Attendance

We are sure that like us, you as parents and carers realise the importance of attendance and punctuality. At Wood Lane we have been working hard to try to raise attendance levels and to reduce instances of lateness. Our target for whole school attendance is 97%.

 

Attendance facts:

• All schools must report their termly attendance percentages to the Local Authority.
• If your child is not in school s/he does not reach his/her learning potential.
• If your child’s attendance falls below 95% they will be monitored by the Attendance Team and absences may not be authorised without evidence.
• Parents have a legal responsibility to ensure that their child receives a full time education Parents can be issued with fixed penalty notices (fines) for failing to ensure that their child attends school regularly - this includes taking children out of school on holiday.
• The local authority has the power to prosecute parents in the magistrate’s court for the offence of failing to ensure their child attends school regularly.
• If your child arrives after 9.10am we are required to mark them as having unauthorised absence for the whole morning - arriving after 9.10am once a week brings their attendance down to 90% for that week.

 

There is much evidence to show that good attendance plays a vital role in helping your child to achieve their potential. We also know that poor attendance can lead to other problems for children.

 

Children who do not attend school regularly are more likely to:

• Fall behind in their school work
• Find it difficult to make and keep friends
• Be unhappy at school
• Misbehave so others cannot see that they are finding the work difficult.
• Learn poor attendance habits that follow through into secondary school and employment.

Poor punctuality can also disadvantage children in many ways:

• Being frequently late for school adds up to lost learning - for example arriving 15 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 2 weeks a year.
• When children are late they find it harder to settle into the routine of the day.
• When children arrive late they often miss key messages and teaching which continues to have an effect on their learning for the rest of the lesson or day.
• Poor punctuality disrupts the class and is embarrassing for the child.
• Your child being late disturbs the learning of the whole class.

Term - time holidays

• Only emergencies and medical appointments are authorised. All other absence is unauthorised.
• Teachers often voice concern for the progress of pupils who are absent due to unauthorised absence.
• DID YOU KNOW… that parents and carers can get fined if a child has both unauthorised holidays as well as absence for other reasons?
• Plan your holidays in advance. Our holidays dates are always on the website!!!

From September 2025 we have begun part of the Little Heroes Campaign.

What is the Little Heroes campaign?

We understand that for many families, getting their children to attend school can be a real challenge, and many children face significant barriers. We have considered this when planning our campaign.  

We reached out to all Staffordshire primary schools for them to opt in to receive a campaign ‘starter kit’ to help support their students.

The campaign is split into two elements: 

1. ‘Little Heroes’ 

The fun, motivational and engaging side of the campaign to encourage school attendance and the message: 

Here  
Everyday  
Ready  
On time

Creative materials will be displayed around schools and children will receive certificates and stickers to recognise their attendance efforts.

2. Helpful Heroes

The educational side to support children who are emotionally struggling to attend school due to anxiety.

For pupils that are struggling with their emotional health, we have created a Helpful Heroes workbook to understand children’s barriers to avoiding school and to help children manage their worries. 

The Helpful Heroes workbooks educate children about different feelings and emotions and why their body reacts in certain ways, explaining the feelings they are having are normal.  

Through a variety of hero-themed mindfulness activities, designed suitable for their age group, children will also learn how to cope with anxiety in different scenarios to help them in real life situations. 

We encourage parents and teachers to go through the workbooks with children who may be struggling, to enable them to also understand what barriers the child is facing and what helps them feel calm when they become anxious.

How you can get involved

Spread the word on social media. You may also spot our Little Heroes campaign on our social media channels. 

We encourage you to like, share, comment and engage with our posts to help us spread the word far and wide – we hope you like our little characters’ school tales and look forward to hearing your feedback.

Helpful links and downloadable resources

Helpful heroes - Parents Guide

Emotionally Based School Avoidance Video for Parents & Carers (youtube.com) 

Parents/ Carers EBSA Guidance | Support Services for Education 

School Anxiety and Refusal | Parent Guide to Support | YoungMinds 

Not Fine in School - School Refusal, School Attendance 

Resources for families | Children's Commissioner for England (childrenscommissioner.gov.uk) 

How do I deal with school refusal and Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA)? - Support for Parents from Action For Children 

SENDIASS SEND IASS - Staffordshire Family Partnership (staffs-iass.org) 

Parent Talk - Support for Parents from Action For Children 

SilverCloud. Making Space For Healthy Minds (silvercloudhealth.com) 

Emotionally based school avoidance parent workbook

 

Getting here on time every day really is important in helping your child to become a happy and successful learner. Every day really does count!

How can you help your child attend school regularly?

• Talk to your child about school.
• Take a positive interest in your child's work, including homework.
• Make sure your child understands why school is important.
• Show your child that you are interested in what they have done at school
• Get everything ready for school the night before.
• Arrange appointments before or after school or during the school holidays.
• Bring your child to school for the time before or after an appointment wherever possible.
• Take holidays during school holidays and not during term time.
• Set your alarm and your child’s alarm clock- see who can beat the clock!
• Only grant days at home for genuine illness (you will know!)
• If your child is slightly under the weather, still send them into school- children often start feeling better as the day goes on and they get busy, and if the school is worried they will call.
• Children can attend school if they are taking medicines - speak to the school office.

Please also ensure that you:

• Keep in touch with school staff- we may be able to support you with advice, rewards for your child or other incentives
• Contact school on the first day of absence if your child is unable to attend for whatever reason and keep in contact with school on subsequent days of absence
• Give up to date contact details to school
• Attend attendance meetings if you are invited to do so - in these meetings we can agree an action plan so that school, parents and children can work together to improve attendance.
• If your child is absent due to an appointment, please show the office the appointment card or letter - clearly named and dated prescriptions can also be used as evidence.

Please help us and your child by ensuring their attendance remains above 97%,

allowing them to achieve their potential.