Please click on this link to our attendance initiative "Classopoly" page and see how fantastically your children are doing with their attendance levels. Thank you to all our parents who are helping their children to progress their learning by being in school regularly and on time! This makes a huge difference to their education and you are helping them to achieve in life. We will work with you to help achieve this - Miss Jordan - Attendance Lead
June 2023
Here we are already hurtling towards the end of this current academic year! It is great to see all our wonderful children in school as much as possible and because of this, they are all learning so much - thank you to all of you who are helping your children to succeed by ensuring that they are in as much as possible. As a school, we are pleased to see that our attendance level continues to be favourable compared to the national and local authority average, however it is still below the set target of 96%. We ask you, as ever to to please do your very best to help your child by having them attend school every day. Your children want to be in - they speak to us all the time about it and not a day goes by without a child asking me about how their class is doing and is it possible that they may get to play the Classopoly board that week - it's great! Lots of fantastic class attendances last term with lots of rewards - crazy hair, odd socks, extra play, movie in class session with treats, own clothes day, sit where you want day, extra I-pad time, milkshake and biscuits and bring a toy/bear to school day.
Once again thank you for joining us in helping your children celebrate good attendance and in turn, shaping their education, giving them the best chances of success in later life. Excellent! Don't forget - we are here to help you at any time with advice around securing good attendance and reducing absence - if we know there may be an issue, we can help.
Miss Jordan - Attendance Lead
November 2022
We have commenced our first week back in school for Autumn Term 2 - Classopoly continues to prove popular and we have seen some fabulous attendances by the classes this week. Year 6 continue to show how to be in school regularly and on time - well done year 6 and enjoy your board won reward of "Penalty Shoot-Out". Year 1 has achieved a whopping 98.8% with Reception an amazing 99%. Year 3 have achieved very well also this week back - just need to have less late arrivals in a morning please! Classopoly was very well played by year 3 with them winning the "Go to the Movies" reward - fantastic!! It will be a movie afternoon, with treats for them soon.
We want to continue the good work and we should all be pleased with our OfSTED report earlier in the year, where the following was written:
"Leaders have been relentless in their efforts to improve school attendance. Families have responded to new initiatives. Pupils said that they love the ‘classopoly’ game as it makes them want to come to school. School attendance has improved considerably"
OfSTED - May 2022
By working together, we can continue to embed good attendance and punctuality into our every day routine and it is now a normal expectation that children should be in school as often as possible and on time each day. Thank you for helping your child adopt a good sense of responsibility by showing them the importance of good attendance and punctuality. You are enabling them with good life skills.
Academic Year 2022/2023
Welcome to the new academic year and it has certainly been a busy one! School ended the last academic year below target, just below 95% and this needs to improve in this new academic year. Especially after the lengthy lockdowns, it is ever important that our children are in school every day possible so we can help them catch up and thrive. We thank you for working with us to ensure the best outcomes for your children!
The first half autumn term that has just passed saw lots of illness absence and an unacceptable amount of holidays in term time and visits abroad - please be reminded although we say it often, we will request a penalty notice fine for unauthorised holidays in term time. This is a last resort, and we would much rather have the children in school and learning - there are many weeks outside of term time in which to take family holidays. We appreciate the cost implications and it is the same for everyone, but please do not disadvantage your child by making them miss important learning time!
Punctuality - the school day has only changed by a few minutes at the start of each day - please ensure your child arrives at school in enough time to be seated at their desk by 8.45am - there are too many late arrivals every day. Thank you.
Spring Term 1 - 18th February 2022
Firstly big thanks and congratulations to all our parents and children who continue to ensure they are in school often, learning and catching up as much as possible - it's been a very busy half term! School in now half way through the school academic year already and has achieved an overall attendance of 94.8% with authorised absence at 3.8% and unauthorised at 1.4%. There have been a number of confirmed covid cases in school and this has contributed to the authorised absence figure - and whilst authorised, is still an absence and it impacts on the attendance levels.
We would remind parents that we do not authorise holiday absences in term time and these will be unauthorised if you choose to go ahead with it, and a penalty notice fine may be requested from the court officer at Salford Local Authority. This is a last resort as we would absolutely prefer to have the children in school for every day they are legally supposed to be so we can educationally provide for them and also support their wellbeing.
When a child's attendance drops below the school target, the Attendance Lead will monitor and may chat with you, as parents, to see if school can help in any way - it does not take many absent days to see a real drop in attendance levels. Should it reach 90% then this becomes classed as "persistent absence" and is of great concern - parents will be required to come into school for a meeting to discuss how school can further support parents and also for parents to tell us how they can also contribute to increasing their child's attendance.
We look forward to continuing the very hard work that goes into ensuring attendance and punctuality is kept a high priority - the children delight in being in school and taking part in the many learning activities and we thank all the parents who support their children to be the best that they can be by being in school every day, and on time! As ever, we welcome any queries or concerns you may have around this area and everyone is welcome to come and speak to us - we will always endeavour to support wherever we can.
Miss L Jordan - School Attendance Lead February 2022
End of year attendance - how did we do? Pretty well in fact thanks to the efforts of everyone in our school community! As you know, we give attendance and punctuality a high profile at The Cathedral School of St Peter and St John RC Primary. What a year it has been in many ways yet despite the many hurdles that we have all had to overcome, you have successfully managed to get your children into school at every opportunity! Our school has been very fortunate in not having sent home any bubbles this academic year and this is some achievement – many thousands of children across the city of Salford have been regularly sent home to isolate with their bubble. Our children never cease to amaze us with their resilience and determination, taking responsibility for their own attitude towards attendance and punctuality. We very much hope to continue this into the new academic year this September 2021 onwards.
We had a fabulous end of year Classopoly in each class where many certificates were given out, rewards and raffle prizes won – well done to everyone. Our school achieved fantastic overall attendance despite the lockdown times and this will be reflected in the children’s progress for sure. For the available educational provision that children were able to attend, our end year attendance was 96.5% - this is really fantastic! Even when we take into account all absence due to the pandemic and covid we stand at over 82% attendance for this academic year and given the circumstances this is very good! Thanks also go to all staff in school who consistently strive to enforce the message to our fabulous children the benefits of being in school every day.
Happy holidays to all, take care, stay safe and we can’t wait to see you in September - the Classopoly board attendance area has been upgraded and we wait for the game to begin!
Miss L Jordan - School Attendance Lead July 2021
19th May 2021 Update
Hello to all our wonderful parents and thank you for the efforts you have been making in ensuring your children attend school every day! Overall, attendance levels are really good in most classes and whole school we have managed all together, to achieve over and above our 96% target on lots of weeks - thank you and your children are most certainly benefitting from this. As we move towards easing of lockdown restrictions, we still need to be cautious out there in order to prevent a rise in Coronavirus cases - as a country we have achieved much in vaccinating ourselves to a high level, when we get that call haven't we and we must all continue to do our bit to contribute keeping this deadly virus under control as much as we can. We do not want to see further lockdown restrictions, nor our fabulous children lose out by not being able to come into school. We cannot stress enough how much all the children have enjoyed being back in the school environment with each other, and how important this has been to them - it is marvellous to see them enjoying their full time entitlement to school based education again. As we move forwards and travel abroad is allowed, please be mindful that school are now expected (as per the DfE expectations) to proceed as normal in respect of attendance and absence. We must challenge all absences where necessary and as a school, we do not authorised absence in term time for travel abroad. Thank you for adhering to this. Unauthorised absence must be dealt with in line with school policies and procedures.
Punctuality has become more of an issue than it should be and we would request your assistance with this please by ensuring your child arrives at school on time. Whilst we are still operating staggered start and end of day times, this does not mean it is acceptable to be late for your opening or finishing time, opting to arrive for the next gate opening etc. These staggered times are there for a reason and need to be working properly in order for us to keep everyone safe. Also, they ensure your child receives the required amount of educational provision each day. Thank you and we hope to see less late arrivals please, and late collections.
Please do link onto the above Classopoly link to see some of the fantastic rewards the children have been winning on the Classoply game board - lots of classes regularly winning and they are delighted, as are we! Please speak to us if you think we can advise or assist in any way in respect of your child's attendance, absence or punctuality and we will always endeavour to assist wherever possible. All take care and stay safe out there!
Miss Jordan - School Attendance Lead
22nd March 2021 Update
School has now welcomed back all pupils from 8th March and it is great to get back to some kind of "normal"...the children are so delighted to be back in school - Classopoly has resumed (please click on the link above) much to the delight of the children. School is having to reinforce the message to children and parents alike that punctuality is very important as there have been a number of punctuality issues. All children must receive a legal amount of educational hours each day - and although groups of classes are coming in at different times, their day is carefully tailored to ensure they are in school the required amount of hours - if a start time is 8.45am but a child arrives at 9am each day then they are losing 1.25 hours of education each week - in a typical 6 week half term this amounts to over 7 hours! It is very important to ensure your child arrives to school on time, every day. Thank you.
Spring Term - 2021
Well....school returned on 4th January and it was absolutely fantastic to see the eager faces of your wonderful children ready to get back to school and engage in their learning. We all know what happened next! It was a devastating blow to learn that the very next day we would be plunged into another lockdown with children being asked to stay at home! Although schools had been organising in the background for the possibility of remote learning, the very short notice meant a very busy first couple of weeks to finalise the excellent online google classroom provision. School was already aware of pupils who needed laptop provision at home and devices were made available for them. Of course, school remained open for the period of lockdown, for children of key workers. School was able to provide in-school education still for over 40% of the school roll for the period of Spring 1 lockdown (5th January -12th February) which is higher than most Salford schools. We were delighted to welcome back all pupils from 8th March 2021.
Autumn Term Ending 18th December 2020
It was a great term overall for attendance with everyone making big efforts to get into school, despite the ongoing covid procedures happening all around us.
School ended the autumn term with an overall excellent attendance of 92.3%, given the current circumstances, with absences due to covid-related symptoms totalling 5.6% - we have been extremely fortunate to not have the levels of covid related absences seen across other Salford schools. We are ever vigilant in school of cleanliness and hygiene, hand washing and the use of hand sanitiser, regular and thorough cleaning etc - it all contributes to a safe environment for our staff and children.
Despite the recommendation for families not to travel abroad, some still did and this impacted on attendance overall as they went in term time - not authorised at any time, covid times or not! The children have seen enough absence without being out of school when they are allowed in and we would ask parents not to take their children on holiday in term time - a penalty notice fine will be applied going forward if this happens - an action we never wish to take but children have lost enough education and need, more than ever, to be in school for every day they can be.
Miss Jordan - Attendance Lead 18th December 2020
New Academic Year 2020-2021
We are delighted with the efforts that everyone is making in respect of attendance - your wonderful children are coming into school regularly and benefitting with their education and making up for lost time due to lockdown! Well done to all and we wish to thank you all, our fabulous parents for ensuring, during these uncertain times, that your children come into school as often as possible. It is the highlight of my week to welcome all classes, individually into the hall on a Friday for Classopoly - your children are just a delight to see and their enthusiasm and positivity shines through.
Click through to our Classopoly page (link at top of page) to see some pictures of the fabulous styles we saw for year 5 reward crazy hair day - a great and fun effort by all. We thank all our parents who support us in getting their children into school so we can educate them- even more important in current climes when so much educational time has been lost this year! We will all work together to make it work I am sure.
Year to date, from 7th September until Friday 27th November, school has achieved 97%. We know it is difficult at the moment, and we want to reassure all our parents that we are doing everything we should be, and more, to make sure your children can come into school. Parents are contacting us about possible absences and we are appropriately advising them, so all can stay safe. We will aim to continue to secure good attendance as normal, where we can, and this is what the Local Authority and the DfE are also expecting us to do. We have all played our part over the last 18 months to improve our mindset around good attendance and punctuality and we are seeing the effect this has had on resilience - our children want to be in school and are very happy to be back with us and us to have them. This includes, staff, parents and pupils - it's a joint effort!
Onwards! Take care everyone.
Miss Jordan - Attendance Lead - 30th November 2020
Last academic year 2019/2020 (September '19-July '20) Update:
Well - it has been a real roller coaster for us all hasn't it? What a year! I am sure no-one expected for events to take the turn they did but like all school nationally, we were placed in lockdown back in March 2020, which now seems a long time ago!
We were all very upset not to be able to welcome many of our fabulous children into school for some weeks. However, despite this setback our school managed to achieve good attendance in comparison with all other Salford primary schools - 58.7%, which is 128 pupils, were able to come into school at some point during the remainder of the school year from March 23rd until 17th July 2020. Of those pupils able to return (at some point) we managed to achieve 60.2%. This is very good and a testament to our children who wanted desperately to return, and to parents who were willing to allow them to come in. Because of the circumstances, it was impossible to achieve the 96% target but we ended the year overall at 89.4% - an amazing achievement. Progress and attainment, we can see already has been impacted positively because of this. Thank you to all for your efforts and we aim to start the year, again in trying circumstances, with determination to keep going for as long as is possible, God willing!
Miss Jordan - Attendance Lead - 20/10/20
The Cathedral School of St Peter and St John RC Primary believes that by working together we can enable our children to access the education to which they are entitled by law. Regular and prompt attendance will allow this and at our school we want to provide full-time, quality education suitable to every child’s age and ability and any special needs they may have.
To achieve this The Cathedral School of St Peter and St John RC Primary will work alongside our parents and carers, the community and the Education Welfare Service.
Maintaining a High Profile for Attendance and Punctuality
School Attendance and Punctuality Policy 2020/2021
In our school, the aim is for children to achieve at least 96% attendance for the academic year - this is in line with the national target as set by the Department for Education. To encourage high levels of attendance we will adopt the following strategies:
Keep accurate records
Maintain clear procedures for recording lateness
Ensure unauthorised absences are dealt with promptly
Raise awareness of attendance issues at parents’ evenings, new intake days/meetings and letters to parents/carers.
Following the local authority guidance on holidays and absence in term time.
Rewarding good attendance – celebrating class achievements, certificates, rewards.
To continue to promote attendance with the support of the Education Welfare Officer.
Applying the Attendance and Punctuality Policy consistently and to review annually.
Attendance – Pupils Eligible for Free School Meals and Other Focus Groups
Attendance of pupils eligible for free school meals, along with other groups of learners will be monitored closely. In the academic year 2016/2017, the percentage of pupils absent for more than 10% of sessions was above the national averages for free school meal pupils, those with an EHCP (Education Health Care Plan) or Statement of Special Educations Needs (SEN) and those receiving additional SEN support. The school aims to narrow the attendance gap between these groups and other pupils in school.
Roles and Responsibilities
Staff
To ensure the strategies of the school attendance policy are adhered to by all staff.
Pupils
To understand the importance of regular school attendance and punctuality.
Parents/Carers
To ensure that their children achieve an attendance figure over 96%
To ensure that their children arrive at school promptly - class doors open at 8.45am
To keep school up to date with contact numbers and home addresses
To contact school before 9.30am to report their child's absence
To ensure that non-emergency medical appointments, i.e. dental check-ups, are made outside school hours
To avoid absence in term-time
To ensure leave of absence in term-time requests are completed on the correct form for consideration by the Head Teacher
Salford Local Education Authority
The Local Authority will provide consultation and support for schools where attendance for a pupil looks likely to fall below 96% for the academic year. This may include:
Attendance meetings with the school Attendance Lead, the Head Teacher and the Education Welfare Officer (EWO)
Home visits
Advice on penalty notices
Fast track to prosecution
To work with school on devising and implementing new initiatives to promote attendance and punctuality
Procedures - who does what and when?
Attendance is entered onto the school recording system on a daily basis. It is the responsibility of the class teacher to take the register accurately each morning and afternoon session.
The school attendance lead, and EWO will monitor the school attendance regularly in meetings, and at a minimum every half term. Liaising with Head Teacher any concerns regards attendance will be addressed following the attendance and punctuality procedures.
Where attendance for an individual/group of children becomes a concern, weekly monitoring will take place.
The school Attendance Lead, Head Teacher and EWO will monitor lateness every half term and address concerns with parents.
Where punctuality for an individual/group of children becomes a concern, weekly monitoring will take place.
Any child arriving after 9.30am will receive a "U" code - this is an unauthorised absence session (a session is a half-day).
A holistic approach to tackling attendance issues will be consistently applied by school and the Education Welfare Service.
Communicating the attendance and punctuality policy to parents/carers will be undertaken through regular newsletters and it will be displayed on the school website.
When attendance falls below 90% parents will be contacted. If there are exceptional circumstances then these factors will be taken into consideration.
Attendance and Punctuality
In order that every child has the opportunity to reach their potential, regular attendance is a
necessity. The Cathedral School of St Peter and St John RC Primary values good
attendance. The Head Teacher will decide if absence is authorised/unauthorised in
accordance with our policy.
Attendance is regularly monitored and reviewed at least every half term. Names and reasons for absence/lates are recorded for those pupils whose attendance falls under 90%. Pupils are discussed with the Education Welfare Officer and if justified, the parent/carer will be informed by letter if there is an attendance concern. If attendance/punctuality does not improve then parents/carers will be asked to attend an attendance panel meeting with the school Attendance Lead, the Head Teacher and EWO. This information is shared with staff.
For religious observance, there will be a maximum of 1 day allowed for each religious festival and 2 days in total in any school year unless there are extenuating circumstances.
From 1st September 2013 amendments to the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006, removed references to family holiday and extended leave as well as the statutory threshold of ten school days. The amendments make clear that the Head Teacher may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.
Penalty Notices will be issued to parents/carers taking their children out of school in term time (10 sessions/5 days). Payment within 21 days of receipt of notice is £60 and £120 if paid after 21 days but within 28 days. The fine will apply to each parent for each child who fails to attend regularly.
Medical evidence may be requested for illness if school attendance is a concern.
Incentives and rewards - these include weekly raffle tickets for full attendance in a week, certificates and other rewards given in assemblies.
Monitoring and Evaluation
The Cathedral School of St Peter and St John will evaluation the effectiveness of its strategies by:
Half-term monitoring of attendance through the SIMS recording system.
Regular consultation with the Education Welfare Officer
Referrals to the Education Welfare Service
Planning and evaluating initiatives
Annual analysis of patterns over a 3 year cycle
Feedback to the school Governing Body via the Curriculum sub-committee every term - this will be 3 times per year.