Next week, children will be given sealed letters with details of their current autumn term % attendance figures. Please note, the date of printing is today (10th December), so please don’t be concerned about missing registration marks after this date.
When we issue ‘termly’ attendance letters we colour code the subject title (not the paper) as follows:
Green = Excellent attendance for the previous term (between 96 – 100%).
Orange = Generally good attendance but may require improvement as their attendance is below the governments target of 96% (between 90 – 96%) at this point in the year.
Red = Attendance has fallen into what Local Authority deem as ‘the danger zone’ as their level of attendance has dropped below 90%.
We also attach your child’s academic year attendance registration certificate, and on the top right hand corner you will find their % attendance from September to present, it is this figure we need to monitor moving forward, not individual terms. Schools are responsible for monitoring their own attendance to ensure children are not missing out on their education. We follow the ‘Durham County Attendance Toolkit’ and all our letters, procedures and policies follow this guidance. By monitoring individual attendance in school, and offering support to the families who need it, we hope that future referrals to the Local Authority are minimal to none.
Our whole school current level of attendance is 95.39% (September to present), which is slightly below where we strive for it to be, but, the recent winter viruses has been out in force! If you have received a red letter, the content of your letter is curtailed to your child’s particular reasons for low attendance (if provided to us). We are very aware that some children have specific medical needs which can cause absence(s) from school and we are sensitive to this when we write to you each term.
If your child has had any holidays in term time, whether authorised or not, this will obviously cause low attendance, which is most likely the reason for a red letter on this occasion.
Please remember to make medical appointments outside of school time, if this cannot be arranged, you must provide us with a copy of the medical appointment.
If your letter advises you make an appointment with us for further discussion, please do so before 10th January, as we are happy to support you in this matter.
We would like to bring to your attention that this is the first term of the school year, so if your child has been unwell this term their attendance is obviously going to be low. Please try not to worry if this has happened to your child as there are two further terms which means excellent attendance moving forward will bring them out of the ‘danger zone’.
