This academic year, there is a government led initiative for all schools to improve attendance and punctuality.

The School Day 

The school gate will open at 8.40am and close at 8.50am. Children being dropped off by parents after 8:50 will be marked as a late arrival.  On any occasion when arriving late after 9am, it will be marked on your child’s record as an unauthorised absence, which is automatically reported to the local authority Attendance and Welfare Officer. This is an indication of the seriousness with which the Department for Education regards this issue. Closing the gate promptly and taking a ‘late list’ between 8:50-9:00am and another after 9:00am means the lateness is logged, but the children need no further reference to their lateness with their teacher.

The school day ends 3.20pm, gates will open at 3.15pm for parents/carers to collect their children from the allocated area on the playground.  Teachers/TA’s are responsible for ensuring children leave with a parent/carer.  If your child will be collected by someone other than a parent/regular carer ,please contact the school office in advance to ensure the teacher can be made aware of arrangements for the end of the day.

Why is punctuality important for your child?

When children arrive late, they miss out on essential instructions given at the beginning of the learning.  Children often become upset and anxious because they are not part of the full story of the day, missed the morning welcome and key phonics, reading or maths tasks.  Your child may also feel awkward arriving to the classroom when everyone else is settled.  Furthermore, when one child arrives late, it disrupts the entire class and the teacher - everyone’s learning is compromised.

Being regularly late, even by three minutes each day, can add up to nearly two hours of lost learning time in an average term; 15 minutes late each day equates to missing almost two weeks of school over an academic year.

Absences

As we are legally responsible for the safety and welfare of every child, it is essential that we know the precise reasons for their absence.  You can leave a voice mail at the office or email the office at: office@freshford.bwmat.org  as soon as you know your child will be absent.

It is a legal requirement for your child to attend school each day; we appreciate sometimes there are circumstances such as illness that mean some time off may be required. There may be other circumstances and these can be discussed in advance with the Headteacher and will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances. Unauthorised absences of 5 days or more will result in a fine.

Term time holidays will always be an unauthorised absence from school and will affect your child's progress. 

Parents are asked to follow NHS guidance regarding the length of time children should remain off school if they have an infectious illness.

For more information on attendance please visit www.bathnes.gov.uk and www.gov.uk