Attendance is one of the most important areas of school life that the parents and carers of our pupils can make the biggest impact to their learning. Here at Our Lady’s we pride ourselves in having high expectations of the children and endeavour for them to thrive in our vibrant, nurturing and christian environment. Our Lady’s is proudly recognised as an Inclusive Attendance school. Our unwavering commitment to attendance centres around child-centric actions, evidence-informed practices, and a shared understanding of everyone’s roles and collective responsibilities to promote exceptional attendance.
At Our Lady’s Primary, we are driven by an unwavering commitment to making school attendance a top priority, fully integrated with every aspect of school improvement. Using the Inclusive Attendance Model – the first and only accredited programme providing the pedagogy of practice – we support children and families to connect, belong, and thrive. Each child at Our Lady’s is given a minimum target of 95% attendance.
Important information about attendance….
From August 2024 Knowsley Attendance Service have now stated that any unauthorised absenteeism up to 10 sessions (5 days) within any 10 week period can mean that each parent may be issued with a Penalty Warning Notice and a subsequent fine for any unauthorised absences for each of their children.
ATTENDANCE…
Make Everyday Matter at Our Lady’s
Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School Primary School is committed to providing the best educational experience for all children and good attendance and punctuality is critical to this outcome.
Each academic year has 190 school days, this leaves 175 non-school days for family time, holidays, visits and appointments.
If a pupil is absent for just 1 day each term that equals 6 days or 39 hours a year of lost learning.
Every Day Counts!
It is vital that pupils attend school, on time, every day in order to gain the greatest benefit from their education.
School doors are opened and children welcomed in at 8.40am with registration taking place at 8.55am. School finishes at 3.00pm for Key Stage One and 3.10pm for Key Stage 2.
We expect pupils to arrive and to be collected punctually at the start and end of each day. If your child arrives after 8.55am they will be recorded in the registers as late.
If your child arrives after 9.30am it will be recorded as late after register closed and this counts as an unauthorised absense.
Persistent lateness, 10 or more recorded late marks in one half term, will result in a request for a parental meeting to discuss any support the school can offer to improve punctuality.
If your child has a medical appointment please bring them to school at normal time to get their mark then they can be signed out for the appointment and signed back in on return.
Absence
If your child is significantly unwell and unable to attend school, we request that parents/carers telephone the school office before 8.45am and clearly state the reason for their absence. The can be done using the Reach More Parents App or by telephoning the school on 0151 4778220.
Where possible, we ask that medical appointments are arranged outside of the school day. Where this is not possible, please bring the appointment letter/card to the school office in advance.
Requests for holiday
There is no automatic entitlement, in law, to time off during term time.
All requests for a leave of absence must be, by law, made in writing and in advance. As a school, we request parents use the ‘Holiday Request Form’ which is available from the school office or from the link below. Holiday requests are only authorised in exceptional circumstances. If you choose to remove your child from school when the request has been denied it will be recorded as unauthorised and the school may request the Local Authority issue a penalty notice.
