ATTENDANCE

At The Nightingale Federation we believe that regular school attendance enables children to maximise their educational opportunities and become responsible, organised and motivated adults. All children are entitled to a good education and deserve all the opportunities that education can give them in life. Our annual school attendance target is 97% and we aim to help support children, parents and carers to reach and exceed this target.

Punctuality Notice

Each school day has two sessions and registers are taken twice a day to record attendance for these sessions.  The school day starts at 08:45 and the gates are open to welcome the children in from 08:40. This enables the children to be ready and settled to start the day. If you bring your child in late they may have missed the start of the lesson, teacher input, intervention session or phonics session all of which contribute to your child making progress. It can also be unsettling for your child and the other children in class. If a child arrives later than 9.10am they will automatically get an unauthorised absence mark for their morning session. Absence and attendance codes can be found in our Attendance Policy.

Reporting Absence

If your child is unavoidably absent from school it is important to get a message to school. Parents/carers are expected to:

• Contact the school by 9.20am on the first day of absence and each subsequent day, identifying the reason for absence and the expected date of return
• If no contact is received, the Attendance protocols will be instigated. These can be found in our Attendance Policy

Persistent Absence

Persistent absence – A child with an attendance percentage of less than 90%. The school will contact parents/carers by letter or telephone if we have concerns and offer support. If your child continues to be a persistent absentee this will be investigated and followed up with the Norfolk County Council Attendance team.