Attendance and Punctuality
At Leslie Manser Primary School, we very much recognise the importance of attendance ad punctuality on children’s social and emotional development, in addition to their academic progress. As a school, we offer significant amounts of support to families where attendance is a worry. We are also very mindful that some children have additional needs which mean that they have regular medical appointments which can only happen during the school day and these children will never be penalised for being absent for this reason.
We have a number of rewards which our children are hugely invested in and these have certainly been inspirational for them, as our attendance is currently above the local and national level of attendance and we have been recognised by the Department for Education as a school who has made significant improvements in our attendance over recent months.
Incentives and rewards:
Every half term, we give attendance certificates to every child who has achieved 100% attendance that term (this includes children who have had unavoidable medical appointments or extenuating circumstances). This means that every child starts again each half term with the opportunity to earn a certificate rather than only the children at the end of the year. Our Attendance Activists children who have been appointed, love giving out these special certificates each half term.
We also have a “Scores on the Doors” incentive where, in addition to our Headteacher certificates and Leslie Manser Values certificates, our Friday Celebration Assembly is the time when our classes compete with each other to see who has the best attendance over the week and see which class has won a coveted glittery letter. Every day that each child is in school and on time, contributes to the class total for the week. We have set the target as 97% as we know that sometimes illness can strike. The first class to spell out Leslie Manser in super glittery letters on their door is able to choose a class treat which could be anything from a non-uniform day to a pizza party to a film afternoon with popcorn. All of the other classes will then follow on with the same treat when they have reached Leslie Manser too. The children are extremely excited every Friday to see who is a step closer to achieving this award. The Infant and Junior class with the highest attendance that week, also earns an extra ten minutes playtime which is always very exciting.
Once the first class has achieved Leslie Manser, they then progress onto winning silver and gold letters to create Celebrating and then Attendance, again, with even more class treats to be won.
We also focus on certain times of the year with little bonus prizes for example ‘The 15 Days of Christmas’ where we create random name spinners with every child in school that day included in the Early Years/Key Stage 1, Lower Key Stage 2 and Upper Key Stage 2. We then spin it to see who wins an advent calendar or selection box every day, for 15 days. The same also happens at Easter where three children each day win an Easter Egg just for being in school and on time. The children are very excited when a member of the Attendance Team appears at their classroom door with chocolate in their hands!
Our final whole school incentive, is at the end of every full term, we do another random prize spinner and choose one child to win a huge prize. Our most recent prize was a full size football table which went to live with a very happy Year 4 child. The number of days that each child comes to school that term equals the number of spinner entries they earn so the better the attendance, the greater their chance. The Attendance Activist children enjoy writing to local businesses to try and gain some exciting prizes for future big spins.
In addition to whole school incentives, we also have bespoke incentives for children we have identified during our monthly Attendance Meetings. Sometimes children need a little bit of help to come into school on time or to even manage coming to school at all and so we invite those children to come to the office every day and stamp their “Yay? I’m here!” or “Yay! I’m on time!” cards, choose a sticker and then an enjoy a self-chosen reward after ten days of coming into school and on time. The children are very motivated by this and enjoy thinking of their next reward.
Attendance and Punctuality Concerns:
As a school, we fully understand that sometimes life can be difficult not just with illness, but other situations and our Attendance Team offer an open door policy to provide support to any families who are finding attendance and punctuality challenging for whatever reason. We ask that any illness is reported on a daily basis via email or phone call please and where a child is ill for a number of days, we will also ask for medical evidence such as a GP appointment or interaction with a Pharmacist. This is so your child’s absence can be classed as an authorised absence. The Pharmacist is able to support with some of the smaller illnesses which we know are quite easily shared within a school.
Where we recognise that a child is becoming a persistent absentee, we will hold regular meetings with parents/carers and offer a huge level of support to turn it around. Unfortunately there are times where we have to initiate steps in our Attendance Policy (see the Policies folder within the website) where we request parents/carers attend a School Attendance Panel meeting which can ultimately end in legal action if the child’s attendance continues to be a concern. This is simply because the impact on children’s development is so profound. The Attendance Policy also outlines in further detail about holidays in term time as we are very aware of the impact of having days off during school time.
We welcome any questions or comments on any of our attendance incentives or the Attendance Policy.
