Attendance

ELLINGHAM SCHOOL NEWS

Reminders

Choir performance at the Garden Centre - Monday, 15th December

Year 4 Tie-Dye Shirt Activity - Tuesday, 16th December

ABM Christmas Lunch - Tuesday, 16th December

Nursery parents invited in - Tuesday, 16th December

Year 4 Ancient Greek Day - Wednesday, 17th December

Year 5 Trip to the Rose Theatre - Wednesday, 17th December

Pyjama Day - Friday, 19th December

Early Finish 1.15pm - Friday, 19th December

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you have all had a good week. It was wonderful to see so many of you at the Christmas performances.

This week, the newsletter is slightly different. It will focus entirely on attendance. There are some uncomfortable facts we have to face around attendance figures at Ellingham. But there is so much we want to do to raise understanding of what attendance means, why it is important, what we can to do help families overcome barriers to attending, arriving at school on time, and to celebrate good and improving attendance!

This newsletter is therefore dedicated to all things attendance. My assembly to the children this morning was also focused on attendance, so your child/ren will have received the same information as you are receiving here. Next week, the newsletter will be dedicated to the performances.

Warm regards,

Margaret

Margaret Johonnett

Headteacher

Why does attendance matter?

There is a wide range of international evidence that tells us that children who attend school regularly go on to achieve better outcomes, live healthier, wealthier and more enriched lives - and we want to make sure we are all doing everything that we can to make that happen for all of our children.

School is not just about academic success and attainment. It is also centred on learning about the world, about relationships and about individuals. It is about trying new things, making new friends, and finding a place in the world. To miss school is to miss the multifaceted experiences that shape the choices we make, the opportunities we have and the quality of life that we lead.

Whilst we measure attendance, and absence, in percentages, it's important to see absence as missed days and missed lessons. Being late on a regular basis is also about missing lessons. In this ladder, we can see that 90% attendance, or 10% absence, is the same as missing 18 school days. In terms of missed lessons, this is a huge amount and will have am very real impact on learning.

In other circumstances, 90% appears high. In assembly today, we agreed that getting 90% in an exam would be a great achievement! But, as outlined above, 90% attendance already has a detrimental impact on learning. 90% is also the percentage below which a child is classed as being "persistently absent". This percentage is set by the Department for Education. Schools are measured on their attendance percentage, and their persistent absence percentage.

What is Ellingham's percentage rate?

Ellingham's current attendance percentage is 93.7%.

According to the Department for Education, this puts us in the bottom 10-20% of all schools nationally.

What is our persistent absence percentage?

This is currently 22.3%. This puts us in the bottom 10% of schools in nationally.

How do we report attendance? What is classed as 'late'?

The Department for Education tells us how to report attendance. This includes the use of codes for. All schools use the same codes to report attendance, and they are based around the timing of the school day for each individual school. At Ellingham:

The school gates open at 8.5am

The school day starts at 8.40am.

We leave a window of 10 minutes for children to make their way to their classroom.

As such, a child who arrives in their classroom between 8.40 and 8.50am is marked as 'Present': /code

The register remains open for a further 30 mins.

A child who arrives in their classroom between 8.40 and 9.20am is marked as 'Late': L code

At 9.20am, the register is closed. Children who arrive after the register has closed must receive a 'U' code.

A U code is classed as an 'Unauthorised absence'. One of the reasons for our high absence percentage is pupils arriving at school after the register has closed.

We want to work with you to help overcome any barriers to attending school or arriving on time.

Of course we do not expect 100% attendance. Children are unwell and other things happen. But where there are particular barriers, we want you to share these with us. One of the most wonderful aspects of Ellingham is the positive relationships between parents and school, and we will always reach out to you so that we can listen and understand.

Our vision is that everyone feels valued and celebrated, build confidence and independence, and experience success. Together, we can improve attendance at Ellingham!

Our Attendance Policy

Our Attendance Policy outlines our processes and procedures. It is on our policies page and is worth reading, particularly to understand fixed penalty fines. Government guidance tells schools that missing five school days in any ten-week period may put a family at risk of a fixed penalty notice. This covers both requests for leave of absence, for example requesting to take a holiday during term time, and other unauthorised absences.

When is my child too ill for school?

It can be difficult to know when it is okay for children to come to school and when they are too ill. The following NHS link provides government guidelines on this:

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

We want attendance to get better. And we have a target to reach!

We want attendance to get better because we know how important it is to help children achieve and to feel a sense of belonging. And we have a target! It's not 100%, or even 98%. Our school attendance target is....

96% 😊

Let's work together to reach it!

We want to celebrate attendance in all different ways!

From January, we will be introducing different ways to celebrate attendance. The first thing we will do is have Hot Chocolate Friday! This will be for a few children each week, and will be for different reasons:

Most improved attendance

Being on time all week

100% attendance

The children cheered at this during assembly!!

SAFEGUARDING, HEALTH & WELLBEING

The Safeguarding Team

This is the full safeguarding team in school. They are all trained to Level 3 and everyone in the school received the annual update of Safeguarding Level 2 training at INSET. If you are worried about a child, please let one of the team know.

Contact details: 020 8397 3864 or email: office@elp.rbksch.org to request a safeguarding call back. For pupil support, contact 020 8397 3864 or email: pupilsupport@elp.rbksch.org