Attendance
Don’t miss a moment of the best years of your life!
At Thundersley Primary we know that regular attendance is directly linked to raising achievement and develops skills for life and work. Please support the school in this by ensuring that your child attends school regularly and arrives ready to learn and on time at 8.45 am.
Analysis of the KS2 SAT’s clearly shows that the children regularly late score LOWER than those children who complete their early morning work everyday.
Being 20 minutes late every day means you miss 100 minutes of Maths every week. Multiply this by 39 weeks a year = 3900 minutes missed a year. Basically this is 65 hours missed a year!
Attendance Matters
Primary national pupil attendance was around 96% pre COVID. This means that a child needs to attend school for at least 177 out of 190 days to meet national expectations.
Going to school regularly is important for your child’s future. Parents are responsible for making sure their children receive full-time education. Talking to your child and their teachers could help solve any problems if your child does not want to go to school.
Regular school attendance
Good attendance shows secondary schools and future potential employers that your child is reliable.
Thundersley Primary school records details of all children’s attendance and absence at school. We do so at the beginning of morning and afternoon sessions. If your child is absent, you must tell the school why immediately.
Your responsibilities as a parent
By law, all children of compulsory school age must receive a suitable full-time education. For most parents, this means registering their child at a school – though some choose to make other arrangements to provide a suitable, full-time education.
Once your child is registered at Thundersley Primary School, the parent is legally responsible for making sure they attend on a regular basis. If your child does not attend school on a regular basis you could get fined or be prosecuted in court.
How to prevent your child from missing school
You can help prevent your child missing school by:
- Making sure they understand the importance of good attendance and punctuality
- Taking an interest in their education – ask about school work and encourage them to get involved in school activities
- Discussing any problems they may have at school and letting their teacher or Headteacher know about anything serious
- Not letting them take time off school for minor ailments – particularly those which would not prevent you from going to work
To avoid disrupting your child’s education, you should arrange appointments and outings:
- After school hours
- At weekends
- During school holidays
- You should not expect Thundersley Primary School to agree to your child going on holiday during term time.
Support on school attendance
A child’s school attendance can be affected if there are problems with:
- Bullying
- Housing or care arrangements
- Transport to and from school
- Work and money
If your child starts missing school, you might not know there is a problem. When you find out, ask your child and then approach their teacher or the school attendance team - Miss Dawson, Mrs Armour, Mrs Hayward.
We can provide support or signpost families to support for a wide range of issues - if we know. Please let us know if you or your child needs support.