Here at East Boldon Infant School, we work in partnership with parents to ensure children attend school regularly and are punctual to school. We firmly believe that when children are in school every day and on time, then this is reflected in good progress being made in the classroom and will give children the best opportunities to succeed and achieve their best in our school.
Our school day is from 8.45am until 3.15pm.
Total school hours are 32.5 hours.
Mrs Elliott manages the attendance data for our school and will contact you if there is a concern around your child’s attendance. Please ensure that if your child is absent from school then you contact Mrs Elliott to give an explanation otherwise it could result in the absence being recorded as unauthorised. You can ring the school directly, contact through parent mail, or the office email address.
The change in Government legislation means that family holidays are no longer authorised absences. Family holiday taken in term time may result in our Local Authority issuing a fixed penalty notice.
This may also be the case where there are a high number of unauthorised absences within an academic year.
Please arrange an appointment to speak to Mrs Elliott or Miss Holt direct if you feel that you need to discuss an absence or if you are finding it difficult to ensure that your child is regularly attending school. We are always here to help.
The school or local authority can fine parents for the unauthorised absence of their child from school, where the child is of compulsory school age. New legislation comes into force from September 2024 regarding the criteria and the issue of penalty notices to address school attendance.
The following changes have been made:
• The number of unauthorised absences to 10 unauthorised absences (5 days) in the most recent 10 week period.
• The number of penalty notices that can be issued to a parent in respect of the same individual child to two, within a 3 year period.
• It increases the amount of the penalty notice fine from £120 to £160 (if paid within 28 days) and £60 to £80 (if paid within 21 days) for the first penalty notice issued to a parent in respect of the same individual child in a 3 year period.
• It sets the amount of any second penalty notice issued to the same parent in respect of the same individual child within 3 years of the date the first penalty notice was issued to £160 to be paid within 28 days. No discount is offered.
• Further absences will proceed for prosecution in the Magistrate Court for the same parent in respect of the same child within 3 years of the date of the first penalty was issued.
Further information can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance
Here at East Boldon Infant School, we aim to develop an ethos which demonstrates to the children how much we value them coming to school regularly and on time. We teach the children that regular and punctual attendance is an essential ingredient for their learning to be effective. Each week in assembly we celebrate the class who has the highest attendance. We reward individual children with a certificate for 100% attendance across a term and children receive a prize for 100% attendance across the year. Each half term we celebrate the class with the highest attendance with a special reward.
Punctuality into school
Punctuality is very important. Please make sure that your child is in school promptly, before the doors close at 9.00am. Our doors open from 8.45am to allow a calm filter into school. Teachers are present in classrooms and the children can access activities and challenges. All pupils participate in activities as soon as they are registered.
Anyone arriving at school after this time should enter via the main entrance. If your child arrives after the close of registers at 9.05am then they will be marked as late and a reason for the lateness will be requested.
Did you know that missing 20 minutes of school every week adds up to over 11 hours or nearly 3 whole days worth of reading lessons over the year?
Our attendance policy can be found here.
