Skip to content

    • Attendance

    School is the best environment for pupils to learn in. Being surrounded by teachers and friends in school helps keep children safe, and supports them to reach their potential. 

    Why is school attendance important? 

    Being in school is important to your child’s academic achievement, wellbeing, and wider development.  There is evidence to suggest that regular school attendance is a key mechanism to support children and young people’s educational, economic and social outcomes. Schools can facilitate positive peer relationships, which is a contributes to better mental health and wellbeing.

    Attendance at school is crucial to prepare young people for successful transition to adulthood, and to support their longer term economic and social participation in society. There is also evidence that the students with the highest attendance throughout their time in school gain the best GCSE and A level results

    What does it mean if a child is persistently or severely absent? 

    Children who are registered at a school but regularly fail to turn up are officially referred to as being ‘persistently’ or ‘severely’ absent. 

    The school day is split into two sessions – one session counts as a morning or afternoon spent in school. Pupils who have missed more than 10% of school sessions are considered persistently absent, while children who have missed more than 50% of school sessions are referred to as severely absent. 

    Is my child too sick to go to school? 

    It’s usually appropriate for parents and carers to send their children to school with mild respiratory illnesses, including general cold symptoms like a minor cough, runny nose or sore throat. Children should stay at home if they have a high temperature (38C or above). 

    Further information about whether your child is too ill for school, use the NHS tool “Is my child too ill for school?”  

    Our attendance target and expectations

    At Church Stretton school our attendance target for all students is 96% although a large majority of students exceed this figure. 

    Our school ethos around attendance includes:

    • Having high expectations for the attendance and punctuality of all pupils
    • Promoting good attendance and the benefits of good attendance
    • Reducing absence, including persistent and severe absence
    • Ensuring every pupil has access to the full-time education to which they are entitled
    • Acting early to address patterns of absence
    • Building strong relationships with families to make sure pupils have the support in place to attend school
    • Promote and support punctuality in attending lessons. 

    If your child is struggling with regular school attendance or if you have any queries or concerns, please contact their relevant Head of Year:

    Further information can be found in our attendance policy which can be found here.