Your child being in school is important to us ...

St Andrew's is a Church school with a distinctive Christian ethos. We believe that 'Everyone is Special. Everyone is Different'.

Absence from school can cause all sorts of problems for children: they miss out on learning friendship and fun. As lockdown showed us, school is so much more than a learning space.

Currently there is a national concern about absenteeism and the effects it can have on life chances, so I thought I would outline what we do to make sure your child doesn't miss out.

• If your child is absent when the morning register is taken we check to see if we know why. This is a quick and simple matter if you have already phoned in to tell us that your child is unwell, or if the absence has been agreed in advance.
• If we have no reason for the absence we will telephone you for more information. This is a safeguarding priority: we need to know that absent children are safe.
• Each week our school inclusion team – comprising the headteacher, Mrs Holmes; the SENDCo, Mrs Sykes; and the home-school link worker, Mrs Suzanne Walker – meets to discuss attendance.
• If your child's average attendance falls below 90 percent the class teacher will have a chat with you to find out what, if anything, needs to change, and what we can do to help.
• If poor attendance becomes persistent absenteeism our school inclusion team will work with you to find solutions. If these have no effect, we may call in the County Attendance Team and, at this point, the 1966 Education Act may be enforced which brings us into the territory of penalty notices, court summons and worse. But ...

Of course, we do recognise that children get ill and may need to be off school because of illness.

... our target is for your child’s attendance to be 95 percent or higher and we want to celebrate this with them and you.
Please support your child in achieving this.