Celebrating attendance at Ermine Primary Academy

19th November 2021

Congratulations to all of the classes whose attendance, this week (11th - 18th November), is above 96%!
 

There is a very strong link between regular school attendance and achievement and if your child is frequently absent from school the chances of them gaining appropriate progress or attainment will be much lower. The Government’s target attendance for all children is 96%. 

School Day

8.30am- School gates open

8.45am- School starts

8.45am- 9.00am Registration

Please do not allow your child to be on the school premises before 8.30 am unless he/she attends Breakfast Club.  Staff are not on duty until 8.30 am therefore the school cannot take responsibility for your child prior to this time.  

Lates

The school doors shut at 9.00am so all children after this time will need to come through the main school office. If your child arrives between 9:05am and 9.35am your child will be marked as late.  If they arrive after 9.35am your child will be given an unauthorised attendance mark.

Medical Appointments

In order to minimise absences from school due to medical appointments we ask that all medical appointments are made out of school hours unless vital or due to an emergency.  If your child does have a medical appointment please bring a copy of the letter/appointment card into the main school office.                                                                                                                                                                

Medical Evidence

Should your child’s attendance become a concern you will be asked to provide medical notes/evidence for all absences.  Absences for which we do not receive medical evidence will not be authorised.

Holidays

We do not authorise any holidays taken in term time. Parents need to write to the Principal to request a leave of absence for exceptional circumstances. Fixed Penalty notices may then be issued by Lincolnshire County Council once children have returned to school.

Poor attendance

At Ermine Primary Academy we want to support families with regular attendance at school, if we identify that attendance appears to be dropping we will support you to help this improve. We may invite you to discuss with the attendance and welfare team an early help assessment to identify the best ways to move forward. 
If a pupil’s attendance falls below 90% action will be taken which may include letters, meetings in school, home visits or the issuing of fixed penalty warning notices or legal proceedings against the parent or carers of pupils who are persistently absent. This procedure may be shortened if your child’s attendance 85% or less and has not improved over the following four week period.

Attendance rewards

• All children from Reception to year 6, have been issued with an attendance merit chart. Every day your child is on time and in school they will receive an attendance merit star stamp. After they have collected 20 merits, they can exchange the chart for a diamond ticket. With this diamond ticket they choose a number from 1-75 and place their ticket on that number. As soon as every number has been filled, a raffle is drawn and if chosen, the child gets to choose a prize to take home and keep. Prizes range from footballs, water bottles, gel pen sets, cuddly toys, poppets, sets of hot wheels, and many more. 

• Each week during star assembly, the classes with above 96% attendance will be rewarded with the attendance cup for their class to keep for the week. These classes will also be celebrated in our weekly newsletter. 

• Classes are also working together to achieve a class reward. Each day the class has 100% attendance they can colour in a letter of the word ‘perfect attendance’. Once all the letters are coloured in, the class discuss with their teacher what the reward will be. 

• Every child who has 97% attendance for the term will receive a certificate presented in assembly. This will be on green paper to show the attendance above the national attendance goal. 

• Children with attendance of over 98% will be rewarded with a celebration event with members of the senior leadership team. The 100% attendance children will also receive a special certificate during the event to celebrate.