Attendance and Punctuality  

 

Good school attendance and punctuality is a top priority for Milton School.  

 

The Law says that: “Parents/carers have a duty to make sure that children of compulsory school age receive an appropriate education. 

A child reaches compulsory school age the term following their fifth birthday and are legally able to leave school on the  last Friday in June of the school year when the child becomes 16-years-old”. 

 

Good attendance can help children to:  

• Learn the social skills they need to make and keep friends;  

• Discover more about themselves and their place in the world;  

• Make the most of the opportunities available to them at school. 

• Keep up to date with school work.  

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What to do if your child cannot attend school due to illness 

If your child is ill, please contact the Access to Learning Team on 01709 570246 as soon as possible on the first day of absence to explain why he/she will not be in school. 

If the illness continues, please inform the school for each day that your child is absent. 

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If your child is absent we will: 

Endeavour to telephone you on the first day of absence if you have not contacted the school. 

If we have not received notification of the reason your child has not been in school for a number of days, we will organise a home visit to speak with you. 

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Punctuality 

Punctuality to school is also very important.  Pupils not accessing school transport should aim to arrive in to school no later than 8.50am. This provides pupils with the time needed to prepare for lessons which begin at 9am.  Pupils arriving after 9am will receive a late mark for their morning session. We will contact you if your child is persistently late to school which will be either by letter, telephone or we will arrange a home visit or ask you attend a meeting in school.  

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Being frequently late for school adds up to lost learning: 

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• Arriving 5 minutes late every day add up to over 3 days lost each year 

• Arriving 15 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 2 weeks a year 

• Arriving 30 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 19 days a year 

• 19 days lost a year through being late = 90% attendance. 

 

At Milton School we celebrate good attendance  

In order to celebrate good attendance, we have introduced a new rewards system: 

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• Each week we will announce the class with the best attendance for the week.  They will have an extra 20 minutes break time or time in the mood room during the following week.  

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• Pupils are awarded weekly house points for good attendance.  

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• At the end of each half term, pupils with over 95% attendance will be entered in to a prize draw and all pupils will have the opportunity to attend a film afternoon in school.   

 

Further support  

If your child does not attend school regularly the school will need to follow the Early Help School Attendance Matters Pathway and may offer an early help assessment to ensure that we understand the issues that are affecting your child's attendance. This pathway enables support to children and families to assist with improving the child’s attendance and can also lead to enforcement action, if your child's attendance does not improve despite support being offered. 

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If you have concerns about your child’s attendance, please contact The Access to Learning Team in school in the first instance. 

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If you are experiencing wider difficulties, please contact the Early Help Triage Team, Rotherham, who will discuss this in more detail and agree an appropriate mechanism for support. 

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Telephone: 01709 334905 

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Find out more about Early Help https://www.rotherham.gov.uk/earlyhelp 

 

You can find details of our school attendance policy on the policies page