The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states every child has the right to a good quality education.

We are delighted that our school has a good level of attendance and we would like it to continue to improve.

R A Butler Academy recognises that positive behaviour and good attendance are essential in order to raise standards of pupil attainment and to give every child/young person the best educational experience possible.

Your child’s education and attendance at school is of utmost important to us. Regular attendance means that every child is able to maximise their opportunity for learning.

Gates open at 8.45am and all children are expected to be in for registration by 8.55am.

School Attendance and the Law

The law entitles every child of compulsory school age to an efficient, full-time education suitable to their age, aptitude, and any special educational need they may have. It is the legal responsibility of every parent to make sure their child receives that education either by attendance at a school or by education otherwise than at a school.

Where parents decide to have their child registered at school, they have an additional legal duty to ensure their child attends that school regularly, on time. This means their child must attend every day that the school is open, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being too ill to attend or being given permission for an absence in advance from the school.

The Department for Education (DfE) has produced statutory guidance for maintained schools, academies, independent schools, and local authorities. It is called “Working together to improve school attendance” and it includes a National Framework in relation to absence and the use of legal sanctions. Our School Attendance Policy reflects the requirements and principles of that guidance.  It can be found at the bottom of this page. 

absence procedures

If a child is absent from school the parent must follow these procedures:

• Contact the school on the first day of absence before 9.20 am, when our register closes;
• The school has an answer phone available to leave a message if nobody is available to take your call, or you may call into school personally and speak to the office staff. Please be aware that, if you leave a voicemail to report your child’s absence, you may receive a call from the school so that we may discuss the absence before making a decision as to whether the absence is to be recorded as authorised; 
• Contact the school on every further day of absence, again before 9.20 am;
• Ensure that your child returns to school as soon as possible and you provide any medical evidence, if requested, to support the absence. Medical evidence may be requested where your child is having multiple periods of absence which are reported as being due to medical reasons. When determining whether a child is too ill to attend school, both parents and school staff can consider the advice contained within the NHS and Essex County Council Guidance on School Absence and Childhood Illness.

If your child is absent we will:

• Telephone or text you on the first, and every subsequent day of absence, if we have not heard from you.  However, it is your responsibility to contact us;
• If we are unable to make contact with parents by telephone, we will telephone emergency contact numbers, send letters home and a home visit may be made, in the interests of safeguarding;
• A referral will be made to Local Authority if no contact has been made with parents by the 10^th day of absence (or sooner if deemed appropriate), at which point your child will be considered to be “missing from education.”

If absence continues we will:

• Write to you if your child’s attendance is causing concern and/or where punctuality is a concern;
• Arrange a meeting so that you may discuss the situation with our Senior Attendance Champion or another senior member of staff;
• Create a personalised action/support plan, such as an attendance contract, to address any barriers to attendance and make clear each person’s role in improving the attendance patterns of your child;
• Offer signposting support to other agencies or services, if appropriate;
• Refer the matter to the Local Authority for relevant legal sanctions, if attendance deteriorates following the above actions.

term time leave

There is no entitlement in law for pupils to take time off during the term to go on holiday.

The law specifies that headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are "exceptional circumstances". The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 state that “the need or desire for a holiday” is not considered an exceptional circumstance.

At R A Butler 'exceptional circumstances' will be interpreted as:

... being of unique and significant emotional, educational or spiritual value to the child which outweighs the loss of teaching time and cannot be taken outside of term time.

It is important for parents/carers to be aware that while decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis, requests will normally be refused.

The Department for Education has introduced a new statutory national Framework, that all schools in England must follow.

• There is now a single consistent national threshold for when a penalty notice must be considered by all schools in England of 10 sessions (usually equivalent to 5 school days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10 school week period. These sessions do not have to be consecutive and can be made up of a combination of any type of unauthorised absence, including lateness.
• If a Penalty Notice is issued for an offence of unauthorised absence, the first will attract a fine of up to £160 per pupil (£80 if paid within 21 days);
• A second offence in three years will attract a fine of £160 per pupil.
• Schools cannot issue a third penalty notice in 3 years, and must consider other sanctions, which may include prosecution.

Please speak to the school if you need more information about the new rules.

Should you wish to request a term time leave of absence please complete the Leave of Absence request form via the link below:

Leave of Absence Request Form

lateness

Poor punctuality is not acceptable and can sometimes lead to irregular school attendance patterns. Good time-keeping is a vital life skill which will help children as they progress through their school life and out into the wider world.

Pupils who arrive late disrupt lessons and, if a child misses the start of the day, they can feel unsettled and embarrassed and risk missing vital work and important messages from their class teacher.

The times of the start and close of the school day for all pupils at R A Butler Academy are:

Gates open: 8.42am
Registration starts: 8.55am
Registration closes: 9.20am
End of the school day: 3.25pm  (Infants) 3.30pm (Juniors)

How we manage lateness:

• The school day starts at 8.42am when children can begin to come into school; 
• Registers are taken at 8.55am;
• Children arriving after 8.55am are required to come into school via the school office. If accompanied by a parent/carer they must sign them into our ‘Late Book’ and provide a reason for their lateness, which is recorded;
• At 9.20am the registers will be closed. In accordance with the Regulations, if your child arrives after that time, they will receive a mark that shows them to be on site – ‘U’, but this will not count as a present mark and it will mean that they have an unauthorised absence;
• The school may contact parents/carers regarding punctuality concerns;
• From time to time a member of school staff will undertake a ‘Late Gate’ check, greeting late arrivals at the main entrance to the school.  

Unauthorised lateness could result in the school referring to the Local Authority for sanctions and/or legal proceedings.  If your child has a persistent lateness record, you may be asked to meet with Mrs Vincent or another member of the senior leadership team, but you can approach us at any time if you are having difficulties getting your child to school on time.  We expect parents and staff to encourage good punctuality by being good role models to our children and, as a school, we celebrate good class and individual punctuality.