Attendance

Good attendance at Green Lane

For all our children who achieve 100% attendance this year they will get the chance, with their family, to go on a local visit. We celebrate the class with the best attendance every week in our assemblies. The class with the highest attendance wins “Schools are required to monitor and report on punctuality and absence from school.”

DfE Circular No. 11/91

The school actively encourages full attendance at all times throughout the school year. If your child is due to be absent through ill health, you must inform the main school office before 8.45 a.m. on the first day of absence, otherwise it will be recorded as unauthorised. We have a duty to monitor children’s attendance very closely throughout the school year.

Attendance staff

Miss Baxendale and Mrs Deaves are responsible for attendance in our school and will contact you to discuss your child’s absence.

Requesting holidays in term time

As you know we always try to encourage 100% attendance at Green Lane.

However, we still have a large number of children who are categorised by the government as ‘Persistently Absent’ which means their attendance is below 90%. As a result of these absences, a number of parents have exceeded the 20 days, which results in the child being taken off roll.

This is a significant concern to us all at Green Lane and we would urge families to consider the implications of removing their children during term time. There is no such thing as catch up and children do miss out as a result of lost learning.

If you are planning on going on leave, the school’s policy is that you must make an appointment to meet with one of the Assistant Heads to discuss your leave of absence request. During the meeting school staff will explain the impact of taking your child from school and we may be able to reach a compromise whereby you use school holiday time.

What are exceptional circumstances when it comes to holidays during term time? When can the Headteacher authorise holidays?

Examples of exceptional circumstances where leave may be granted:

• If a parent is service (Army, Navy etc) personnel
• If a health professional has advised it – with a written report
• Out of school programmes such as music, arts or sport operating at a high standard of achievement
• Religious observance – see Holiday Calendar
• To attend a wedding or funeral of a close relative for the day

Leave above 5 days cannot be authorised by the Executive Headteacher, no matter the circumstances. The Executive Headteacher does not have ability to authorise any leave that is not deemed as exceptional circumstances. Unauthorised leave of 3 days or more, may result in a fixed term penalty issued by the Council.

What will happen if my child’s attendance is below 95%

If your child’s attendance falls below 96% and there is an unknown reason for this, for example it is not due to leave, we will write to you and invite you into a meeting in school. At the meeting we will ask about the reasons for absence and set an attendance target for your child.

Being late adds up… takes learning from other children

We understand that very, very occasionally there will be a reason for lateness however, parents/carers will be expected to sign in at the Office and walk their child/children to the appropriate door, otherwise support staff are taken away from other children, who have arrived on time, to escort children.

Doors open at 8:30 a.m. to support punctuality, lessons begin promptly at 8:45 a.m.
Breakfast Club may be available from 8:00 a.m, please email a request to: greenlane@priestley.academy

Arriving 5 minutes late everyday adds up to over 3 days lost each year.
Arriving 15 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 2 weeks a year.
Arriving 30 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 19 days a year.

To view our pupil Attendance and Absence Policy and Attendance Guide for Parents, please visit our policies page by clicking the link below: