Attendance
At St. Peter’s we provide a broad, balanced and rich curriculum that strives to ‘Unlock the Potential inside each and every unique individual’. For our children to maximise on the opportunities that we provide it is essential that they attend school regularly.
All schools are expected to ensure that every pupil has access to the full-time education to which they are entitled. The Department for Education clearly states that, “Where parents decide to have their child registered at school, they have an additional legal duty to ensure their child attends that school regularly. This means their child must attend every day that the school is open, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being too ill to attend or being given permission for an absence in advance from the school (exceptional circumstances).”
The is clear evidence to show that pupils with higher level of attainment have higher rates of attendance. If children are able to develop a good work ethic then this will last a lifetime. When a child is absent from school there is a danger that they miss valuable building blocks of learning which in turn could cause them to fall behind. When a child is late it disrupts the working day, not only for your child but also for the teacher and the other children in the class.
Attendance is reported as a percentage of sessions attended or missed. Good attendance is deemed at 96% or better. There are 2 sessions per day, 10 sessions per week and 380 sessions per year! A 2 week absence from school equates to 20 sessions. This is 5.3% of the school year and means that a child can only achieve 94.7% attendance. 1 day absent every fortnight equates to 38 sessions. This is 10% of the school year and means that a child can only achieve 90% attendance!
As a West Sussex school, St. Peter’s closely follows Local Authority guidance for school absences.
For further information regarding school attendance, please read the Attendance Policy found below.
Attendance Policy
