Attendance

At Oakridge, we promote good attendance to enable pupils to take full advantage of the educational opportunities we offer.

We ask parents to ensure that children arrive at school in good time for the doors opening each day at 8.45am.

Our free breakfast club is open from 8.00am for all children from Nursery to Year 6.

Children are expected to attend school regularly, but we understand that illness can intervene and absences do occur. 

Click here to download our attendance policy.

The school should be notified of any absence before the start of school on the first day of your child’s illness. We are obliged to contact parents about unexplained absences to satisfy ourselves that no harm has come to children on their way to school. An early phone call will eliminate the need for this.

Temporary absence for part of the day, to visit the doctor or dentist for example, should be supported by a note, phone call or personal contact.  Children cannot take a holiday during term time.

National legislation now requires us to note all unauthorised absences throughout the school year and inform parents of this number, if any, in each child’s end of year report. An unauthorised absence is one which is not supported by a letter or message.

Attendance Facts

• 90% Attendance – This means that your child misses approximately 4 weeks of school a year. By the time they leave school they would have missed nearly A WHOLE YEAR OF SCHOOL.

• 80% Attendance – This means that you child misses approximately half a term each year. By the time they leave school they would have missed MORE THAN TWO WHOLE YEARS OF SCHOOL.

• Children are only expected to attend school for 190 days out of a whole year.

Percentage	Days Absence	Comment	Achievement
Above 97%	Less than 6 days absence per year	Excellent Attendance	These children will almost certainly achieve their full potential in school and will form lasting and meaningful friendships.
95% - 96%	10 days absence per year	Missing 2 weeks of school every year	These children are likely to achieve but could still improve their attendance.
90% - 94%	19 days absence per year	Missing one month of school every year	These children will find it hard to achieve their best in school.
85% - 89%	29 days absence per year	Missing six weeks of school every year	These children will find it very difficult to keep up with work in school and are unlikely to achieve their potential.
80% - 84%	38 days absence per year	Missing a year of school over the time spent in primary education	These children will find it almost impossible to keep up with their work and will really struggle to develop and maintain meaningful friendships.