Attendance at St. Paul's
School is the best environment for the vast majority of pupils to learn in. Being surrounded by teachers and friends in school helps keep children safe, and supports them to reach their potential.
That’s why we’re committed to tackling the factors causing children to miss school. Here, we tell you what you need to know about school attendance, provide advice about how best to support your child to attend well, and link to resources which you may find helpful if your child is struggling to attend.
Why is school attendance important?
Being in school is important to your child’s academic achievement, wellbeing, and wider development. There is evidence to suggest that regular school attendance is a key mechanism to support children and young people’s educational, economic and social outcomes. Schools can facilitate positive peer relationships, which is a contributes to better mental health and wellbeing.
Attendance at school is crucial to prepare young people for successful transition to adulthood, and to support their longer term economic and social participation in society. There is also evidence that the students with the highest attendance throughout their time in school gain the best GCSE and A level results.
What does it mean if a child is persistently or severely absent?
Children who are registered at a school but regularly fail to turn up are officially referred to as being ‘persistently’ or ‘severely’ absent.
The school day is split into two sessions – one session counts as a morning or afternoon spent in school. Pupils who have missed more than 10% of school sessions are considered persistently absent (90% attendance rate), while children who have missed more than 50% of school sessions are referred to as severely absent.
It’s encouraging that the number of absent pupils has fallen since the pandemic, but there is still work to do. That is why we’re introducing measures to improve school attendance.
Is my child too sick to go to school?
It’s usually appropriate for parents and carers to send their children to school with mild respiratory illnesses, including general cold symptoms like a minor cough, runny nose or sore throat. Children should stay at home if they have a high temperature (38C or above).
Schools have received a letter from the Chief Medical Officer which explains how to tell whether a pupil is well enough to be in school.
Further information about whether your child is too ill for school, including information on other illnesses like chickenpox, headlice, and a sore throat, is available on the NHS website here.
My child is anxious about going to school, should I send them in?
Children can sometimes feel a little bit worried about going to school. Mostly, this is a very normal emotion. It is important to recognise that going in to school can help children to feel less worried than letting them stay at home.
If your child is anxious over several weeks, talk to school about how we can support you. We have put together some useful links and sources of mental health support which you may find helpful.
What else is being done to improve school attendance?
At St. Paul's, we work with our local authority Educational Attendance officers and advisors o a weekly basis to monitor and support children’s attendance. Regular letters and meetings are provided to families in order to improve and promote punctuality and improve attendance. Children’s attendance is monitored weekly and school also works closely with Salford authority to ensure that every effort is being made to ensure pupils attend.
Children work together in classes to support each others’ attendance and the class with the best attendance each week is celebrated during our celebration and values assembly. From summer term 2 our Wellbeing Ambassadors will visit each class weekly and share with the class what the weekly attendance is and who has 100% for that week. At the end of each half term, children receive a 100% attendance sticker and then a certificate in assembly at the end of each term.