School Attendance
For weekly school attendance figures, please see the weekly Newsletter in Latest News.
Spring 2024 Booker Hill Attendance Figures
93.5%
National Target
96%
We want all our pupils at Booker Hill School to enjoy coming to school. Good attendance is absolutely vital in enabling children to achieve academically and to develop a love of learning. Regular attendance equips pupils with an essential toolkit of key social and emotional skills, which will give our pupils the best possible start in life and future success. Research has proven that there is a high correlation between school attendance and academic performance and success and persistent absence from school is often the greatest single cause of poor performance and achievement.
As a school, we have a responsibility to ensure that all children have high levels of attendance. We have high expectations for the attendance of every child and want to ensure that this is a culture that is embedded with every stake holder. Parents have a responsibility to ensure that their children attend school because as well as it being a legal requirement it is also each child’s right to access their education on a regular basis.
our attendance display board is updated weekly
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, every child should have an attendance higher than 95%. An attendance figure of less than 90% means a child falls into the category of “persistently absent” (as defined by the Department for Education) and at this point the school will want to work with you to increase your child’s attendance at school.
The Department for Education (DfE) are clear, attendance at school should be prioritised as there has been too much disruption to schooling over the last two years.
DfE guidance tells us that we must:
‘regularly communicate expectations for attendance and punctuality and school performance through your regular channels of communication with staff, pupils and parents’
‘establish robust escalation procedures which are initiated before absence becomes a problem, for example by: sending letters to parents and carers’ January 2022
Why is it so important to attend every day?
Learning is a progressive activity; each day’s lessons build upon those of the previous day(s).
Reading the material and completing work independently does not compensate for direct interaction with the teacher.
Many classes use discussions, demonstrations, experiments and participation as part of the daily learning activities, and these cannot be made up by those who are absent.
Are there other benefits to my child?
Pupils with good attendance records generally achieve higher grades and enjoy school more.
Having a good education will help to give your child the best possible start in life.
Regular school attendance patterns encourage the development of other responsible patterns of behaviour.
What can parents do to help?
Model the value of education, including the importance of regular attendance.
Make sure that your child goes to school regularly and arrives on time- you will establish a good habit that your child will carry through life.
If your child starts missing school, work with the school to put things right. Make sure your child understands that you do not approve of him/her missing school.
If your child is ill or must miss school for some other reason, contact school immediately. If you ask for home learning, make sure your child completes it.
Take an interest in your child’s school work and be involved in the school as much as possible-your child will value school more if you do.
Holidays During Term Times
Please be aware that Government legislation means that schools are no longer able to authorise any requests for children to be taken out of school to go on holiday during term time.
Previously, schools were able to authorise up to 10 days leave from school. However, the law now states that requests for leave can only be granted in exceptional circumstances, and family holidays do not fall into this category.
To request a leave of absence please complete this form. It must be submitted not less than one month before the period of absence.
You can read our Attendance Policy here.