Attendance & Progress
“The children who are most happy and successful in school are those with the best attendance.”
Absence line phone no: 01536 203806
Who can help:
At Rockingham Primary School we feel that we have a culture where we have staff who are at hand to help. We have Mrs Davies in our pastoral team who is on hand to help parents and carers. Our Senior Leadership Team including Miss Goodwin, Mrs Osmond and Miss Harman are also available on the playground to discuss any concerns and offer help.
Going to school regularly is crucial to your child's academic and social development. Studies show that if a child doesn't settle into a pattern of good attendance during their first month in school, it is more difficult for them to develop this later. Therefore it's really important that we work with you to settle your child into school quickly and ensure that they attend every day possible.
Just missing one or two days per month may not sound like much, but it can make a real difference to your child's future. It can slow your child's ability to learn to read and makes them less likely to do well in their GCSEs at secondary school (which will limit their lifetime earning potential). No parent wants this for their child and that is why we want to work closely with you to ensure that your child is at school and is happy at school.
If your child is ill
We know that sometimes your child may be unable to attend because they feel unwell.
We know that sometimes your child may be unable to attend because they feel unwell. In this case please contact the school office and leave a message telling us the reasons for your child’s absence, by 8:55am each day. Some parents think that their child may be better off at home if they are ill, but generally we are happy to have them in school and will keep a close eye on them to make sure that they are ok, if you ask us to. We use NHS guidance to advise and you can access this yourself here.
If we do not hear from you first thing in the morning and your child is not in school, then we will try and make contact with you as quickly as possible to ensure that your child is safe. This could be by text, telephone or home visit. Please rest assured that we always pursue this until we are satisfied so you know that your child’s welfare is important to us.
The Legal Bit
Parents are legally responsible for ensuring that their children attend school regularly and can be fined and even imprisoned if they fail to do this. Children must attend school from the beginning of the term following their fifth birthday until they are sixteen. The only exception to this is if the parent elects to home educate their child, in which case they must register their intention to do this and the quality of the education that they provide will be regularly monitored.
Parents do not have a right to keep their child away from school without good reason. Legally there are only two reasons for keeping your child off school; illness or with the authorisation of the principal.
Parents have no right to take their child out of school for a holiday and may be fined by Northamptonshire county council for doing so. Further information can be found here.
In the unlikely event that you want to ask for your child’s absence to be authorised due to an exceptional circumstance, then please put this in writing to Miss Goodwin so that you can set out the special circumstances of your request.
Attendance Documents
