Attendance and Punctuality
Attendance
Please read our attendance policy here.
St Mary's Priory follows Haringey guidelines regarding authorised and unauthorised absences. We request that all absences are reported (each day) via the school office: office@stmarysrcpriory.haringey.sch.uk by 9.30am. If a child is not reported absent by 9.30am, the office will contact the family.
Medical appointments will only be authorised with supporting evidence.
Illness is authorised at the Headteacher's discretion.
All other term time absences must be requested by email. These will only be authorised under exceptional circumstances.
The school monitors attendance every half-term. The school will write to parents/carers advising them of attendance below the National Expectation of 96% and will monitor to see an improvement. If there is no improvement, the school will invite parents/carers to a meeting with the Deputy Headteacher to discuss the reasons why the child’s attendance continues to be below the expected minimum and how we may support you with this. Attendance below 90% is considered as Persistent Absenteeism. These cases may be referred to the local authority when no improvement is seen and/or parents/carers have not engaged with the school.
To meet these objectives, St Mary’s Priory has established an effective and efficient system of communication with pupils, parents and appropriate agencies to provide mutual information, advice and support.
Should I keep my child off school?
Please click here for the UK Health Security advice.
Click here to read how being late or absent can affect your child's learning.
Punctuality
It is a parent’s responsibility to ensure that their children arrive at school on time. Lateness can disrupt the learning of others and can result in a pupil feeling greater stress and achieving poorer outcomes.
School opens at 8.40am and children should be sitting in their classrooms ready to start learning at 8.50am.
If your child comes to school after 8.50am, they are deemed as late, and must come in via the front office.
Pupils arriving after 9.30 am will be marked as absent for that session.
If a child is regularly late, we will follow the same procedure used for attendance before making a referral to the local authority.
Pupils leaving school for any reason must report to the office before they go, so we can ensure that they are appropriately chaperoned and signed out. Registers are also taken when the children return to classes after lunch. Unexplained absences will be investigated by the attendance officer.
To encourage good attendance we will:
- monitor attendance regularly and liaise with families if there are any concerns;
- support families in ensuring that their children attend school regularly.
We ask that families help us by:
- notifying the school promptly if your child is ill or absent for any unavoidable reason;
- completing a request by email, in advance, to request authorisation for any unavoidable absence;
- making non-urgent medical appointments outside of school hours, whenever possible;
- booking holidays outside of term time, as we cannot authorise term-time absences for family holidays;
- making sure children arrive at school on time each day - when pupils arrive late, it is disruptive for both the pupil and the other members of their class and can impact on overall achievement.
Working together to improve school attendance and punctuality - a summary of responsibilities
Attendance and Punctuality - a guide for parents and carers
Punctuality - a guide for parents and carers
What do we do to encourage attendance?
Attendance and Punctuality assembly: Every Friday, at our Celebration Assembly, we share the winning class for both the Infant and Junior schools. Our children know the target number for attendance is 97%! We aim for 100%, but know that 97% means you are 'with school'! Each winning class wins a trophy to display in the classroom for the week, and extra time in the Astroturf area that Friday.
Termly Attendance Rewards: The class with the best attendance at the end of the term will celebrate with a special prize. This term it is a trip to the cinema!
