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Dear Parents and Carers,

I want to begin by thanking all our families who consistently support good school attendance. Your commitment ensures your children benefit fully from school life. We know that pupils with good attendance tend to enjoy better wellbeing and achieve more in school than those who frequently miss days. Excellent attendance gives children the best chance to thrive – in their learning, their friendships, and ultimately their life chances beyond school.

Regular school attendance is crucial for your child’s wellbeing, achievement, and wider development. Being in school every day helps them stay on track academically and keeps them engaged with their teachers and friends. It also helps build good habits like punctuality and responsibility that will serve them throughout life.

In short, every day counts. Even a few days of absence can quickly add up and significantly impact learning and examination readiness—particularly as students navigate their critical Key Stage 3 foundation years and their GCSE courses. Thank you again to all parents/carers who send their children to school consistently. Your support makes a huge difference

The National Framework for Attendance & Penalty Notices

The Department for Education (DfE) operates under a National Framework for school attendance and penalty notices designed to improve consistency across England in how schools and local authorities respond to absences.

Please note the statutory framework rules:

Rolling 3-Year Tracking of Absence: Unauthorised absences are tracked on a cumulative, rolling three-year basis. If a child has 10 or more unauthorised sessions (equivalent to 5 full school days) within any 10-week period, schools must consider a formal intervention or referral. This 10-week window "rolls" across terms and school years, meaning absences do not reset at year-end.
National Penalty Notice Rates: Each penalty notice issued nationwide is £80 per parent, per child if paid within 21 days, rising to £160 if paid within 28 days.
Escalation Rules: If a second fine is issued for the same child within a 3-year period, it automatically escalates to the higher flat rate of £160 with no reduced option. There is a strict cap of two fines in a three-year period per parent, per child. A third offence bypasses penalty notices entirely and progresses directly to statutory legal interventions, including parental prosecution in court, where fines can reach up to £2,500.
Term-Time Leave: By law, Headteachers cannot grant any leave for family holidays during term time except in truly exceptional circumstances, nor can absences be authorised retrospectively.

Our Promise to Families: We understand that national rules sound strict. Please be reassured that our primary aim is always to support families and remove barriers to attendance. We view legal escalation as an absolute last resort after all other internal support steps have been fully exhausted. Our priority is a proactive partnership so that issues are addressed early.

Our Supportive, Staged Attendance Process

At St Anselm's Catholic School, we follow a clear, consistent, and staged pathway from Year 7 through to our Sixth Form to ensure students are supported long before any formal action becomes necessary. Here is what you can expect from our team:

Stage 1: Early Alerts & Prevention

We continuously monitor daily attendance data through our tracking platforms. If your child’s attendance begins to dip (below 95%) or approaches the persistent absence threshold (90%), our Attendance Officer (AO) or House Teams will issue an early alert via phone or an initial supportive letter. This is to ensure you are informed early so we can prevent an ongoing slide together. Furthermore, we will also contact you at the end of every term to give you an update of your childs attendance.

Stage 2: Supportive Contact & Intervention Meetings

Our first response to attendance worries is always intervention, not punishment. When absences accumulate, parents will be invited to an in-school Attendance Improvement Meeting (AIM). During this meeting, we will work in partnership with you and your child to create a tailored Attendance Action Plan.

By looking closely at the unique reasons behind your child's absences, our House Teams and Attendance Officer can identify, coordinate, and implement appropriate, school-based support strategies. These individualised adjustments are designed to alleviate pressure, rebuild confidence, and safely lower the barriers that are preventing regular attendance.

Stage 3: Formal Warnings & Target Monitoring

If attendance challenges persist despite our documented support, the school will initiate a formal Notice to Improve (NTI) tracking window. This process sets clear attendance targets over a fixed monitoring block. At this stage, subsequent Target Review Meetings are scheduled to measure progress. Continued poor attendance or lack of parental engagement during this window may result in a referral to the Kent PRU and Attendance Service (KPAS) for specialist multi-agency monitoring.

Stage 4: Local Authority Intervention

In the unlikely event that a student's attendance fails to improve, and all internal support layers, AIM reviews, and pastoral adjustments have been declined or exhausted, the school is required to refer the case to the local authority for statutory legal intervention. This can include formal Penalty Notices or prosecution for non-attendance.

Punctuality Culture & Attendance Catch-Up

Instilling good habits starts first thing in the morning. Students are expected to attend AM morning registration promptly at between 08:50 AM and 09:00 AM. Students who arrive late to school disrupt their learning and miss vital pastoral notices.

In accordance with our school policy, students who arrive late to AM registration due to sleeping in or similar reasons are automatically issued a behavior point and required to attend a mandatory, 30-minute Attendance Catch-Up session at 1:00 PM that same day to restore missed learning time and reinforce a consistent routine of responsibility. Students who miss AM registration for reasons outside of their control, are expected to attend Attendance Catch-Up but with no behaviour sanction applied.

Furthermore, because we take lateness seriously, we closely monitor student punctuality on a daily basis. When a student begins to establish a pattern of arriving late, we follow a structured communication and intervention process to work with families to correct it:

First Step – Written Notification (Punctuality Letters): If a student accumulates multiple late marks within a short window, our Attendance Officer will issue a formal punctuality alert letter to parents and carers. This letter serves to highlight our concerns, share the exact data trails from our tracking system, and ask for your support in improving morning routines.
Escalation Step – In-School Punctuality Meeting: Where lateness does not improve despite written warnings and daily catch-up sessions, the process escalates. Parents and carers will be required to attend an in-person meeting at the school with their child’s House Team and the Attendance Officer. The purpose of this meeting is to formally address the ongoing disruption to learning, identify any underlying challenges the student may be facing in the mornings, and establish a binding punctuality agreement to ensure they arrive on time moving forward.

Working Together

In summary, we are entirely committed to navigating attendance difficulties alongside you. The national measures underscore just how vital everyday in school is, but our focus at St Anselm's remains firmly on encouragement, pastoral care, and open communication.

If you have any questions, or if your child is currently struggling with barriers that make coming to school difficult, please do not hesitate to contact their House Manager or our Attendance Officer immediately – we are here to help.

Thank you for your ongoing partnership in opening the door to a bright, successful future for your child.

Yours sincerely,

Mr C Barry

Attendance Lead

St Anselm’s Catholic School

attendance slides parents website.pdf

absences poster.pdf