Attendance
Is your child missing out?
Research has shown that regular attendance and good punctuality are crucial factors in students achieving their full potential in education. At Biggin Hill Primary School we wish to work in partnership with parents and carers and so are seeking your full support in ensuring that your child attends school every day and on time. We are always pleased to work together with parents/carers in resolving any difficulties but we are also committed to improving attendance levels at school.
The target attendance figure for all pupils is a minimum of 97% attendance. Based on current attendance figures your child will be placed in one of the following groups below.
Your child will be informed of their Attendance Group by their class teacher. Biggin Hill Primary School are monitoring students closely whose attendance is falling and will contact you if your child’s attendance does not improve. As a parent/carer you are committing an offence if you fail to ensure that your child attends school regularly and punctually, even if they are missing school without your knowledge. It is important that parents/carers monitor single day’s absence, as these days soon add up to weeks.
Good attendance is encouraged through a comprehensive and effective reward system.
Attendance rewards
At Biggin Hill we love to reward children for their amazing attendance and therefore we have a number of different initiatives in place.
The attendance league table
Points are rewarded to each class depending on their weekly attendance. The class at the top of the league table each term (one for lower school, one for upper school) receive a special prize. Prizes in the past have included soft play centre visits, bowling visits, cinema visits, Build a Bear visits, discos, pizza delivery, bouncy castles etc…
Well done to 3/CS and 1/LG for winning the Summer term attendance prize for their classes! Who will win the class prize next term?! The attendance league tables will be reset when we return after Christmas. Here is the attendance league table for the Autumn term for week ending 27/09/2024. Good luck to everyone!
100% attendance draw
All children who receive 100% attendance for each term are entered into a prize draw where 1 child from each year group wins a £10 voucher.
Well done to the winners of the Summer term who all received a £10 Smyths voucher.
Family fun prize
Here at Biggin Hill we believe that attendance is a family responsibility and therefore all of the family deserve a reward.
Young children cannot come into school if parents or carers don't bring or encourage them to attend.
Each child whose attendance is above 97% will therefore be entered into a prize draw to win a fabulous family prize at the end of the Autumn, Spring and Summer terms! This could be a voucher for a meal out, a family bowling ticket, a family visit to a farm, a family cinema ticket, a summer holiday hamper etc...
The most recent family prize was a £50 voucher for Cineworld!
Weekly attendance prize
Each child who manages 100% attendance for the week will receive a certificate and be entered into a class raffle for a prize.
Attendance certificates
We acknowledge and reward good attendance by awarding Gold (100%), Silver (98 – 99%) and Bronze (96 – 97%) certificates to children each term.
Focus on Attendance
If you are concerned about this new ‘Focus on Attendance’, there are important steps that you can take:
- Ensure your child attends every day, on time, equipped and ready to learn. The school opens at 8.50am and students should be in the building no later than 8:55am. Students arriving after 9:30am may be marked absent and will require an explanation from the parent/carer or the absence will remain un-authorised.
- Ensure school has up-to-date addresses and telephone numbers. We will contact you if your child is absent and you have not contacted school. This ensures that the absence is quickly identified.
- If your child is ill, contact school on the first day of absence and provide an explanation.
- If you wish to check that your child has arrived at school contact school Attendance Officer, Mrs C Cooper or a member of the admin team. They will inform you if your child has been registered.
- If no contact is received regarding the absence, it is recorded as un-authorised. Ultimately school is responsible for deciding if the absence is acceptable or not. Only genuine absence will be authorised. You will be asked to provide medical certificates if your child has a poor attendance record.
- Ensure that medical appointments are made outside of school time.
- Avoid trivial absences such as, buying new shoes/birthdays. This would not be accepted as a reasonable absence.
- Holidays should not be taken in school time. Any Leave of Absence can only be agreed by the Headteacher and only agreed where there are exceptional circumstances.
- Respond to letters, telephone calls or visits regarding attendance and punctuality.
- Contact your child’s class teacher if you are experiencing difficulty in getting your child into school.
Thank you for working in partnership with us to achieve the highest possible levels of attendance and punctuality at Biggin Hill Primary School.
Please note that children with regular lateness to school in the mornings will not be entered into the prize draw if the time adds up to more than sixty minutes in a half term. It would be unfair for lateness that adds up to so much school time to not be taken into account when we do our attendance traffic light letters.
More information regarding attendance can be found in our attendance policies.
