Punctuality and Attendance
The School Day
Reception
8:45am-3:15pm Children enter through the field gate – Total 32hours 30 minutes
Year 1
8:45am-3:15pm Children enter onto the top playground- Total 32hours 30 minutes
Year 2
8:40am – 3:15pm Children enter onto the top playgroung – Total 32 hours 55 minutes
Year 3
8:40- 3:20pm Children enter onto the top playground – Total 33 hours 20 minutes
Year 4
8:40- 3:20pm Children enter onto the top playground – Total 33 hours 20 minutes
Year 5
8:40- 3:20pm Children enter onto the top playground – Total 33 hours 20 minutes
Year 6
8:40- 3:20pm Children enter onto the top playground – Total 33 hours 20 minutes
From September 2023 all schools must provide a school day of 32 hours 30 minutes for children in Reception onwards. As you can see above, our school day is of the required length and it is longer than the required length for most of our children. We have a slightly staggered day and use different entrances to avoid congestion upon arrival and in cloakrooms; it provides a calm start to the day. It also ensures appropriate supervision of children on arrival. Children are invited onto the school site when staff are in attendance.
At the end of the school day parents of pupils in Y1-Y6 can come onto the top school playground and children will be handed over at the entrance doors. Reception parents should come to the field gate and staff will hand over children there.
Good Attendance
Changes to how schools manage attendance
The changes come into effect on 19th August 2024
Important Update – Changes to Education-related Penalty Notices
Information for Parents
You may be aware that the Department for Education has recently announced national changes to penalty notices issued for unauthorised absence in term time. These changes will come into effect on 19 August 2024.
The governing Board of this school has previously decided not to issue penalty notices to any parents for unauthorised absence. From 19th August, governing boards cannot take this stance.
If parents/children meet the thresholds from September onwards, our governing board is in the position of needing to issue penalty notices.
It has been very rare over the years for holiday requests to be granted as ‘authorised’. Rarely do the reasons given by parents meet the threshold for extenuating circumstance. Going forward holiday/absence forms must be completed and handed into the office. If a family considers their circumstances to be extenuating, then they should speak to Mrs Metcalfe or Mrs Haughin before booking holidays in term time if there is a chance to avoid penalty notices being issued. Governors have agreed that in order for staff to agree that circumstances are extenuating and authorise a holiday absence a panel of the Governing Board must agree the decision.
School leaders have been instructed that if there is a suspicion that families are on holiday when they say children are ill, home visits should be carried out. You can see that there is increasing pressure on schools to ensure good attendance and schools are being held to account.
The changes to be aware of are:
- Penalty notices issued for offences that take place after 19 August 2024 will be charged at a new rate of £160 per parent per child. This can be paid at £80 if paid within 21 days.
- Any second penalty notice issued to the same parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period will be issued at the rate of £160 to be paid within 28 days with no option for a discounted rate.
- The threshold at which a penalty notice must be considered is set at 10 sessions (equivalent to 5 days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10-school week period. This may include absences as a result of arriving late after the register closes. The 10 school weeks may span different terms or school years.
- A maximum of 2 penalty notices may be issued to a parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period, so at the 3rd (or subsequent) offence(s) another course of action will need to be considered (such as prosecution or one of the other attendance legal interventions).
Only penalty notices issued for absences taking place after 19 August 2024 will count towards the above thresholds.
The Pre-school day
Children in Little Whittle Pre-school attend with a variety of sessions.
Basic sessions run from 8:55am-11:55am and 12:25pm-3:25pm. Wrap around care extends sessions from 7:45am-6pm. Children arrive via the field gate with parents and they should be brought to the Pre-school building. At the end of sessions parents collect children from the Pre-school building.
Click the link to our Attendance Policy