Why Attendance Matters

We know that strong attendance makes a real difference. When children attend regularly, they benefit fully from the curriculum, build and maintain positive friendships, and feel secure in the consistency of daily routines. This sense of stability helps them to feel safe, confident and ready to learn. Happy children achieve their best, which is why improving attendance remains a whole-school priority.

Letting Us Know

We understand that there will be times when your child is unable to attend school due to illness or other unavoidable circumstances. We must be informed of the specific reason for your child being away and their expected date of return.

Please telephone 01904 936948 between 8:00am and 9:00am to report your child’s absence. If you reach our voicemail, be sure to leave a clear message explaining why your child is absent and when you expect them to return. You will always be asked for this information.

If we do not receive a message from you, we will follow up with a text message or phone call, and may carry out a home visit to ensure that everything is okay.

If you are unsure whether your child should be at school please click on the link below for more advice.

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

Medical Appointments

We completely appreciate some hospital appointments have to be in school time but must encourage all other appointments to be made either before or after the school day. In order for us to authorise absence for medical appointments, proof in the form of a letter, appointment card or text needs to be seen by the office. Children’s attendance is marked at two points in the day: morning and afternoon. It is expected that, if well enough, children are to be in school before and after the appointment. 

Holidays

Schools are unable to authorise absence for holidays or other requests for time off school unless there are exceptional circumstances. Family holidays should be booked during the 13 weeks of school holidays. If you do need to request time off school for your child, please complete and return the form below as far in advance as possible.Please make contact with the school office who will arrange an appointment for you to discuss this with us and complete the necessary paperwork. Where holidays are taken and not authorised, parents may be issued with penalty notices in line with CYC policy. In order to minimise the impact holidays in term time have on pupils’ learning, we will send home holiday homework to complete.

How we celebrate attendance

At Clifton Green Primary School, we celebrate  attendance in the following ways:

• ⭐ Weekly house points for children who achieve 100% attendance for the week or great efforts

• 🎟️ Entry into a weekly Golden Ticket raffle for every child with 100% attendance 

• 🏆 Half-termly attendance certificates 🥉➡️🥈➡️🥇 A Bronze, Silver and Gold award pathway across the year

• 📱 Positive text messages home to celebrate good attendance and punctuality 

• 🎉 Whole-class  recognition of excellent attendance

We believe celebrating attendance helps children develop positive habits and achieve their very best.

For our Attendance Policy 

Any child whose absence falls below 90% or around 19 days off over the year is classified by the Government as a Persistent Absentee. If your child’s attendance approaches this figure our attendance and pastoral team will contact you to discuss how we will work together to improve it.