Attendance

At Chorleywood Primary School, we place the highest priority on good attendance. Our current attendance is exceptionally high in comparison to national and Hertfordshire data.

In our recent pupil annual survey, February 22, 100% of our KS1 children and 97% of KS2 said they were happy and safe at school. As a staff team we work very hard to ensure every child is happy and successful at school, and believe there is a direct correlation between this and our high attendance.

School plays a key role in children’s development, and frequent absence from school increases the likelihood of a range of adverse outcomes in childhood and later life.

If a child’s attendance was 95% last year they have missed 10 days of school. If it was 90% they missed 20 days of school. If their attendance was 85% they have missed 30 days of school.

A child who is absent a day of school per week misses an equivalent of two years in their school life. 90% of young people with absence rates below 85% fail to achieve five or more good grades of GCSE and around one third achieve no GCSEs at all.

GCSEs may seem a long way off for you and your child but all absence at any stage leads to gaps in your child’s learning. This in turn can:

•  mean that they fall behind in work
• affect their motivation
• affect their enjoyment of learning
• lead to poor behaviour
• affect their desire to attend school regularly
• affect their confidence in school
• mean that they miss out on the social life of school and extra- curricular opportunities and experiences
• affect their ability to have or keep friendships
• negatively impact their mental health and well-being

Expectations of parents at Chorleywood Primary School:

• Parents are legally responsible for ensuring their child’s regular and punctual attendance.
• Parents are expected to ensure that their child attends school regularly, punctually, properly dressed and equipped and in a fit condition to learn.
• Parents will inform school on the first day of absence, of the reason for their child’s absence from school.
• Parents will avoid arranging family holidays and routine appointments during term time.
• Parents will work in partnership with other professionals to increase their child’s attendance as necessary.
• Parents will ensure that school are informed of any changes of contact details