Attendance
Our Attendance this Week
Our Attendance Target for the whole school and individual pupils is 95%. |
Week Ending 19th May 2023
The Importance of Good Attendance and Punctuality
Regular attendance at school is vital to help children get the best possible start in life.
Children who frequently miss school often fall behind and there is a strong link between good school attendance and achieving good results.
Please contact us if you are experiencing any difficulties in getting your child into school, our Attendance and Welfare Officer, Mrs Abbott can provide support to improve your child's attendance and can be contacted on 0113 5217040 or parents@thorpe.leeds.sch
Your Responsibilities as a Parent
All children aged between 5 and 16 are required by law to receive an education, and it is the duty of parents and carers to ensure that they are supported to do so.
For more information on your statutory responsibilities, check out Leeds City Council's One Minute Guide.
If your child is ill
Children sometimes have to miss school because of illness or medical issues.
If this is the case, parents should contact school the same day on 0113 5217040 and choose Option 1 to let us know the reason for their absence and when we can expect them back in school.
Please contact school with an update on each day of the child's absence.
Advice on when and how long to keep an unwell child at home can be found at Public Health England.
Medical Appointments
If your child needs to be absent from school to attend a medical appointment, please let us know in advance.
We will also ask you to provide evidence, such as an appointment letter or appointment card.
Non-Reporting of Absence
If your child is absent and we don't receive a reason we will contact you via telephone in the first instance.
If we fail to make contact, you may receive a voicemail, email or text asking you to contact school.
If we fail to make contact regarding a child's absence, we may make a home visit as part of our safeguarding procedures.
Our Responsibilities as a School
Our attendance target is 95% for the school and individual pupils; we have several measures in place to help us achieve and maintain this.
Attendance and Welfare Officer |
Mrs Abbott is the first point of contact regarding absence and any enquiries about attendance, including exceptional leave requests. If you are experiencing any difficulties that are affecting your child's attendance and/or punctuality, contact her on 0113 5217040, Option 1 or parents@thorpe.leeds.sch.uk |
Promoting Good Attendance in School
To promote good attendance in school, we recognise the class with the highest attendance and the fewest late marks with a whole class reward each week. The best attenders also get a trophy to keep in their classroom for the week.
We also display attendance figures and late marks on each classroom door and publish weekly attendance figures in the newsletter.
Persistent Absenteeism
At Thorpe, we monitor all pupils with attendance below 95%.
Pupils with attendance below 90% - for whatever reason - are classed as persistent absentees.
Parents or carers of persistent absentees risk being referred to the Leeds Attendance Team, which may result in a fine or legal proceedings.
Schools are Unable to Authorise Term Time Holidays
Information regarding term time holidays will be passed to the Leeds Attendance Team, who may issue a fine.
Taking your child out of school at any time of the year has a large impact on their education.
Our curriculum at Thorpe Primary School is densely packed and the children continue learning right through to the end of the academic year. Your child could miss out on important teaching and learning which may lead to gaps in their understanding the following year.
It's not just academic learning that children miss when they are taken out of school for term time holidays; children missing school in the summer term towards the end of the academic year may miss out on school trips, sports day and other end of year activities.