Attendance

At St Matthew’s CE Primary School we have high expectations of our pupils’ attendance, and expect them all to come to school every day, on time, unless they are unwell.

96% attendance is the minimum we expect. We never authorise holidays during term time, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Rewarding good attendance:

We place a high emphasis on rewarding those pupils who come to school every day. Rewards include:

  • daily attendance is one way of earning dojo points which are recorded by the teachers through class dojo in which dojo points add up to green cards and ultimately bronze, silver and gold certificates.
  • special rewards from the Headteacher
  • Attendance Ted spend the week with classes with good / improving attendance

Improving unsatisfactory attendance:

Where a pupil’s attendance is less than 96%, we use a number of strategies to seek an improvement. These include:

  • writing or calling a parent / carer
  • meeting with parent / carer with the school Family Liaison Officer, the Attendance Clerk and a member of the Senior Leadership Team.
  • seeking medical evidence / proof of illness
  • close monitoring by the Attendance Officer to identify any improvements.
  • referral to Kent County Council for an Early Help Notification- this will trigger additional support by the Early Help Team to discuss strategies to enable improved attendance.
  • referral to the County School Liaison Officer who will work with families. Persistent absence may lead to a fixed penalty fine.
  • all families who remove their child/ children from school for a holiday can be fined.

Please refer to the Attendance Policy for additional information.

Please refer to the table below which shows the clear impact on attainment that good attendance has for a child. We continue to reward our children who have good/outstanding attendance throughout the school year.

Attendance and attainment

This guide from the NHS is written to help parents keep children healthy and to know when they need to keep their children off school and when they are fine to attend.

First Aid Back-to-School-Guide

If your child is absent from school please contact the school on the morning of their absence by phone 01892 528098, or by email to our Attendance Officer, r.smith@st-matthews.kent.sch.uk.