Attendance
At Duke Street we value the support of all parents in securing good attendance and punctuality. We strive to ensure that all our pupils reach their full potential and know that good attendance and punctuality lead to greater success.
Securing Good Attendance
At Duke Street we have a range of incentives which are used to reward good attendance.
Individual and class rewards are awarded regularly, and good attendance is celebrated in our good news assemblies each week.
Our school target for attendance is 96%. Any pupil whose attendance is at or above this level has the best possible chance of achieving well. For those pupil’s whose attendance dips below this level, a range of support measures are put in place by class teachers, our outreach team, the senior leadership team and our local authority attendance advisor to quickly work with parents to address any dips that can impact on progress.
Our leaflet below outlines these steps in more detail, so you know what to expect.
To see our attendance policy on the policy page, please click here: Policies Page
Punctuality
At Duke Street, we also value punctuality. Good punctuality is essential for pupils to achieve their full potential. It is also vital for students to form good habits for later in life.
All pupils are expected to arrive punctually for school every morning. The school doors open to all classes at 8:45am. All children are expected to be in classrooms ready for registers to be taken at 8:55am. Each day gets off to a very prompt start with key learning in maths, phonics or reading taking place across all classes during the first 15 minutes of each day.
Any child who arrives late will miss this key learning and will fall behind their peers. KS1 & KS2 classes are encouraged to arrive in school before the register is taken at 8:55am to allow them to have additional time to complete their Early Bird Maths. In KS1&KS2, children receive stickers for completing their Early Bird Maths by 9am. These stickers are collected on their personal sticker charts which they can exchange for prizes once complete. Class Early Boards are completed daily for all children who are in on time. Classes earn a treat once they are complete. Both these incentives are very popular with our pupils.
On the rare occasion that a pupil arrives late, they must be accompanied to the school office by an adult. The adult will then be required to complete a late arrivals form outlining steps that will be taken to ensure future punctuality. Our outreach team monitor late arrivals and parents will be invited to meetings should punctuality become an issue.
Term Time Holidays
At Duke Street, we support the local authority and the Department for Education by not authorising holidays during term time (unless there are exceptional circumstances) as we can see the detrimental impact this has on the children in the classroom on their return to school.
Parents do not have a right to take term-time holidays. The availability of cheap holidays is not an exceptional circumstance.
We appreciate that the cost of holidays during term time can be lower than during school holiday periods. To support families to take cheaper holidays, we have combined 4 of our INSET days in October and May/June to create extended two half term breaks. This provides 2 opportunities for families to take holidays during this time so that they can benefit from cheaper prices. In addition to this, parents have another 12 weeks of school holidays to select from for a holiday, which we believe is ample.
There may be occasions when, even in exceptional circumstances, the Head Teacher will not agree leave; for example, during SATs week or important transitional periods.
Reasons why you should not take your child out of school in term time
There is strong evidence to indicate that leave during term time can be damaging in
the following ways:
a) Even brief periods of absence from school can affect your child’s progress and attainment, causing them to fall behind and then struggle to catch up.
b) For every week of school a child misses, they lose 25 hours of education, which can never be regained.
c) If your child is being assessed for special educational needs (SEN), absences can interfere with the statutory process and result in serious delays in receiving appropriate provision.
d) Absences can cause problems of social reintegration when your child returns to school, affecting their self-confidence and their relationships with other children and teachers.
Your child gets a holiday from school approximately every 6 weeks, so you should use this time to take your child on holiday. If you choose to take your child on holiday in term time without permission, the Local Authority may issue you with a Penalty Notice.
Penalty Notices
If a Penalty Notice is issued, you have up to 28 days from receipt of the notice to pay the penalty. Penalty Notices are issued at £160 per parent, per child. If paid within 21 days of being issued the cost is £80.
If you don’t pay the fine within 28 days you may be prosecuted for your child’s absence from school. Prosecution can result in a criminal record, a community order or a much bigger fine.
Any second penalty notice issued to the same parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period will be issued at the rate of £160 to be paid within 28 days with no option for a discounted rate.
A maximum of 2 penalty notices may be issued to a parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period, so at the 3rd (or subsequent) offence(s) another course of action will need to be considered (such as prosecution or one of the other attendance legal interventions).
Further information about Penalty Notices and prosecution can be found on the
Lancashire County Council website at:
https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/children-education-families/schools/pay-an-educationpenalty-notice/
- The school should be approached in writing before a holiday is booked to seek the headteacher’s authorisation, if this is during term time.
- Further information can be found in our attendance policy. If we can offer any support with school attendance or punctuality, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with your child’s class teacher or our outreach team.
