Attendance and Absence

Here at Boston Pioneers Academy, we are dedicated to ensuring that each learner receives the best education possible.  This means that we must abide by laws set by the Government with regards to ensuring the very best attendance for every individual child.  

Promoting Good Attendance 

Learners with poor attendance are less likely to achieve their academic potential and may find that they suffer socially. We have a responsibility to ensure that our learners are given all the opportunities to succeed both academically, socially and for their future life choices. 

We kindly request that you keep the academy informed of any matters that may affect your child’s attendance whilst at the Academy.  Working together to support your child is vital to ensure that they are achieving their academic potential and to support their wellbeing.  

School attendance is everyone’s responsibility and should you have any questions or concerns in relation to school attendance, you should speak initially to your child’s class teacher. 

The academy also has an Attendance Champion and a Family Support Worker who work pro-actively to support any families who may be experiencing difficulties with school attendance.  

Our academy’s Attendance Champion is Mrs Jo Lacey 

Our academy’s Family Support Workers are Miss Emma Gilbert and Mrs Lauren Mumbray.

Our Attendance Champion and Family Support Workers can be contacted via the school office on 01205 353062 or email  enquiries@bostonpioneersacademy.net 

Rewards 

The Academy promotes good attendance in a variety of ways: 

Collective Rewards 

The Best Attending Class Weekly Award (EYFS & KS1 and KS2)- certificate awarded weekly in Celebration Assembly.

Best Attending Class Termly Award (EYFS & KS1 and KS2)- free choice afternoon for the highest attending classes.

Individual Rewards 

Daily Attendance Dojos - Awarded daily for being in school on time. Children can then exchange the dojos for purple coins to spend in the reward shop.

Attendance 'Super Raffle' -To encourage 100% attendance every week, learners with 100% attendance receive a raffle ticket, which they place into one of two boxes.  Each box is for a specific prize such as a set of cinema tickets and at the end of every term, one lucky ticket is selected from each box to receive the prize.

100% Awards- At the end of each term (three times in an academic year), the Academy awards certificates to those children who have 100% attendance.  In the final term, learners with 100% attendance for the academic year receive medals.

Timings of the School Day – Punctuality Matters! 

Gates to enter school open at 8.35am with the school day starting at 8:45 for all learners. This means that we expect all children to be sat in their classrooms ready for their lessons to start at 8.45am. Morning registration starts at 8:50 and closes at 8:55 each morning.  If pupils arrive after 8:55am, but before 9:20am, they will be marked in the register as ‘L’ (late).  However, if they arrive at or after 9:20am, they will be coded as ‘U’ (Unauthorised absence).    

In the afternoon, for EYFS, registers are taken at 12.45pm and in KS1 & KS2, registers are taken at 1.15pm.  

If learners arrive in a morning after the gates close at 8.45am, they should come into school via the front office where their names will be recorded on a ‘late log.’ Parents/carers will be asked for the reasons for the lateness and if, in any one week, the same child/children are late on two occasions, then a letter will be sent home, reminding parents/carers of the importance of ensuring that their child/children arrive to school promptly. 

In extreme cases, where no improvement has been made, this may mean that parents/carers could be invited to attend a meeting with the Academy Attendance Champion and Family Support Worker. An Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) may be in attendance, depending on the level of late attendance.  

If there is no improvement in a learner’s attendance and lateness, the academy may refer the matter to the local authority who have the power to issues sanctions for poor attendance such as penalty notices or prosecutions.   

Absences 

Parents and carers are responsible for informing the academy about any absences on a daily basis.

Contacting the school if your child is absent  

Please ring the school absence line on 01205 353062 and choose Option 1 from the menu to leave a message if your child is absent from school. You may also notify us of any absence via the MyEd app, where you can complete an absence form.  You must contact the school on every day of absence.

If school is not notified of an absence, (where there is no known reason for absence), administrators will take reasonable steps to ascertain the whereabouts of pupils. This will include phoning all available contacts, sending a MyEd message and/or sending an email or text message.

If no contact can be made, once these steps have been followed, the child will be recorded as ‘N’ code (No reason given for absence).  The academy may decide, at their discretion, to make an unannounced home visit to the learner’s listed address.

Upon a home visit being made, if no one is at home, a calling card will be left asking parents/ carers to contact the academy as soon as possible to give reasons for the absence.

If no reason is gained for the absence, after all attempts to gain the reason has been made, the absence will be logged as O = Unauthorised absence.  If a pattern of unauthorised absences emerges, academies will make contact with parents/ carers to discuss these, and appropriate support may be offered.

Please be aware being ‘ill’ or ‘feeling unwell’ is not a sufficient reason for absence and parents/carers will be asked to clarify this further. Absences will be treated as unauthorised unless a satisfactory explanation for the pupil’s absence is given to the Academy.

Illness/Injuries 

Being ‘ill’ is not a sufficient reason for absence and parents/carers will be asked to clarify this further. Absences will be treated as unauthorised unless a satisfactory explanation for the pupil’s absence is given to the Academy.  

Having an injury is also not necessarily a reason to be absent from the academy.  Parents should contact the academy as soon as possible to clarify whether their child is able to continue to attend school. For the majority of injuries, learners will still be able to attend the academy with reasonable adjustments being made for them. 

Appointments  

Parents should make every effort to ensure appointments (including medical or dental appointments) are made outside academy.

Where it cannot be avoided, children should attend their academy for as much of that day as possible. Parents/ carers must inform the academy in advance of the appointment.  It is imperative that learners are not absent for more time than is necessary to attend the appointment. 

E.g. If the appointment is at 10am, the academy would expect the child to be at school for 8.45am as normal and then collected just before the appointment and returned straight after to continue with the rest of the days learning. If the appointment is a 2pm, the academy would expect the child to be in school for 8.45am as normal and then collected just before the appointment. 

Evidence of the appointment will be requested by the academy such as a note, text message, an appointment card or a prescription paper from the child’s doctor/GPs. If these are not provided on request, it may result in the absence continuing to be classed as unauthorised. Evidence can screenshot, photographed and messaged to the school via MyEd or shown directly to the office who will take a copy of the evidence.

Medicines  

We understand that unfortunately some learners have medical conditions that will have an on-going impact on their attendance.  As a setting, we will try to ensure that we facilitate any needs for each child. Please ensure that you share all medical conditions and appointments with us so that we can support in the best way we can.  An individual health plan will be drawn up for any pupil who has regular medication.  

For safety reasons, no learners should bring medicines or tablets to school in their school bag.  Any medicine brought into school, must be given in directly to the Front Office, where it will be securely stored.  Only medicines with prescription labels, clearly stating the pupils’ name and dosage will be administered in line with our Supporting Learners with Medical Conditions Policy.  As a setting under our Supporting Learners with Medical Conditions Policy, we are only able to administer prescribed medicine. As a setting we will administer where 3 or 4 doses a day are required. However, parents will need to complete and sign a form giving permission for this to happen.  

Learners who have vomiting and diarrhoea are required for remain absent from the Academy for 48 hours after their last bout for infection control purposes.  

Holidays during term time 

The Department for Education (DFE) emphasises that term-time holiday should be avoided. Absence during this time can significantly impact your child’s education. We kindly request that you plan holidays during the academy holiday time to minimise disruption to your child’s learning. Any such absences will be recorded as an unauthorised absence.

If you believe there are exceptional circumstances that require a term-time holiday, please

submit a written request to the academy as soon as possible and an appropriate meeting or

discussion will take place. We will assess each case individually and provide guidance

accordingly. However, if we determine that the circumstances do not qualify as exceptional,

we will notify you in writing, indicating that you may be subject to a penalty notice issued by

the local authority, which could result in legal action following the Department for Education (DFE) updated guidance on improving school attendance, effective from 19th August 2024 in collaboration with the Local Authority for prosecution and fining.

Persistent & Severe Absence  

A persistent absentee (as stated within government guidelines) is any learner whose attendance falls below 90%.

A severely absent pupil (as stated within government guidelines) is any learner whose attendance falls below 50%.

Persistent absence and severe absence has a detrimental effect on learners as work missed is often not fully completed, leaving them at a disadvantage to their peers.  Learners with poor attendance are less likely to achieve their academic potential and may find that they suffer socially. We have a responsibility to ensure that our learners are given all the opportunities to succeed both academically, socially and for their future life choices, hence the academy having a designated Attendance Champion to support learners and their families where there are concerns regarding attendance.  

Support for Attendance  

The academy monitors the attendance and punctuality of individual learners closely and follows up all absence which is unexplained with parents/carers as soon as possible by telephone, written communication and/or home visits. If a learner’s attendance becomes a concern to us, dropping below 95%, then contact will be made with parents/carers to discuss this further and support put in place where needed. This will be in the form of a SASP meeting (School Attendance Support Panel Meeting). As part of the conversations, we will have with you, a set of joint actions will be agreed to help overcome any barriers to attendance. This agreement will often include a commitment to refer or help you to access support services in exchange for an agreement from you to engage and take part in the support offered. We will also arrange mutual convenient times for us to come together to review these and your child’s progress depending on whether there has been an improvement in your child’s attendance. This agreement may take the form of an informal action plan, an early help plan, or a parenting contract – depending on the complexity of the reasons for your child’s absence. 

If attendance does not improve following support, a Notice to Improve letter may be issued and the Academy will follow the Department for Education (DFE) updated guidance on improving school attendance, effective from 19th August 2024 in collaboration with the Local Authority for prosecution and fining.

Emotion-Based School Avoidance (EBSA) 

Very rarely, some learners can develop severe anxiety about coming to school and will avoid coming.  Their attendance can start to decline significantly and suddenly. 

To support learners with these needs, the academy can access support from a variety of professionals who are experts in this fields. 

If you are concerned that your child may be experiencing this, please contact the Academy at the earliest possible opportunity. The earlier a child is supported the better the outcomes are for them.  Initially a meeting will be held with either the Academy’s attendance Champion or Family Support Workers to try and identify reasons for the anxiety and agree a plan of support moving forward.  

Pupil Not Attending Regularly (PNAR)

Where a learner has missed 10 consecutive days of learning, without prior consent, the academy will inform the Local Authority.

Penalty Notices and Prosecution.

It is important to be aware that poor attendance may result in the issuing of penalty notices

to parents. These notices can apply to term-time holidays, any unauthorised absences, or a

combination of both.

The national threshold for issuing a penalty notice in England is 10 sessions of unauthorised

absence within a 10-week period. This typically equates to 5 school days. (e.g. 4 sessions of

holiday taken in term time plus 6 sessions of arriving late after the register closes all within

10 school weeks). These sessions can be consecutive (e.g. 10 sessions of holiday in one

week) or not (e.g. 6 sessions of unauthorised absence taken in 1 week and 1 per week for

the next 4 weeks). The period of 10 school weeks can also span different terms or school

years (e.g. 2 sessions of unauthorised absence in the Summer Term and a further 8 within

the Autumn Term).

A Penalty Notice can be issued under the following legislation:  

• Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 places upon parents a duty to ensure that

their child receives efficient full-time education either by regular attendance

at school or otherwise  

• Where a child is a registered pupil at a school and the parent fails to ensure

that child’s regular attendance at school the parent is liable to be prosecuted

for a criminal offence under Section 444 of the Education Act  

• In cases where this duty is not being fulfilled Section 444B of the same Act

empowers the Local Authority to issue a Penalty

Please note: A Fixed Penalty Notice can also be issued if your child is seen in a public place

within the first 5 days of an exclusion from their school.    

• Section 103 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 makes it a duty for

parents in relation to pupils subject to a fixed period or permanent exclusion

to ensure that their child is not present in a public place during school hours,

without reasonable justification, during the first five days of any such

exclusion.  If a child is present in a public place during the first five days of an

exclusion during school hours the parent may be guilty of an offence for

which they can be prosecuted by the LA before a magistrates' court or issued

with a Penalty Notice. 

See below for further information:

Penalty Notice

Details

First Notice in a 3-

year period:

Issued to each parent.

Charged at £80 if paid within 21 days

£160 if paid within 28 days.

Second Notice in a

3-year period:

Issued to each parent.

Charged at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days.

Third Notice in a 3-

year period:

Alternative action should be taken, for example prosecution or other attendance legal interventions.

Fines per parent are capped at two within any three-year period.

If a parent is prosecuted for their child’s non-attendance, they could face a fine of up to £2,500.

It is important to note that fines are a last resort, and parents are offered support from the

academy on many occasions to improve their child’s attendance first.

Further information on this can be found:

www.gov.uk/school-attendance-absence/legal-action-to-enforce-school-attendance

Further information

For the academy’s Attendance Policy in to Practice and the Children Missing in Education Policy please see our Policies page.  