Attendance

Attendance Matters at The Croft

At The Croft, we believe that children cannot learn if they are absent from school, or regularly late. Therefore, we aim to ensure that all our pupils take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them, and to raise standards by promoting regular attendance and punctuality for all pupils in our care. We are committed to providing an education of the highest quality for all our pupils and believe high attainment and progress depends on excellent attendance.

This is in line with the statutory guidance set out in Working Together to Improve School Attendance (DfE August 2024).

School Attendance Figures

Good Attendance	95% and above
Persistence Absence	Below 90%
Severe Absence	50% or less

Contact Details for The Senior Attendance Champion

Mr James Ferris

Deputy Head (Pupil Welfare and Safeguarding)

Designated Safeguarding Leader (DSL)

email: office@croftschool.co.uk

Each Minute Counts

Frequent absence can add up to a considerable amount of lost learning and can seriously disadvantage your child in adult life.

Attendance (1 year)	Number of days absent	Weeks absent	Approximate number of lessons missed
95%	9 days	2 weeks	50 lessons
90%	19 days	4 weeks	100 lessons
85%	29 days	6 weeks	150 lessons
80%	38 days	8 weeks	200 lessons

Supporting Families and Promoting Attendance Strategies

The following procedures may be adopted to promote excellent attendance:

Communicating the importance of excellent attendance and the procedures in the Attendance Policy to pupils, parents, staff and Governors, where appropriate.
Successfully treating the root causes of absence and removing barriers to attendance, at home, in school or more broadly requires schools and local partners to work collaboratively in partnership with, not against, families.
When a pattern is spotted, discuss with pupils and parents to listen to and understand barriers to attendance and agree how all partners can work together to resolve them.
Phased attendance plans created with parent/pupil input which may identify key trusted school staff, enjoyable aspects of school, strategies to address reasons for not attending, safe spaces and small targeted steps.
Where all other avenues have been exhausted and support is not working or not being engaged with, enforce attendance through statutory intervention: this could result in prosecution to protect the pupil’s right to an education.

Relevant Polices

Attendance Policy
Safeguarding Policy
Department for Education Working Together to Improve School Attendance (August 2024).
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024