Attendance Vision

At Norfolk, we know that regular attendance is crucial for academic success and personal growth.  To support this, we aspire to create a school where every child feels valued, safe, and eager to learn. 

Our vision is to foster a culture where:

• Every child's unique needs are understood and met.
  • We will work closely with families to identify and address any barriers to attendance, ensuring that all children have the support they need to thrive.
• Positive relationships are at the heart of our school community.
  • We will build strong bonds between staff, students, and families, creating a welcoming and supportive atmosphere where everyone feels connected.
• Learning is engaging and meaningful.
  • We will provide high-quality, inclusive education that inspires curiosity and a love of learning, making school a place children want to be.
• Well-being is prioritised.
  • We will promote physical and mental health through a range of activities, ensuring our children feel happy, healthy, and ready to learn.

By working together, we can create a school where every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential.

We expect all children to achieve at least 96% attendance. We expect this because it is well known that missing school leads to gaps in children's learning. Being absent for just one lesson begins the formation of these 'gaps', missing information that children find almost impossible to catch up on and later becomes a barrier to their progression.

If your child is too ill to attend school, please telephone the school office. You must do this every day they are ill.

We have a team of staff who support good attendance across the school.

Miss Johnson, our Assistant Head Teacher, oversees the policies and procedures in place to support good attendance.

Ms Scott- Hopkins, our attendance officer, contacts parents and tracks attendance for all pupils across the school. She organises meetings and offers support for parents and families. 

Our learning mentors, Mrs London, Mr Johnson and Mr Whittaker, work alongside Miss Johnson and Ms Scott to identify any support we can offer children within school. 

We regularly recognise and celebrate good attendance, with:

• Certificates
• Badges
• Raffle prizes 
• Class awards, such as going to the park or having extra outdoor learning time

Each week, we monitor class attendance and celebrate when classes have significantly increased or achieved a high whole-class percentage. Class teachers can also nominate their class or an individual pupil for recognition if particular children have increased their attendance or punctuality. 

'Feel Good Friday' is an initiative to support attendance across the school on Fridays. Our 'Attendance Champions' in school have helped organise what this involves, and we have seen our attendance increase as a result 

Monitoring attendance for pupils who fall below 96%

Schools have a legal duty to monitor attendance and ensure that support is in place for any children and families who are regularly missing their learning. School may need to:

• Send letters to Parents/Carers to share that their child's attendance is being monitored due to initial concerns 
• Invite Parents/Carers into school for attendance meetings to review concerns
• Refer families to the Family Intervention Service (FIS) to support with difficulties outside of school.
• Invite Parents/Carers to meetings with the Local Authority Attendance officers, where attendance has not improved since the school attendance meetings.