St Hugh’s Catholic Primary School is committed to providing an education of the highest quality for all its pupils and recognises this can only be achieved by supporting and promoting excellent school attendance for all.  Only by attending school regularly and punctually will children and young people be able to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them. High attainment depends on good attendance.

Community Welfare Officer

The Community Welfare Officer (CWO) will oversee and co-ordinate the school’s work in promoting regular and improved attendance and will ensure the Attendance Policy is consistently applied throughout the school.  The CWO will ensure that attendance issues are identified at an early stage and that support is put in place to deal with any difficulties.

Registration

The school gates open at 8.45 am and children are expected to be in class by 8.55 am when the register will be called by the class teacher.

Any child who is not present will be marked unauthorised absence unless leave has been granted by the school in advance or the reason for absence is already known and accepted by the school as legitimate.

Where a reason for absence is given and accepted by the school at a later stage, the register will be amended.

If absence is frequent or continuous, except where a child is clearly unwell, the staff at St Hugh’s Catholic Primary School will challenge parents about the need and reasons for their child’s absence and will encourage them to keep absences to a minimum. The decision of whether or not to authorise an absence will always rest with the school.

First response calling

Parents will receive a text message on the first day if a pupil is absent without explanation to establish a reason for the absence.  This helps to identify at an early stage pupils who do not have a good reason for absence or who may be absent without their parents’ knowledge.

Meetings with parents

Where there is an emerging pattern to a pupil’s absence, the school will invite parents to a meeting to discuss the reasons for the absences.  Plans will be put in place to support families and improve attendance. It will be explained to parents that any future absences will be unauthorised unless there is clear evidence of a good reason for them.

Punctuality

The school gates open 8:45 am and children can go directly to class. Pupils are expected to arrive at school on time every day.  It is very disruptive to their own education and that of others in their class if they are late. A pupil who is persistently absent by reason of lateness will be dealt with in the same way as other students with an emerging pattern of absence.

For health and safety reasons it is important that the school knows who is in the building.  Pupils arriving late should sign in at the school office. It is important that all pupils arriving late follow this procedure.

End of day procedures

School gates open at 3.10 pm. Staff will release your child when they see the adult who is collecting them.

Please inform a member of staff in the morning or notify the office by phone or in writing if there are changes in going home arrangements.

We will not release your child to an unknown adult or sibling under 16 years of age.

Term time Leave of Absence

St Hugh’s Catholic Primary School follows government and local authority guidelines regarding leave of absence during term time. Any leave requested will only be considered in the most exceptional of circumstances.

We will consider every application to leave individually. An application must be made in writing using the appropriate form (available from the school office) with appropriate evidence, in advance of the intended trip. A response to the request will be given within 7 days.

For more information on our Attendance Policy please click on the link below.

Attendance Policy & Procedure

If you would more information please about your child’s health and school attendance, click the following link, Is my child too ill for school?

We work with schools and the local authority to improve overall school attendance and reduce persistent absence. Please click the following link Liverpool Attendance Charter for more information.