Welfare Team – to take further action, which may include a penalty notice or prosecution.
Only exceptional circumstances warrant a leave of absence. Windmill L.E.A.D academy will consider each application individually taking into account the specific facts and circumstances and relevant background context behind the request. If a leave of absence is granted, it is for the Headteacher to determine the length of the time the pupil can be away from school. As Headteachers should only grant leaves of absence in exceptional circumstances it is highly unlikely a leave of absence will be granted for the purposes of a family holiday.
Any request should be submitted as soon as it is anticipated and, where possible, at least two weeks before the absence. This must also be in accordance with any leave of absence request form, accessible via school office. The Headteacher may require evidence to support any request for leave of absence.
All unauthorised term time absences will be referred to Education Welfare Service which could result in the issuing of a Penalty Notice or prosecution.
Penalty Notices are set at £60 per parent per child if paid by 21 days and £120 per parent if paid between 22 and 28 days. Any legal proceedings would relate to section 444(1) or 444(1A) of the Education Act 1996.
Finally, please help us to help your child by sending him/her to school every day. Every lesson counts. Even a short amount of time away from school will cause your child to fall behind in their work and it will make it difficult for them to catch up. Remember, as a parent or legal guardian you are legally responsible for making sure your child attends school every day.
