Attendance
Mrs Louise Greenham is the Attendance Champion for Damers First School
Regular school attendance is an important part of giving children the best possible start in life!
Our commitment to improving rates of attendance remains a key priority. We believe that attendance and punctuality is part of good behaviour with our aim to strive for 100% attendance and punctuality for each child. We must support all families to ensure all children are up, ready and motivated to get to school on time and to have high rates of attendance.
We are committed to:
- promoting the positives of attendance
- having clear escalation systems for absence
- addressing persistent absence quickly
- working with external agencies for exceptional cases
We believe that attendance is a shared responsibility and the following is key:
- effective leadership overseeing attendance
- high quality teaching and learning to engage and enthuse all pupils
- strong pastoral and safeguarding systems
- effective monitoring and robust administration protocols to act upon absence
- a warm welcome and clear routines for catch up upon pupils’ return* from absence
*we know that absence from school can result in a dip in academic and social stamina, tiredness and difficulties in re-adapting to the school routines
Please let the school know if your child is ill and not in school as soon as possible. If the office does not hear by 9.15, your child will be marked as an unauthorised absence.
Our safeguarding message is clear for the community; if we can’t see a child, we don’t know they’re safe. We know there are a wider range of factors which can affect attendance including Covid, long-term illness and longer respiratory infections.
The facts are that children who frequently miss school fall behind in their learning and do less well in exams. We recommend that all parents read the helpful guide produced by Dorset Council.
Reporting Absences
All absences must be reported to the school office on each day of your child’s absence. You may be asked to supply information from the child’s GP as to why they are away.
If we do not hear from you and your child is absent, we may need to escalate our concern to Dorset Council social care/Dorset Police in order to ensure you and your child are safe.
Our Attendance Policy clearly and comprehensively explains the attendance expectations we have of all pupils and can be found on our School Policies page.
