Attendance

Westwood with iford primary school 23
Westwood with Iford Primary School

Good and punctual attendance has a big influence on how well a child does at school.

Our expectation is that pupils attend school every day for every session. We believe that regular, uninterrupted attendance secures the best possible learning achievement for all our children and we are committed to working in partnership with families to achieve this. Schools are expected to monitor all pupils’ attendance records closely and to share these with the Local Authority and with the next school when pupils transfer.

Parents/carers will be notified when:

  • if it falls below 95%
  • if your child has a regular or persistent absence
  • if your child is regularly late

You will be invited to attend a meeting to discuss the reasons and explore ways that the school can support you in helping your child achieve good attendance.

The School’s Education Welfare Officer may become involved at any stage of the School’s attendance monitoring should your child's attendance not improve which could lead to a penalty notice (fine) being issued.

Headteachers have no discretion to grant leave of absence during term time unless there are genuinely exceptional circumstances. It is the responsibility of parents to contact the school in writing when requesting any leave for their children so that each case can be considered on an individual basis.

The school day starts at 8.50 am when the register is taken. 

Children arriving after this time are marked late.  

Lateness beyond 9.30am will be counted as an absence; this will be unauthorised.


Green Group
97% - 100 % Attendance

Lowest Risk. Best Chance of Academic Success

With 98% a pupil has still missed 3 days of education across an academic year

Yellow group
95% - 96.9% Attendance

Concern. Student’s chance of achieving Age-Related Expectations at Key Stage 2 is reduced.

95% means a pupil misses 9 days of education across an academic year

Amber Group
93% - 94.9% Attendance

Increased Risk of Underachievement

93.4% means a pupil misses 2.5 weeks of education across an academic year

Pink Group
90% - 92% Attendance

Severe Risk of Underachievement

92% means a pupil is missing 3 weeks of education across an academic year

Red group
0 – 89.9% Attendance

Extreme Risk of Underachievement

89.5% means a child is missing 4 weeks of education across an academic year



As part of our duties under Safeguarding (Child Protection) we have to be confident of the reason for the child’s absence. All absences from school have to be accounted for and should we not hear from parents/carers we will contact you to find our where your child is.  If school does not receive a respond the absence will be recorded as unauthorised.

If your child is ill, please telephone the school as soon as you know that s/he is not going to be able to attend school, and continue to phone in on each day of absence. If your child has vomiting or diarrhoea, s/he must be kept at home for 48 hours after the vomiting/diarrhoea has stopped in order to reduce the risk of spreading infection.

Latest government guidelines on holiday absence in term time mean that it is no longer possible to authorise any request for holiday absence, this includes extended family leave to visit relatives abroad.

Requests for leave of absence should be made on the application form, which is available in the list below or from the office. Parents who take 5 or more days leave of absence risk receiving a fine per parent per child.

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