Attendance & Absence

Meet the Team

Attendance Team (ID 1288)

B. Dureee

Attendance Officer

B. Dureee
K. Murphy

Attendance Lead

K. Murphy
L. Shea

Family Support Worker

L. Shea

Our target for attendance is 96%

If you have any questions, or are worried about your child’s attendance, please do speak to your child’s class teacher or the staff listed above. We can offer advice on how to support attendance.

Leeds City Council Targeted Services (JESS Cluster) are also committed to helping improve and support your child’s attendance.

Attendance Policy

Punctuality

It is really important the your child(ren) attends school and is on time, so that do not miss out on any of their learning. On the poster above, it clearly describe how being late can affect this.

The times of school are;

8:35am – School Gates Open
8:45am – Classroom Doors Open
9:00am – Gates and Classroom Doors Closed

If you are late to school, you must accompany your child(ren) to the Main Office, where you will need to sign them in and explain why they are late.

Persistent lateness will result in a meeting with the Attendance Team. We can discuss any proactive ideas and solutions to ensure that punctuality improves.

The school day finishes at 3:15pm. Parents are expected to be there to collect their children promptly. If children are not collected at the correct time, then parents will may receive a fine.

Absence

If your child for any reason is not in school, please can you ensure that you ring the school office by 9am on 0113 887 8718. We do not accept emails regarding attendance. Absences will only be authorised if a child has an;

Illness
Medical appointment (letter or appointment card must be seen)
Religious festivals including Eid, Diwali etc.
Bereavement

If you do not inform us of your child’s absence, we will ring to ask for a reason. To ensure that we follow our statutory safeguarding duty we may carry out a home visit.

In order for all parents, carers and children to be aware of the impact of absence on their overall attendance, we have created the visual below for all stakeholders to understand how many days missed equals the number of hours learning missed:

Penalty Notices

With the introduction of the new National Framework for Penalty Notices, the following changes will come into force for Penalty Notice fines issued for unauthorised absence that occurs after 19 August 2024.

Per Parent, Per Child

Penalty Notice fines will be issued to each parent, for each child who was absent. For example: 3 siblings absent for term time leave will result in each parent receiving 3 separate fines.

5 Consecutive Days of Term Time Leave

Penalty Notice fines will be issued for term time leave of 5 or more consecutive days, and for fewer days where this has happened before.

10 Sessions of Unauthorised Absence in a 10-week period Penalty Notice fines will be considered when there have been 10 sessions of absence in a 10-week period.

First Offence

The first time a Penalty Notice is issued for Term Time Leave or irregular attendance the amount will be: £160 per parent, per child when paid within 28 days. Reduced to £80 per parent , per child if paid within 21 days.

Second Offence (within 3 years)

The second time a Penalty Notice is issued for Term Time Leave or irregular attendance the amount will be: £160 per parent, per child when paid within 28 days. (No option to pay at £80 level).

Third Offence and Any Further Offences (within 3 years)

The third time an offence is committed for Term Time Leave or irregular attendance a Penalty Notice will not be issued. The case will proceed to the Magistrates’ court. Magistrate’s fines can be up to £2,500 per parent, per child. Cases found guilty in Magistrates’ Court can show on the parent’s future DBS certificate and may impact on job applications and travel abroad.

Court Prosecutions

Penalty Notices will not automatically be issued. Parents are advised that where the LA considers that a Penalty Notice is not appropriate due to the level of concern about a child’s absence, prosecution action may be taken.

By law, all Penalty Notice payments go to the Local Authority and not to schools.

Term Time Holidays

New Bewerley Community School has a zero-tolerance policy to parents taking pupils out of school during term time. We will not authorise absence for any child whose parent books a family holiday during term time. If you do take your child on holiday, a holiday request form must be completed. Please be aware that fines may be issued if unauthorized holidays are taken and from August 2024, the fines are increasing.

These can be collected from the Main Office or via the link below:

Application For Exceptional Leave In Term-Time