Attendance

At Even Swindon Primary, we believe that regular attendance is crucial for the continuous academic and social development of our students. We aim to support our pupils to achieve good attendance (over 96%) to maximise their learning opportunities. Understanding the importance of school attendance helps in setting a good foundation for strong work ethics in our children's future careers.

Absence

Illness

We understand that there will be times when your child is too ill to attend school. In this instance, please notify the school either by calling 01793 523041 and leaving a message on the absence line or by emailing admin@evenswindon.bluekitetrust.org with the reason for their absence.
Please continue to do this every day that your child is absent from school.
Below is a useful link from the NHS regarding illness and time off school.

Is my child too ill for school?

Medical appointments

Medical appointments should be booked outside of school hours where possible.
Where this is not possible, please email admin@evenswindon.bluekitetrust.org with the details of the appointment together with confirmation of the appointment such as a copy of the letter, text or email.
Please note, we are only able to authorise half a day for medical appointments and children are expected to attend school either before or after their appointment.
We are unable to authorise absence due to other family member’s medical appointments.

Unexplained absence

As part of our safeguarding procedures, if your child is absent from school and we have not heard from you by 8.30am we will call you to ascertain the reason for their absence.
If we are still unable to get hold of you we will contact the emergency contacts held for your child and may need to do a home visit.
Any absence that does not have a reason provided within 5 days will be recorded as unauthorised on the register.

Unauthorised absence

In line with the most recent legislation, Working Together to Improve School Attendance, from 19^th August 2024 requests for absence for recreational purposes/to attend a holiday during term time will not be authorised.
Absence due to other exceptional circumstances will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Please complete a leave of absence request form before taking your child out of school. Any requests made after the absence has taken place will not be authorised.
If an absence request is not authorised, you may receive a Penalty Notice

Leave of absence request form

Punctuality

For children to have the best possible start to their school day, it is very important that they arrive on time.
When a child arrives late to school, they miss out on learning as well as important events like assembly, teacher instructions and introductions.
Children can also feel embarrassed at having to enter the classroom late. Furthermore, when a child arrives late it disrupts the teacher and the rest of the class.

The timings of our school day are as follows:

Breakfast club opens at 8am with breakfast provided until 8.15am. KS2 children make their way to class at 8.40am and KS1 children are taken to their classrooms at 8.50am.
The school gates open at 8.32am and close promptly at 8.45am. Any child arriving after 8.45am will need to be signed in at reception and will be recorded as late in the register. Any child arriving after 9.15am will be recorded as unauthorised absence in the register, this can lead to a penalty notice being issued if 10 sessions of unauthorised absence have been recorded in a 10 week rolling period.
Lessons start promptly after registration at 8.40am in KS1 and 8.45am in KS2.

Attendance monitoring

Attendance data will be analysed termly (six times a year) to identify patterns of irregular attendance and poor punctuality.
The circumstances of all children with attendance below 96% will be considered.
Children with absence below 90% may be discussed with either the EWO or Lighthouse team as part of our on-going partnership working.

Click here to view our attendance policy