Attendance

"Belonging, Believing, Together Achieving"

Every child is a HERO

Here, Everyday, Ready and On time

We are clear about the school and parents roles and responsibilities, ensuring your child's rights to their education.

We aim to uphold every child’s right to education, (Article 28 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) by:

promoting excellent attendance
reducing absence, including persistent absence
ensuring children are at school on time and ready to learn and in doing so, ensure our schools aims can be met, our vision achieved and our ethos realised.

At Bellfield we do this by;

setting the culture for and expecting high standards of attendance and communicating these clearly.
implementing strategies to promote excellent attendance and punctuality and reduce absence.
rigorously monitoring attendance data in order to spot trends and identify patterns.
building strong relationships with families, listening, understanding and empathising with identified barriers to attendance, but never tolerating them.
facilitating support either from within school, from our team of professionals or by making referrals to outside agencies.
enforcing attendance through statutory intervention or prosecution where all other avenues have been exhausted.

We have lots of incentives to support your child's attendance this includes;

A nurturing environment
An engaging curriculum
Supporting your child's learning
Positive relationships
Rewards for attendance

The Department for Education has statutory guidance that school must follow. (Link at the bottom of the page).

At Bellfield we take a proactive approach to support your child's attendance, this includes; fortnightly attendance meetings, a supportive staff and a pastoral team, working closely with external agencies. If you have any concerns that are preventing your child/ children attending school, please talk to us. We will listen and help you.

Leave during term time (following the legal duty of schools and statutory guidance)

Any requests for leave during term time must be made to Mr Attwood, Headteacher, before any leave is booked. This is done by completing an 'Exceptional Circumstances - Pupil Term Time Leave Request' form. A form can be collected from the school office.
The request must clearly detail the purpose and the dates for the leave requested.
A meeting or a phone call may be arranged to discuss the request further.
Whilst always considering each individual request, it is only in the most exceptional circumstances that leave will be granted e.g. religious holidays/observances . It is unlikely that leave would be granted for the purpose of a family holiday.
For any leave, whether authorised or not, once the booking is made, school must have evidence of holiday details, showing children's names clearly.
If parents/ carers choose to continue, despite it being unauthorised by school, they risk being issued a Penalty Notice under the 'Birmingham City Council Leave During Term Time' procedure.
School will publicise outcomes of Penalty Notices, promote the importance of regular attendance and the impact leave during term-time has.

Lateness

The classroom doors open at 8:35am to allow plenty of time for children to settle before the morning bell goes at 8:45am. The classroom doors will close when the bell goes and children will need to be brought to the late door or the main school office to enter school. Children who arrive after 8:45am/ 8.50am will be marked in the register as late. After 9.10am, children are recorded as 'U' and is classed as an unauthorised absence.

Poor punctuality can lead to your child;

feeling embarrassed in front of friends

missing the beginning of vital lessons

missing important instructions for the rest of the school day

learning bad habits which could affect employability in the future

Illness

We appreciate that from time to time, your child will fall ill. If you are unsure about whether to bring your child to school, the following link gives advice about when you should keep your child off school, and for how long;

Is my child too ill for school?

If you are unsure, please seek medical advice and stay in touch with school.

If you feel you need help with an ongoing health issue for your child, our School Nurse can help you. Please contact Beccy Brittle or Mrs Harvey, our Pastoral Leads, on Class Dojo or ring the office to arrange an appointment, who will make arrangements to offer support.

What do I do if my child is unwell?

Please phone school and provide a reason for absence by 9.15am on the day of their absence.

If your child has a medical condition you will need to inform the School Office.

If your child requires medicine during the school day please complete a medical form at the School Office. All medicines must be clearly labelled with the child's name and instructions for administering.

We follow guidance from the Health Protection Agency regarding childhood illnesses. We will share relevant information and guidance with you when we need to.

Bellfield Primary School