Attendance

Here at Rossmore School, improving attendance is everyone's business! Pupils can face many barriers to coming to school and this can be both within and beyond the school gates. Understanding this is a team approach at Rossmore and everyone works together to ensure that pupils are attending regularly. Our culture is built on trusting relationships and pupils feeling safe and supported at school. 

If your child is ill or unable to attend, please contact the school office on 01513293688 and use extension 1 to leave a message. Please let us know before 8.45am when registers close so that we know where your child is. 

 We understand the direct link between good attendance and academic success and we’d love to help explain that further for you. Having excellent attendance gives pupils the best possible chance at achieving their very best. We have compiled some data to help you understand the importance of striving to achieve 97%:

• There are 175 days a year to enjoy holidays and family time without the risk of fixed penalty notices. There are only 190 days in a school year.
• 97% attendance= a full week of education lost.
• 95% attendance=2 full week of education lost.
• 90% attendance= 19 days of education lost. At this point the pupil classes as a persistent absentee.
• 85% attendance= 29 days of education lost. This is nearly a whole half term lost which means entire areas of subjects will never be learnt.
• 80% attendance= 38 days of education lost. This is a whole half term lost meaning the gaps in knowledge will be huge and difficult to fill.

Maintaining good attendance means pupils are able to access the learning and not fall behind their peers or have to try and catch up missed learning. If a pupils’ attendance begins to fall, the school will follow the following process:

The pupil begins their educational journey at Rossmore School.

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The Pupil’s attendance drops below 95%

School will send home a letter of support making the parents/carers aware of the current attendance and ask if there’s any support needed in order to improve this figure.

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The attendance figure does not improve.

School will request a meeting with the parent/carer in order to create an attendance support planned singed by both school and the parent/carer in order to create actions to help improve the attendance figure.

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The attendance figure does not improve.

School will send home a second letter informing the parent/carer that no further absences will be authorised without appropriate medical evidence.

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Medical evidence is not provided.

School will contact the local authority who will put the pupil onto a 15 day attendance monitoring period. The local authority will send a letter to the parent/carer outlining the details.

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Pupil absence during the monitoring period.

The pupil will fail the attendance monitoring period and the local authority will issue the parent/carer with a fixed penalty notice. This could then lead to further action or prosecution from the local authority if the situation does not improve.

Holidays

We as a school understand the importance of family time and making memories however we request that you make every effort to book your holidays outside of term time. If a term time holiday is unavoidable you must complete a holiday request form and hand it into the office no more than 2 weeks before you go on holiday. This allows us to check current attendance just before the holiday date. Please be as detailed and specific as possible as to why the holiday needs to be booked during term time as every case will be assessed individually by Mrs Bouckley. If the holiday is not authorised under exceptional circumstances, it will have a negative effect on the pupil's attendance and could incur a fine.

Attendance Incentives

Our Weekly Attendance Race encourages each child to be in school every day. Every week, classes compete to see who has the highest attendance.

1st place each week wins the Top Prize of the Cheshire Phoenix Season ticket or Chester FC season ticket which a lucky winner from the winning class takes home.  On weeks were the clubs are playing an away game, alternative prizes such as Brio vouchers and much more are up for grabs.

Each half term all of the pupils also have the chance to earn a bonus non-uniform day on a day of their choice. To qualify they just need to achieve 100% attendance for the previous term (each case in considered individually as certain absences are discounted).

Being in school every day helps children learn more, build confidence, and stay on track with their progress.  

How you can help:  

• Make school attendance a priority in your household.  
• Encourage your child to be ready on time every morning.  
• Book appointments outside of school hours whenever possible.  

Together, let’s make every day count and help our children be the best they can be!  Thank you for your continued support.

We are here to support you to help your child have the best possible attendance so please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can help you achieve this.