Opening Times & Attendance

School Term Dates 2023 - 2024

FINAL School Term Dates 2023-2024

Attendance

At Hogarth Primary School, we are working hard to keep attendance and punctuality at a high level. Clearly pupils who are not in school cannot learn and pupils who are late miss important introductions to lessons. Parents have an important role to play in ensuring their children attend and are on time each day. It is the parent’s legal obligation to ensure their child is here for registration on time each day. Research shows that there is a clear link between high attainment and good attendance in school. Therefore it is vital that students attend school every day.

The school has a number of support strategies in place to help ensure that all pupils can achieve their full potential, these include:

• Regular monitoring of student attendance and punctuality.
• Celebrating good attendance - we celebrate pupils with 100% attendance at the end of each term.
• The class with the highest attendance each week is acknowledged and celebrated in our Celebration Assembly.  

Children may only be 5 minutes late for school but these 5 minutes quickly add up. This table gives an indication of how much schooling a child may miss: 

What do pupils have to say on the matter?

Our children rightly identify that good attendance is of huge importance in ensuring all pupils reach their full potential.

'My parents won't let me take time off unless I am really ill. If I just have a cold they make me go to school'.

' I had too much time off last year and when my Mum and I came to parents evening we realised this was the main reason my levels were slipping. Now my attendance is much better and my levels have shot up'.

' I hate having time off because it is so difficult to catch up when I get back'.

' I felt really proud when my class gets the best attendance.' 

Working Together to Improve Attendance

Our aim at Hogarth Primary School is to raise attainment of all students through full attendance and by working in partnership with both Parents and the School Improvement and Attendance Service.

Our whole school attendance target is 96%. This is achievable if we all work together.

As a school we expect all students to achieve at least 96% attendance. Research suggests that attendance below this will have an impact on levels at SATs and grades at GCSE.

Attendance Officer

Part of our attendance leads role is to ensure that students are punctual and attend school every day. Students who are absent on a regular basis can drop as many as 2 grades in their SATs and GCSEs. Part of Miss Bell's job entails contact with the Education Welfare service, parents and social services all working together to gain good attendance. 

"The aim of our school is to achieve the best for our children, of which attendance plays a very important role".

What can you do to help?

• If your child is ill, please advise the school via the Studybugs app or contact the school directly on the first day of absence by 9.15am.  If your child is absent you must tell the school why.
• Support the school in it's efforts to get lateness and absences under control.
• Make sure your child understands the importance of good attendance and punctuality. It is an essential life skill.
• Take an interest in your child's education - ask about school work and encourage them to get involved in school activities.
• Not allowing your child to take time off for minor ailments - particularly those which would not prevent you from going to work.
• Very often a child who feels under the weather soon recovers when in school.
• We will always take care of your child and if their condition deteriorates we will phone you so they can go home.

Leave of Absence during term time

You do not have the right or entitlement to take a child out of school for the purposes of a term time holiday. The school will only agree to absence for a family holiday if we believe there are very special circumstances which warrant it. These circumstances may include: 

• Service personnel where a parent/carer has just returned from a tour of duty and needs time with the family.
• Where the parent/carer is able to demonstrate clearly (e.g letter from employer) that they are restricted to annual leave within school term time.
• Religious ceremonies. 

There are a variety of reasons why leave of absence will not be granted e.g. attendance is below 92% in the current academic year, the request is during a test or examination period, the request is during the months of September, May, June or July as these months are vitally important to your child for social and academic reasons.

The Law

By law, all children must get a suitable full-time education. As a parent/carer you are legally responsible for making sure this happens by ensuring they attend school regularly. If your child does not go to school and there is no acceptable reason, the Local Authority can take legal action. You could be liable to a £2,500 fine per parent, per child, or imprisonment for up to 3 months or both. The parent of two children who attended our school a few years ago has recently been fined £600 for their children's non attendance.

Important Information

Registration times - ALL PUPILS MUST BE IN FOR BOTH REGISTRATION PERIODS AND ON TIME OR IT WILL BE RECORDED AS AN ABSENCE OR LATE AFTER 15 MINUTES. Any children who are late need to be signed in at the main office by an adult. If a child is not with an adult, the parent will be called to sign their child into school.

Medical Appointments

We understand that it is not always possible to get medical appointments outside school hours but where possible these should be kept to a minimum during school hours. The school requires a copy of medical appointment cards when appointments are during school hours. Students should NOT be absent for the whole day except in exceptional circumstances.