Attendance

Our Vision for Attendance

Our Expectations for the School Community

To achieve our vision, we have established clear and high expectations for all members of our school community. These expectations are communicated clearly, strongly and consistently, and are applied effectively and proportionately by all.

For Our Pupils, We Expect You To:

• Attend school every day and on time, ready to learn and participate in our school community.
• Understand that your presence in school is important for your learning, your friendships, and your future success.
• Show kindness, courtesy, and respect in all your relationships with pupils and staff, contributing to a positive culture where everyone feels safe.
• Talk to a trusted adult at school if you are worried about anything that might stop you from coming to school; we will always listen and help.

For Our Staff, We Will:

• Consistently communicate and uphold high expectations for attendance and punctuality with pupils and parents.
• Foster a positive and respectful culture where pupils feel known, supported, and cared for, making school a place they want to be.
• Complete attendance registers accurately and follow up on all absences promptly and effectively as part of our daily safeguarding procedures.
• Be vigilant and understand that absence can be a safeguarding concern, including neglect or abuse, and act on this understanding by following school procedures confidently and consistently.
• Analyse attendance data for different groups—including disadvantaged pupils, those with SEND, and young carers—to identify patterns, anticipate issues, and implement timely, well-chosen, targeted interventions to remove barriers.
• Make reasonable adjustments and adaptations to our approaches for pupils with specific needs, while maintaining high expectations for what they can achieve.

For Our Parents and Carers, We Expect You To:

• Recognise your vital role in your child's education, understanding that for primary-aged pupils, punctuality and attendance depend on parents.
• Ensure your child attends school punctually every day during term time, unless they are genuinely too unwell to do so.
• Work in partnership with the school by communicating expectations about attendance and informing us promptly about any absence, including the reason and expected duration.
• Help us to instill positive habits of attendance from the very beginning of a child's school journey, including in the early years before attendance becomes compulsory.

Our Commitment to Partnership:

• As a school, we commit to working closely and effectively with parents, local authorities, and other agencies to improve attendance for all pupils.
• We will actively listen to the views and experiences of pupils and parents, dealing with any concerns promptly.
• We will carefully analyse attendance information to identify the root causes of poor attendance for individuals and groups, taking swift and effective action to address barriers. For pupils facing significant challenges, we will engage in effective multi-agency work to provide high-quality support.

Attendance Rewards

At Cleeve we love to reward children for their amazing attendance and therefore we have a number of different initiatives in place.

How do we reward good attendance?

We have a range of incentives that celebrate good attendance and attendance habits.

These include 

• Dojos
• Weekly stickers given out to children who have 100% for that week
• Class with the highest attendance wear non-uniform for a day (weekly)
• KS1 and KS2 league table competition (earning points). Winner from each key stage have a reward at the end of each half term
• Individual reward charts 

The Attendance League Table

Points are rewarded to each class depending on their weekly attendance. The class at the top of the league table each term (one for lower school, one for upper school) will receive a special prize for their class.

 

Here at the current league tables, with just one week left who will be the winner for this half term!

 

Good luck everyone!

New Spring Term Incentives

Attendance certificates

This term we will be acknowledging and rewarding good attendance by awarding Gold (100%), Silver (98 – 99%) and Bronze (96 – 97%) certificates to children each term.

Is your child missing out?

Research has shown that regular attendance and good punctuality are crucial factors in students achieving their full potential in education. At Cleeve Primary School we wish to work in partnership with parents and carers and so are seeking your full support in ensuring that your child attends school every day and on time. We are always pleased to work together with parents/carers in resolving any difficulties but we are also committed to improving attendance levels at school.

The target attendance figure for all pupils is a minimum of 97% attendance. Based on current attendance figures your child will be placed in one of the following groups below.

Your child will be informed of their Attendance Group by their class teacher. Cleeve Primary School are monitoring students closely whose attendance is falling and will contact you if your child’s attendance does not improve. As a parent/carer you are committing an offence if you fail to ensure that your child attends school regularly and punctually, even if they are missing school without your knowledge. It is important that parents/carers monitor single day’s absence, as these days soon add up to weeks.

Good attendance is encouraged through a comprehensive and effective reward system.

Focus on Attendance

If you are concerned about this new ‘Focus on Attendance’, there are important steps that you can take:

• Ensure your child attends every day, on time, equipped and ready to learn. The school opens at 8.50am and students should be in the building no later than 8:55am. Students arriving after 9:30am may be marked absent and will require an explanation from the parent/carer or the absence will remain un-authorised.
• Ensure school has up-to-date addresses and telephone numbers. We will contact you if your child is absent and you have not contacted school. This ensures that the absence is quickly identified.
• If your child is ill, contact school on the first day of absence and provide an explanation.
• If you wish to check that your child has arrived at school contact school Attendance Officer, Mrs M Chadwick or a member of the admin team. They will inform you if your child has been registered.
• If no contact is received regarding the absence, it is recorded as un-authorised. Ultimately school is responsible for deciding if the absence is acceptable or not. Only genuine absence will be authorised. You will be asked to provide medical certificates if your child has a poor attendance record.
• Ensure that medical appointments are made outside of school time.
• Avoid trivial absences such as, buying new shoes/birthdays. This would not be accepted as a reasonable absence.
• Holidays should not be taken in school time. Any Leave of Absence can only be agreed by the Headteacher and only agreed where there are exceptional circumstances.
• Respond to letters, telephone calls or visits regarding attendance and punctuality.
• Contact your child’s class teacher if you are experiencing difficulty in getting your child into school.

Thank you for working in partnership with us to achieve the highest possible levels of attendance and punctuality at Cleeve Primary School.

Please note that children with regular lateness to school in the mornings will not be entered into the prize draw if the time adds up to more than sixty minutes in a half term. It would be unfair for lateness that adds up to so much school time to not be taken into account when we do our attendance traffic light letters.

More information regarding attendance can be found in our attendance policies.

Attendance Policy