MFPS Attendance Blueprint
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Our school attendance champion is Mr McClure (Head of school) who works alongside Miss L Jones to support families in building positive attendance for their children.
As a school we work on inclusivity and all pupils and families feeling supported to be in school, on time, every single day. We have been working with Wayne Harris at Inclusive Attendance to audit this approach and ensure we are building on this positive approach every term. We recently received the Kite mark of Bronze Inclusive Attendance, which we were very proud of. We are now continuing to work on this multi-tiered approach to ensure we keep improving our offer and working towards silver and beyond. For this to be successful, our partnership with pupils and families is of vital importance. For more information about our support networks and strategies for improving attendance, see our Attendance policy (MFPS) or the attached blueprint document which is a shortened version of our policy (Bottom of page).
Our multi-tiered approach:
Tier 1:
Tier 2:
Tier 3:
WHY ATTENDANCE AT SCHOOL IS SO IMPORTANT
If a child of compulsory school age is registered at a school it is essential that they attend school regularly and maintain a pattern of good attendance throughout their school career.
Excellent attendance at school is important to allow a child or young person to fulfil their potential.
Below are just some of the key reasons why it is so important children attend school:
WHAT THE LAW SAYS
Under Article 45 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 (“the 1986 Order”), it is the duty of parents who have a child of compulsory school age1 to ensure their child receives efficient, full time education suitable to their age, aptitude, ability and to any special educational needs they may have. Such education may be provided by regular attendance at school or otherwise, for example home education.
Paragraph 3 (1) of Schedule 13 to the 1986 Order states that it is the
duty of a parent of a registered pupil of a school to secure their regular attendance at school. This applies to all children of compulsory school age who are on the roll of a school. As a parent you are legally responsible for making this happen.
Under Part III of Schedule 13 to the 1986 Order, if a child or young person who is registered at a school does not attend regularly, a parent can receive a fine not exceeding £1,000 in court (for each child). An Education Supervision Order (ESO) could also be made by a court under Article 55 of the Children (NI) Order 1995.
FAMILY HOLIDAYS
You can demonstrate your commitment to your child’s education by not taking holidays during term time. Any child or young person who is absent from school due to a holiday will miss out on important learning and will fall behind with their school work.
In each Academic Year there are only a maximum of 190 statutory school days – this allows plenty of time for holidays to be arranged outside term time.
Holidays taken during term time will be categorised as an unauthorised absence.
HOW PARENTS CAN HELP
For some parents, 90% may seem like an acceptable level of attendance, but the reality is that 90% attendance means that your child will miss half a school day each week or 19 days of school during the school year – that’s nearly 4 school weeks.
Our attendance leader Miss Jones is available throughout the day to call and speak to if you have any concerns. 01226710329 or via Twitter @mfps_parents
A useful video about attendance can be found here
If attendance at school becomes an issue for parents/pupils, the Education Welfare Service may become involved, see this link for further information: EWS Service Barnsley MBC