ATTENDANCEPOLICY FOR
PARENTSThe Japanese School

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Approved by:

SMC

Last reviewed on:

January 2024

Next review due by:

December 2024

Date: January 2024

Attendance policy information for parents
Designated senior lead for attendance: Deputy head teacher Contact details:
ron-nichi@thejapaneseschool.ltd.uk / 020-8993-7145
Regular attendance is defined to be in accordance with the rules prescribed by the school.

Supreme court Ruling April 2017
Regular attendance is attendance at school on each day the school is open for the pupils unless there is an‘authorisable’ reason to be absent; (registration regulations 2006 (amended). Section 444 of the educationact 1996). “If a child of compulsory school age who is a registered pupil at a school fails to attend regularly
at the school, his/her parent is guilty of an offence.” A pupil’s unauthorized absence is an offence for theparent.
As a school we aim to:• Develop and maintain a whole school culture that promotes the benefits of high attendance and goodtime keeping for all children and groups of children.
• Maintain a low rate of persistent and severe absenteeism (<90% and <50% attendance).
• Maintain parents’ and pupils’ awareness of the importance of efficient and fulltime attendance.
• Help your child attain their full potential academically and socially.
Good attendance is important because:• Statistics show a direct link between under-achievement and poor attendance.
• Regular attenders make better progress, both socially and academically.
• Regular attenders find school routines, schoolwork, and friendships easier to cope with.
• Regular attenders find learning more satisfying.
• Regular attendance encourages responsible learning habits and prepares children for higher
education and for their working life.
As a parent you can help us by:• Ensuring your child attends school on each day the school is open for the pupils unless there is an‘authorisable’ reason to be absent. Only the school can authorise an absence.
• Phone in to the school on each day of absence, with a reason for an absence.
• Provide a timely reason, satisfactory to the school, for an absence; otherwise, the absence will remain
unauthorised.
• Arranging (where possible) all non-emergency medical and dental appointments out of school hours
or during school holidays.
• Do not plan any holidays during term time.
• Keeping the school updated by telephone, email, or letter of any changes of circumstances.
• Making sure we always have your current contact numbers; this includes all telephone numbers, email
addresses and emergency contact details.
Absence should only happen when:a) Your child is significantly/symptomatically ill and therefore unfit to attend school. There should be anobservable symptom/s; ’feeling unwell’ is not enough. We may ask for medical verification whereabsence claimed as illness is frequent, prolonged or where there are absences immediately before
or after a school holiday.
b) If there is an unavoidable/unforeseen reason or circumstance which is causing a difficulty, the school
will ask for evidence.
c) If your child has a documented medical condition that hinders regular attendance, please let us know;
the school will ask for evidence in such cases.
If you are leaving the area or changing schools, please complete a Leaver’s Form (available at the school
office. Schools and the local authority are obliged to track pupils from school to school, even if you are leaving
to live abroad. Follow-up enquiries on inadequate information can be intrusive.
What the school will do:• While we expect a parent to contact us with a reason for each absence, on occasions they mightforget, we will endeavour to call, parents. Schools have a safeguarding role so on occasion, home
visits may be made by school staff or by the Local Authority Link Attendance Officer if a parent cannot
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Where a child has a Social Worker, we will inform him/her of absences.
Let you know if we have concerns regarding your child’s attendance or punctuality.
The school will express ‘a concern’ either verbally or by letter. If attendance does not improve or
explanations for absence or lateness are unsatisfactory, you may be invited to a meeting. The school
will also outline what the attendance expectations are and what actions will follow
We will seek to support you in various ways including:• a) We may invite you to participate in an Early Help and Assessment Plan (EHAP)• b) You may be invited to agree an Attendance Contract.
• c) A referral may also be made to external partners, including the Local Authority School Attendance
Service, whose officers visit the school regularly to review and support attendance and punctuality
issues.
• Hold regular meetings with the parents of pupils who the school (and/or local authority) consider tobe vulnerable or are persistently or severely absent, to discuss attendance and engagement at school.
• Identify pupils who need support from wider partners as quickly as possible and make the necessaryreferrals.
• Regularly inform parents about your child’s attendance and absence levels. Insert details of where
this occurs as pupil’s termly reports.
• Remind parents of the importance of regular attendance and punctuality in school literature, on
Parents’ Day, in the Home-School Agreement and in pupils’ annual reports and during meetings.
• If your child has a documented medical condition, we will wish to discuss this with you. We will devise
a care plan with you to support your child in school; this might also require us to refer to the school
Nursing Team or on occasions contact your GP/health professional.
• Share attendance data regularly with the Local Authority Attendance Service• Where attendance concerns persist, the school will hold more formal conversations with the parent/s(and pupil where they are old enough and able to understand and participate).
• Escalate the matter to the Local Authority Attendance Service (this includes unauthorised absence
due to significant lateness) for prosecution, where all other routes have failed or are not deemed
appropriate.
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Authorised absence
Some absences are allowed by law and are known as “authorised absences”. That is when the school accept
the reason given for absence.
We realise that there are rare and unavoidable occasions when there might be a particular problem thatcauses your child to be absent, such as sudden bereavement, unexpected parental illness, or a family crisis.
If this happens, please let us know and we shall try to deal with the matter sympathetically.
Following such incidents, parents are expected to make any necessary arrangements for their child to returnto school as soon as possible (ideally the next day). If the absence is likely to be prolonged, parents must
write to the Headteacher outlining the reasons.
Please note that when illness is a frequent reason claimed for absence, the school will ask for evidence otherthan a parent’s word to allow for further authorisation of absences.

Unauthorised absence
There are times when children are absent for reasons which are not permitted by law. These are known as“unauthorised absences”. Examples of unauthorised absence are:• Waiting for a delivery or repair.
• Going for a family day out / Going shopping.
• Because you have visitors.
• Because you did not know school was open.
• Interpreting or supporting a parent at a meeting.
• Sleeping in after a late night.
• Because it is your child’s birthday.
• Parent’s illness (other than in an emergency.
• Where there is no explanation for an absence, or the school considers the reason given for theabsence as unsatisfactory.
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Absence following or prior to a period of school closure (at the end and beginnings of terms and halfterms) or following a period of authorised leave, unless satisfactory evidence to justify this has been
provided.
Term time holiday.

Persistent absence and severe absence
Once a child’s attendance falls to 90% for whatever reason, he/she is automatically defined by the
Department for Education (DfE) irrespective of the reason for absence as a Persistent Absentee. Once achild’s attendance falls below 50%, they are termed Severely Absent. Both scenarios present a severe
problem for pupils. Much of the work they miss when they are off school is never made up, these gaps intheir learning leave children at a considerable disadvantage for the remainder of their school career. Statistics
show a direct link between poor attendance and underachievement.
Such low attendance is well below our expectations and as such, the school will work in partnership with theparent, the Local Authority, to improve matters. (In such cases, parents will be offered an Early Help
Assessment and might be invited to agree a Parenting Attendance Contract with the school or the Local
Authority as a way of managing improvement.)
Unauthorised absences are reported to the Local Authority (this includes absence due to significant lateness).
The School Attendance Service may contact you where unauthorised absence continues to be a problem.
The school will then work in partnership with you until matters improve.

Exceptional Leave - Term Time Leave of Absence
Amendments to the 2006 School Attendance Regulations make it clear that a Headteacher may not grant
any leave of absence during term time for holidays. Leave of absence is only granted in exceptional
circumstances (e.g., if there is an emergency) at the discretion of the Headteacher and in accordance withthe school policy as agreed by the governing body. There is no entitlement to time off during term time.
Only in an exceptional circumstance will term time leave be considered. All leave is granted at the
Headteacher’ s decision.
If a child goes abroad during a school holiday period, the parent must make definite arrangements so thatthey return in good time for school re-opening. Absence claimed as illness before or after a school holiday
must be reported during the period of absence and medical evidence produced on return to school.
Otherwise, the absence will be regarded as unauthorised leave.
If you experience unexpected delays in returning from a trip abroad or within the UK, for whatever reason,
the school will require documentary evidence accompanied with proof of original return dates i.e., tickets oran official travel plan showing intent to return on time.
• If term time leave is taken without prior permission from the school, the absence will be unauthorized.
Where a child’s whereabouts cannot be established, he/she may be regarded as a ‘Child Missing
Education’.
• Except for leave taken in an emergency, retrospective approval cannot be given without an application
having been made. Satisfactory evidence of an emergency will need to be provided
Punctuality - Parents remain responsible for their child’s punctuality.
Good punctuality is a prerequisite to good learning and shows respect between pupil, family, and school.
Parents remain responsible for their child’s punctuality at the start of the school day.
Arriving late to school on a consistent basis can have longer-term academic effects. Late arrivals are
disruptive to the whole class and often embarrassing for the child. If showing up late to school becomes a
habit, children may develop the notion that lateness is acceptable behavior. This belief can negatively impact
their future work ethic and employment opportunities.
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Morning registration is at 8:40 am. You need to aim for your child to come through the school gate at
8:35 am, at the latest.
Registers close at 8:40 am.

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All lateness is recorded daily. The number of minutes late and the reason for lateness, if known, will
also be recorded. This information is discussed at regular meetings with the local authority Attendance
Officer.
Arrival after the close of registration, where there is not an acceptable reason, such as a medical
appointment, will be marked as a missed session; unauthorised absence code ‘U’ in line with the DfE
guidance. The U code has the value of an unauthorised absence. When late arrivals are frequent or
persistent, we will want to discuss this with you to assess what support or guidance you or your child
may need. A referral may also be made to the Local Authority Attendance Service.
Please remember that absence for whatever reason disadvantages a child by creating gaps inlearning. A good understanding of the work and good progress can only take place when the child isin the classroom regularly and on time and ready to learn.

Leavers
If your child is leaving our school parents are asked to:Give the school comprehensive information about your plans, including any date of a move and your new
address and telephone numbers, who your child will be living with and your child’s new school andthe start date when known. This should be submitted to our school in writing. A Leaver’s Form isavailable from the school office, which you should complete. (A destination country or another named
Local Authority without other details is not sufficient).
When a child leaves and we do not have information about where they have gone/will be educated, thenhe/she is considered to be a ‘Child Missing Education’. This means that the Local Authority has alegal duty to carry out investigations, which will include liaising with Ealing Children's Integrated
Response Service (formerly Social Services), the Police, benefits/council tax records and otheragencies, to try to locate your child. By giving us the above information, these investigations can be
avoided.

Withdrawals
Parents who remain resident locally can only withdraw their children from school if they have a confirmed
start date at another school or are undertaking to educate the child at home (Elective Home
Education). If the latter, this must be confirmed in writing to the school by the parent. Pupils remain
registered at school until such conditions are satisfied.

Legal note
Parents have a legal duty to ensure efficient and full-time attendance at school of registered pupils of statutory
school age (Education Act 1996). This is the legal requirement. The Local Authority School Attendance
Service aims to work with schools and families and other partnership agencies to promote good attendance
and avoid legal action. However, in some cases, parents are prosecuted (taken to court) or are given a Fixed
Penalty Notice (fine).

For schools
Useful links to documents to read in conjunction with this document.
Working together to improve school attendance – see page 11.

SEN support.
supporting pupils with medical conditions at school.
UNCRC_summary-1_1.pdf (unicef.org.uk)
As the barriers to attendance evolve quickly, the policy should be reviewed and updated, as necessary. In
doing so, schools should seek the views of pupils and parents.

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