As a school we continually monitor attendance and punctuality.  We work with the Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) to support children and families around attendance.  The table below shows the impact low attendance can have for a child and their future.  Lateness can also have an impact on a child’s learning.  They can miss key information, retrievals and the start of lessons.  It also can affect their well being as miss out on the start of the day, emotional check ins with their teacher and peers and key information for the day.

School Attendance

As you know improving school attendance is a priority for us in Oldcastle, just as it is across BCBC and Wales. Below are the protocols for how we will work with families to try and improve school attendance. The flow charts below will help to explain this process.

The school will send out Attend to Achieve Letters 3 times a year. These are factual and based upon the attendance levels of your child. 

If your child has an attendance percentage of below 92%, then we may instigate the flow chart in this letter. This letter informs you that we are concerned about your child’s attendance and that we need to see it improve. You will have roughly 3 weeks before we monitor it again. If there is an improvement, then we do nothing else and continue to monitor. If it doesn’t improve, then we move on to Letter 2. 

Letter 2 invites you into school to discuss your child’s attendance. There is a further 3/4 week monitoring window. If there is an improvement, then nothing else happens and we continue to monitor. If there is no improvement, a referral is made to the Education Welfare Service (EWS/EWO). Our Education Welfare Officer (EWO) Lisa Hicks, will then work with you to improve attendance. If you do not attend the meeting, you will automatically be referred to the EWS. If attendance doesn’t improve over time, a fixed penalty notice could be issued by the local authority. 

Similarly for punctuality and lateness, the school is adopting a new protocol. If your child receives 5 lates in a term, a Letter 1 will be issued. Like with attendance, an improvement will be expected and after 3/4 weeks, if there is improvement then nothing else will happen. If there is no improvement, Letter 2 will be issued inviting you in to discuss the issues surrounding the persistent lateness.  If you do not turn up for the meeting, you will automatically be referred to the EWS. Following the meeting, you will be given another 4 weeks to improve. If there's improvement, we will continue to monitor. If there is no improvement a referral will be made to the EWS. 

Please ensure that you inform us of any absences by 9am on the first day of absence if your child is unwell or away from school.

The telephone number is 01656 815790  Below are the flow charts discussed in this letter. 

If anyone is concerned about attendance or feels they need support there is an opportunity to work with our Family Engagement Officer on strategies that could help.  For further information please contact the school.