Attendance
Our target for attendance is 96%
Absence
If your child for any reason is not in school, please ensure that you have rung the school office (01924 469578) before 8:50am. You can leave a message via our automated system. We do not accept social media messages or telling a member of staff in person.
If you do not inform us of your child's absence, we will send you a message requesting that you contact the office to discuss your child's reason for absence. If you fail to contact us, our attendance officer will attempt to contact you via telephone.
Our Attendance Officer is: Miss Sambrook
If your child is part of a safeguarding plan and we do not know the reason for absence, we will complete a home visit on the first day of absence.
If you child is NOT part of a safeguarding plan, then we will carry out a home visit on day 2 of their absence if you have not contacted us prior.
If your child have been absent from school for a period of 5 days, we may carry out a home visit even if you have called us and we know the reason for absence. This is to ensure we carry out our statutory safeguarding duty.
Punctuality
It is really important to ensure that your child attend school on time so that they do not miss out on the start of lessons. Please see below for the start times:
Nursery Morning Session starts at 8:45am
Nursery Afternoon Session starts at 12:15pm
Reception start time is 8:50am
Years 1-6 start time is 8.40am
If your child is late to school, you must accompany them to the main entrance and sign them in to the building where you will be asked to complete a late form. Persistent failure to do this will result in a meeting with the attendance officer and/or Designated Safeguarding Lead.
If your child's punctuality is a concern, you will be invited to have a meeting with a member of the attendance team to discuss proactive ideas and solutions to ensure things improve.
The Orchard Attendance Ladder
In order to ensure all parents, carers and children are aware of the impact of absence on their overall attendance, the Orchard Attendance Ladder will be used as a visual aid to support this. This ladder will be used around the academy building, on attendance newsletters, on displays and on signage outside the building. All staff will refer to the Brambles attendance ladder when talking about attendance with any stakeholder and when helping them to understand where their attendance sits on it.
How we will support you to improve your child's attendance
At Orchard we know that the best way to improve a child's attendance is when parents and school leaders work together. See below our staged approach to supporting you as parents/carers to improve your child's attendance.
Term-time Holidays
Orchard has a zero tolerance policy to parents taking pupils out of school during term time and school will not authorise absence for any child whose parent books a family holiday during term time. If you do take your child on holiday, a holiday request form must be completed.
These can be collected from the main office.
Useful Links
Please see below useful links where you will find further information about our approach to attendance at Orchard Primary Academy and to useful Kirklees Local Authority information. Click to access.
Attendance Rewards
