Attendance

Attendance at school is really important for your child's learning and development. As a school we want all children to achieve 100% attendance, but we understand that there are occasions when children are sick or need to take unavoidable absences, however, if your child's absence drops below 90% in any half term, we will send you a letter arranging to discuss this.

You can view the City Council's school attendance information here
You can view our full Attendance and Punctuality Policy on our policies page

Attendance Lead: Jo Glover - Deputy Headteacher
Attendance Officer: Gail Holmes - Family Support Worker
Attendance Administrator: Jeanette Lees

To report your child's absence please report using the Arbor app or call the school office on 0115 9150045 and select option 1.

Attendance Matters
Attendance is such an important part of your child's educational development that we want to tell you about how we approach attendance matters at Walter Halls. Below is our Attendance Matters Newsletter where you can find information about what we do to support families with achieving great attendance and how you can help your child to have a great day at school.

 Recognising Great Attendance

WEEKLY ATTENDANCE – We will find out every week in Friday assemblies which class has had the BEST attendance that week. That class will get a trophy and we will keep a tally chart of the best class attendance so everyone knows how amazing you are!

HALF TERM – At the end of every half term we will find out which YEAR GROUP has had the overall best attendance. This YEAR GROUP will get to vote on a treat to have on the first Friday afternoon back after half term. This could be something like popcorn and a movie, ice cream and an extra playtime or something else that your teacher agrees can happen as your special reward! If you aren’t in the winning year group but have still had great attendance you will get a certificate in our end of half term assembly too.

END OF YEAR – We will be rewarding 2 special winners from each key stage for: 1) 100% attendance all year and 2) Most improved attendance from Autumn to Summer term.

Anyone who gets 100% attendance or shows the most improved attendance will be entered into a draw to win a bike or tickets for a family day out! If your name doesn't get drawn out, don't worry! you will receive a special badge to wear on your uniform every day with pride.

Time Off School
Below are some examples of common reasons why children might not come to school. We've detailed next to each whether this means they should come to or stay off school.

Reason	Come to School	Stay off School
Illness	Regular coughs and colds, low level headache, stomach ache, earache, broken bone in a cast. We can now administer non prescription paracetamol, ibuprofen and antihistamine to your child during school hours, providing it is in a new/unopened bottle. We can also administer prescribed medications such as antibiotics. Please ask the office for further details.	Highly contagious illness e.g. chickenpox, measles etc. Vomiting and or/diarrhoea (child can return to school 48 hours from the last bout of sickness or diarrhoea).
Headlice	Please treat the head lice at home after school or overnight. Children should not take time off school.
Wet Uniform	Children should come to school in uniform. If there is an issue due to an emergency, we have a limited supply of uniforms at school.
Ill parent or sibling	Where possible we ask that you find an alternative person to bring your child to school.
Medical Appointment	Where possible we would ask that all non-urgent appointments are made outside of school time. If that is not possible, we ask that children attend school either side of the appointment.

If you need to take your child out of school for any length of time, please inform us by completing this form and sending it to admin@walterhalls.nottingham.sch.uk.

 

We cannot authorise absences including holidays in term time unless they are in exceptional circumstances. If an absence is not authorised, you could be at risk of receiving a Penalty Notice.

A Penalty notice is a fixed fine issued by Nottingham City Council at the schools request. The fine will be £80 if paid within 21 days or £160 if paid within 28 days. A Penalty Notice can be issued to each parent for each child. Failure to pay the Penalty Notice could result in prosecution through the courts.

Are you Ready? Some Tips to help your child have a good day
· Help them get their school bag packed the night before
· Make sure their uniform is ready, especially after the holidays or weekend
· Set a limit on screen time before bed, e.g. come off technology an hour before bedtime.
· Get them to bed at a reasonable time so they have a good nights sleep
· Set the alarm clock early enough to allow plenty of time to get ready properly
· Make sure they have some breakfast
· Set off for the bus or start walking early enough so that they arrive at school on time.
· Talk to your child about what they did in school today.