At Our Lady & St Patrick's, we do all we can to ensure all our children realise their true potential.

An important way to help us achieve this is for them to have excellent attendance at school, allowing them to take full advantage of the opportunities on offer, and gain the appropriate skills they need to reach their full potential.

It is every child's right to attend.

Pupils fall behind when they miss school – whether they are absent for authorised or unauthorised reasons, it all has an impact. It can be tempting to think the odd day here and there will not make a difference, but it all adds up.

We understand that ultimately, this is a partnership, between us the school and you the family of our children. We strive to provide a welcoming, caring environment, whereby each child feels wanted and secure - and we appreciate your support in working with us achieve of our aim of having all children in school as much as possible.

We adopt a whole-school approach to achieve good attendance which is evidence informed and child-centred. You can find out more about our absence reporting procedure on the Late and Absence Procedures section.

Please click on the icons below, for more information:

Our Whole-School Approach to Attendance

Good school attendance is so important - please try to send your child in to school EVERY DAY!

Even if you are running late, it is much better to send your child in late than not at all - and we are happy to see the children whatever time they make it into school! 

Missing a day's school should only happen if it is completely unavoidable.

Studies have shown the negative impact that missing school school has on children's future prospects and life chances. Coming to school every day really is the very best thing you can do for your child: 
 

✨ Research shows that children who attend school regularly are more likely to be successful.  
✨ A child who misses a day of school each week misses an equivalent of two whole years in their school life.  
✨ Missing school leads to gaps in education that become difficult to fill.

Under Section 7 of the Education Act 1996, parents are legally responsible for making sure that their child of compulsory school age receives efficient full time education that is suitable to the child’s age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs the child may have.

If you have any problems which are affecting your child's attendance, you can speak to us in confidence and we will do all we can to support you with this. Please do let us know if there is anything we can do to help you with your child's attendance - we are always here to help. 

Our Attendance Initiatives

We have in place a range of attendance rewards, to recognise and promote good school attendance.

Each week, in our Celebration Assembly, the class with the best attendance receives the Attendance Award... along with a special little treat from the golden envelopes!

We also have a half-termly attendance 'shop' where children with 96% attendance and above can chose a prize, in recognition of their super attendance. 

Our attendance officer works really closely with families on day-to-day attendance, and we also offer advice and support on any aspect of attendance.

Advice from the Local Authority about leave of absence during term time 

Policies