Letters

Attendance Letter to Parents - 10th October 2025

Regular school attendance plays an important part in helping your child grow up to become a reliable and responsible person. There are now clear links between regular school attendance and children's attainment in later life. 

Every Day Counts

365 Days in the Year	Only 190 of these are school days!	Absence from school
100% Attendance	190 days in school	0 days
95% Attendance	180 days in school	Up to 2 weeks
90% Attendance	171 days in school	Up to 4 weeks
85% Attendance	161 days in school	Up to 6 weeks
80% Attendance	152 days in school	More than 1/2 a term
75% Attendance	143 days in school	9+ weeks absence

We aim for every child to achieve at least 96% attendance. 

Our whole school attendance target is to achieve 96.5% or above.

Punctuality

Getting to school on time is part of learning to become a responsible and reliable person.

• Our school day begins at 8:45am.
• If you are running late, please telephone the school office on 0191 421 0390.  
• On arrival at school, please report to the school office so that your child can be marked on the register.

10 Top Tips

• Get your school clothes ready the night before.
• Pack your school bag and homework the night before
• Don't go to bed late.
• Set the alarm clock/mobile phone 5 minutes earlier.
• Enjoy your breakfast.
• Don't watch television.
• Get washed and dressed.
• Leave for school at the same time each morning (set yourself a target time to leave the house and reward yourself for being on time!).
• Arrange to walk to school with a friend or,
• Arrange to meet your friends in the playground for a catch-up before school.

It is no coincidence that higher attendance leads to higher academic achievement and the Department for Education expect that each pupil should achieve at least 96% school attendance. 

When we have concerns regarding individual pupil attendance, we will invite you into school to our Attendance Panel.  This is an opportunity for you to discuss your child's school attendance and where appropriate punctuality.  From this point, we may take the following steps to improve your child's school attendance/punctuality:

• Place your child's school attendance on a four week monitoring period with a view to seeing improvement.
• Contact your child's GP, with your consent, to establish if your child has medical needs which may prevent them from attending school.
• With your consent,  make a referral to the school nursing team, to put in place a care plan to help establish good patterns of school attendance/punctuality.
• Where we feel, we have exhausted all supportive options, we will look to refer your child's school attendance to the Local Authority with a view to securing a fine or prosecution in the Magistrate's Court.