Attendance
Attendance matters for your child’s life chances.
The National expectation is that children should attend school for at least 97% of the time: they could have 8 days of absence across the year and still manage this. You can check your child's attendance on the My Ed App at all times enabling you to see if they are meeting their 97% target.
When your child misses school, they miss new learning. When they return to school, they have to try to catch up on the learning they have lost, whilst also learning the new things for that day or week. If they do not catch up with everyone else in class, they can feel upset, less confidant, less competent, less happy in school.
Not only is school a place for new learning, it is a place to learn to share, take turns, get on with others, make close friends. Missing school can mean your child feels left out and unhappy: it can lead to poor behaviour and school avoidance as they do not feel part of the community. Even the youngest children need good attendance to make sure they do not miss out on developing friendships and social skills.
The more time your child misses from school, the less likely they are to achieve GCSEs or A Levels and so the poorer their chances of being in education, employment or training when they finally leave school. Three quarters of children who have over 97% attendance achieve 5 or more GCSEs at grades A* to C. Lower attendance results in lower and fewer qualifications.
The school follows the Beckfoot Trust Attendance Policy and has a Beckfoot Nessfield Attendance Protocol that outlines how attendance and punctuality is monitored and the steps we take if a child's attendance begins to fall below 97%. There is a link to both documents at the top of the page.
If you do want to request leave from school in term time for family or personal reasons, you must complete an application for leave of absence form. These are available from school or you can download one below. All applications will be reviewed by the headteacher. The school does not authorise term time holidays. If you wish to apply for your child to be absent from school, please complete the form and return to school at least two weeks before the intended departure. A period of leave of absence which is not authorised by the school could result in a Fixed Term Penalty Notice of £60 per parent, per child being issued by Bradford Children's Services and your child losing their school place.
If you are struggling to get your child to come to school, please come and talk to us to see what we can do to help. Poor attendance now will only get worse as your child gets older.
We, like you, want them to achieve their best.
