Attendance & Absence

Promoting Excellent Attendance at St Mary’s

At St Mary’s, we are committed to ensuring that every child receives the best possible start in life. A key part of this is attending school regularly and on time. We know that good attendance is strongly linked to children feeling safe, happy and successful in school - academically, socially and emotionally.

We recognise that parents share our high aspirations for their children and we value working closely in partnership with families to ensure that every child can thrive.

Why Attendance Matters

Even seemingly small amounts of absence can have a significant impact on your child’s learning and wellbeing:

Attendance	Days Missed per Year	Learning Time Lost
100%	0	Full access
95%	~9.5 days	Nearly 2 weeks lost
90%	~19 days	Nearly 4 weeks lost
80%	~38 days	Almost a full term

The Law

Statutory Guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) called Working Together to Improve School Attendance came into force on 19^th August 2024 underpinned with new legislation The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024.

The new guidance gives clear responsibilities to ‘everyone’ involved in the care of a child and clearly connects that absence from school is classed as a safeguarding concern in terms of ensuring the whereabouts of every child is concerned and in exploring absence when the level of attendance is of concern.

Family holidays or absence due to recreation or leisure purposes are not allowed to be taken during school term time. While family holidays are enriching experiences, the school year is designed to give families the opportunity for these breaks without having to disrupt their children’s education (175 non-school days). Headteachers continue to have the power to authorise leave of absence, but only when requested in advance and for exceptional circumstances.

Under the new legislation and guidance, Schools/Academies MUST make a referral to the Local Authority when:

A child has 15 days of illness (continuous or accumulative) or they are likely to have. School will work alongside the LA to provide support and intervention for the child to improve attendance.
A child has 10 sessions (continuous or accumulative) unauthorised absence in a rolling 10 school week period, (U/O/N/G). Parents will receive a warning letter with a notice to improve attendance. If attendance does not improve following support and intervention, Trafford Council may issue a penalty notice.
Absences of 10 sessions of continuous unauthorised absence due to a family holiday (G) will result in an immediate referral for a penalty notice to be issued as follows:

Ø £80 per parent if paid within 21 days

Ø £160 per parent if paid between 22 and 28 days

Ø A second notice is £160

Ø For a third offence within 3 years, you may be prosecuted in court

Governors recently adopted the Trafford Attendance Policy. The Policy is available on the school website or from the school office on request. Outlined overleaf is a summary of the school’s attendance expectations.

If you ever have concerns about your child’s attendance or wellbeing, please speak to us. We are here to help.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support in making St Mary’s a place where children flourish.

St Mary’s CE Primary School and Nursery, Sale

Our Attendance Expectations

Parents are able to view and monitor their child’s attendance on Arbor

Attendance Mark

Registration. Children should arrive by 8:45am (Gates open at 8.35am)

Present (/)

Late Arrivals. Children who arrive after the main gate is closed must report to the Visitor’s Reception and be signed in. Children arriving between 8.45am and 9.15am will receive a late mark.

Registers close at 9:15am. Children arriving after 9.15am will be marked as unauthorised unless there is an acceptable reason.

Late (L)

Late after registration (U)

Absence Reporting. Parents must contact the School Office before 9:00am on each day of absence to report the reason for a child’s absence, unless a confirmed return date has already been provided (e.g. via medical evidence).

Where a child is absent from school with no reason provided, parents will be contacted to check on their welfare. In the event that school are unable to make contact with a guardian, this may lead to a home visit or referral.

Illness. We understand that illness and unexpected events do arise. Where attendance becomes a concern, we will always seek to work supportively with families to understand and overcome any barriers.

Illness (I)

Medical appointments Should be made outside school hours where possible. When appointments must take place during the school day, parents are expected to provide an appointment letter, text message, or confirmation from the healthcare provider to support the absence. Only the minimum necessary time for the appointment should be taken.

Medical (M)

Other Absence Requests

All other absences from school should be requested using an Absence Request Form – available from the school office or on the website. These will be forwarded to the Headteacher. Requests for time off school will be approved or declined and given one of the appropriate codes.

Authorised codes

Compassionate (C)

Sporting Events (K)

Religious (R)

Unathorised codes

Family Holiday (G)

No satisfactory Reason (O)

No Reason (N)

Attendance Monitoring.

All schools have a legal duty to ensure consistent monitoring and reporting of attendance locally and nationally. St Mary’s will monitor attendance and the welfare of children by

Daily – ensuring the correct codes are assigned to children for each session

Weekly – highlighting children who have fallen under the legal thresholds for attendance and make referrals as required

Termly – as above. School will also communicate with parents to offer support where children’s attendance is:

Ø Between 91% and 95% - below the national average

Ø Below 90% where the threshold of ‘persistent absence’ has been met

	Name	Format
Files

	Application for Authorised Absence Form.docx	.docx
	Attendance Policy Summer 2025.pdf	.pdf