Attendance

Attendance Figures For the Academic Year 2023/2024

The whole school attendance for the academic year 2023-2024 94.74%. This is an increase of 0.05 from the 2022-2023 academic year.

Absence Process

If you child is ill or unable to attend school for any reason you must call the absence line before 9am and leave a message on the answerphone. Dial 01513293688 and select option 1. A text will be sent to you requesting you to call if we have not been made aware of the absence and, if no contact is received, the absence will be marked as unauthorised. Unauthorised absences could lead to intervention from the local authority.

Attendance Information

Here at Rossmore School 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 Davis-McCoy. If the holiday is not authorised it will have a negative effect on the pupil's attendance and could incur a fine.

Attendance Incentives

Each week we run our attendance league. Each class has a “fixture” against another class and you score points depending on your whole class attendance figures. You receive 1 point for having more than 95%, 2 points for more than 97% and 3 points for 100% plus the winning team get an extra point. The winner of the fixtures receives 3 points for their league total and the loser receives 1 point. At the end of the academic year the class at the top of the league receive a treat outside of school with the second placed class receiving a smaller treat.

Each week all of the pupils from the class with the highest attendance are put into a draw and one pupil (sometimes four) wins a prize. We have kindly been gifted season passes to Cheshire Phoenix Basketball Club, Chester Men's and Women's Football club and Vauxhalls Football Club and these are used as our prizes when the teams are playing at home. Other companies including Climbing Hut, The Ice Cream Farm, The Waterways Museum, Flip Out and Brio Leisure have also kindly donated tickets for us to give out on the days when the teams are playing away.

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).

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.