DOCUMENT STATUS
| Produced By | Version | Date | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kate Tector | 1 | June 2025 | N/A |
Approval
Governing body free to delegate to a committee of the governing body, an individual governor or the headteacher
Frequency
Annual review
‘Even when you are very small good attendance makes a BIG difference!’
At Filton Avenue Nursery School, we believe good attendance is essential if children are to be settled and take full advantage of the learning and development opportunities available to them at school.
Although we recognise that attending nursery is not statutory (compulsory), we hope to work with parents and carers to develop good habits of punctuality and attendance in children. From the beginning of a child’s learning journey at Nursery School, parents and carers are informed of the importance of good attendance and punctuality through information available in our induction process. Children learn and develop most between the ages of birth to five years so developing good habits now will benefit them through their entire school life and beyond. Consistency and routine are also very important for young children and greatly benefits their wellbeing.
Good attendance results in happy, settled children who make good progress. *
*Good attendance would be classed as a child attending Nursery School regularly, at every opportunity available to them, unless they are ill or complicated family circumstances do not enable them to attend.
Aim of the Policy
Our Attendance Policy aims to ensure that open and honest conversations with parents/carers are had in order to encourage regular attendance and engagement, recognising the individual circumstances of each family which helps to establish a foundation for all future learning. We aim to do this by re-enforcing positive messages with parents and carers, working collaboratively to identify and resolve barriers to attendance and raising awareness of how consistent attendance can benefit children’s development and wellbeing.
Principles
Our Attendance Policy is based on the following principles:
- All of our children have the right to access education and to achieve their maximum educational potential.
- Good attendance is best secured when the school, parents/carers and any other partners work together to overcome any barriers to attendance.
- Our school community works together and communicates effectively to actively promote and support the fundamental importance of good attendance.
- School monitoring of attendance swiftly identifies low attendance, including patterns of non-attendance.
- Early identification leads to open and honest communication between all partners, with clear actions agreed to resolve attendance issues and achieve successful outcomes.
Procedures
While attendance is not compulsory, we ask parents/carers to support their child’s regular engagement with nursery to promote positive routines and learning. We understand that circumstances may affect attendance and aim to work supportively with families to address these.
Nursery is opened at 8:45-9AM and 12.30-12:40PM learning sessions begin, soon after the gates/doors close.
Late admittance will be through the main entrance and not directly through the classroom, late attendance is recorded and monitored by our office staff.
If children are absent from Nursery due to illness, we kindly ask that parents/carers make contact at their earliest convenience and ideally before 8.30am for children who attend morning and all-day sessions, or 12.15pm for those attending in the afternoon. Parent/carers’ explanations of children’s absence will be recorded and passed to their key worker. Parents/carers may call, email or text the Nursery School.
If children are absent and Nursery has not been informed, we will try to contact parents/carers via a phone call/text or email. All such attempts to communicate with parents/carers regarding their child’s absence will be recorded. If children are known to Social Care, this service may be informed on the first day of a child’s absence.
If the school has not had a response from parents/carers and the child remains absent for a second day, another attempt will be made to main parents/carers, however, if there is no response then school will try to contact other adults identified on the child’s admission document. In circumstances where school feels the family is vulnerable, a member of the Nursery School team may make an unannounced visit to the family home in a further attempt to make contact. Social Care may also be informed at this point.
In all cases where a child is absent for three days and we have not had contact from parents or carers, a member of staff from Nursery will make all possible efforts visit the home in order to be assured of the family’s welfare.
At any point during this time, the Nursery School may contact local schools where the child’s siblings are known to attend or other professionals (if known), including when children attend other settings, to ensure the safety and welfare of the child/ren.
The school will be proactive in its support of parents and carers to try to identify barriers to attendance and resolve any issues. This may include actions such as offering Early Help to support the family, involving other agencies or, where possible, offering alternative or extended sessions to ensure their children’s attendance improves.
Attendance Monitoring
Attendance monitoring is part of our duty of care to ensure children’s safety and wellbeing. Our approach is supportive, not disciplinary. The headteacher and room leaders conduct regular monitoring of attendance for all children as part of our safeguarding procedures. Where there are attendance concerns, this is monitored regularly. During this monitoring, if the school identifies low attendance, including patterns of non-attendance, it will take the following actions to identify barriers and support parent/carer engagement in improving their child’s attendance:
- Have an initial conversation with parents/carers and the child’s key person either by the phone, at drop off/pick up and/or at parents/carer evenings.
- Invite parents/carers for a more formal chat with key person and/or room leader.
- Invite parents/carers to meet with the headteacher and/or key person/room leader, with the aim of resolving any attendance barriers.
Authorised Absences
Although nursery attendance is non-statutory and not subject to legal enforcement, we follow a consistent framework for recording reasons for absence. This helps us understand and support children’s wellbeing and safeguarding needs.
As a school, we are aware that there may be occasions where children’s absence cannot be avoided, for example if they are unwell, have to attend medical appointments or there is a family emergency. These such absences will be authorised.
Unauthorised Absences
In line with the Department for Education (DfE) document ‘Working Together to Improve School Attendance 2024’: we may consider an absence to be avoidable for internal monitoring purposes, for example attending a holiday during term time.
We actively discourage parents/carers from taking children on family holidays during term times as this can impact negatively on their progress.
