Attendance

Attendance and Punctuality

At Hayfield, we believe that every child has a right to have access to high quality education.  With this, they will be able to thrive and flourish.  To achieve it, parents, school and the children need to work together in partnership.  The first step in this partnership is to ensure that your child attends school. Without your child in school we cannot fulfil the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage or National Curriculum.

We are required, by law, to record the attendance of every child on roll and to show who is absent or late. Figures for attendance and for authorised absence and unauthorised absence have to be sent to Wirral Borough Council (Local Authority) and the Department for Education (UK Government).

At Hayfield the school day is organised as follows:

• 8:30am – Breakfast Club is available for all children
• 8:45 to 9:30am – Children begin to arrive
• 9:30am – Registers taken, children arriving after this time are marked as late.
• 10:00am – Registers closed, if children arrive after this time, they will be recorded as having arrived after closure of registers (code U). This counts as an unauthorised absence for that session.

After lunchtime the register is taken again for the afternoon session.

• 1:30pm– Registers taken  

The official closing time for school is 3:30pm, however the logistics of local authority transport, combined with the lack of space available for parents makes this difficult to manage safely.  Therefore, collection times are set from 3pm each day and coordinated by the school office.

Poor Attendance:

Poor attendance (and punctuality) not only impacts on a child’s progress and achievement but also on their self-esteem and well-being.

The habit of being a regular, punctual attender at school will stand your child in good stead for the future, particularly in the world of work.

Understanding Your Child’s Attendance

Understanding How Lateness Affect Your Child’s Learning

Each day the school register closes at 9:30am, after this time, learning is well underway and your child is late for school.  A few minutes late each day soon adds up, the table below shows the impact on their education by the end of the summer term.

Absence from School

Regular attendance is a parental responsibility. If your child is unable to attend school for any reason, please call the office on 0151 677 9303 (option 1) or email the school at schooloffice@hayfield.wirral.sch.uk to report their absence.

Please do this before 9.30am on the first day of the absence. If we do not hear from you then we will start to call all the contact numbers that you have provided in order to gain an explanation for the absence.

If we still have not been able to ascertain where your child is then school staff or the Attendance Service may make a home visit to ensure the safety of the child/children. If we are still unable to get a response by the end of the school day, then this may be reported to the police as a safeguarding concern.

Whenever possible, please make non-urgent dental and medical appointments after the school day or in holidays.

Punctuality

It is better to be late than not to arrive at all. However, when children arrive late they can find this very difficult.  The children at Hayfield need structure learning opportunities, arriving part way through the day can be very unsettling or even distressing for them and in turn only add to the anxiety they are already feeling.  It is important that routines at home are well established so that they are ready when transport calls in the morning.     

Holidays

Taking holidays during term time does affect child’s educational progress, and parents are strongly discouraged from withdrawing their child from school during term time. However, often holidaying at busy times of the year can be stressful for children with Social Communication Difficulties, and at Hayfield we will make some adjustments for this. 

Parents wishing to take their children away on holiday during term times should make a written request to the headteacher.  Please bear in mind that any period of leave taken without the agreement of the school, or in excess of the agreed number of days, will be classed as unauthorised absence.

Reluctance to go to School

If your child feels anxious about going to school, please let us know as soon as possible.

Staff at Hayfield will always take your concerns regarding your child seriously.  We will work with you to put in place plans that will help with the transits between home and school each day.  We would always advise parents to take the line with their child, “We will sort this out because everyone has to go to school”.

If your child will not get on the bus in the morning, or refuses to leave the house, we would ask that you don’t give in and let them stay at home.  This will only create a bigger problem and to them refusing to come to school on a regular basis.  Please contact the school office straight away and arrange a time to speak to the class teacher or the headteacher. 

If you live far away from the school and transport is an issue, we may be able to help with this and arrange it for you. Alternatively you may need to bring them in a little bit later in the day, and when reception is quieter, remember - better to be late than not to arrive at all.

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