At Briar Hill Primary School we believe that attendance matters and that every day of education is essential. You can view our Attendance Policy on our policies page, here.
Attendance & Progress
“The children who are most happy and successful in school are those with the best attendance.”
Academy attendance lead: Miss Cameron Leslie
Absence line phone no: 01604 768392
Who can help: Miss Cameron Leslie
(courtesy of Sheffield City Council)
We would like to thank our parents for their commitment to their child’s attendance. The vast majority of parents ensure that their child attends regularly and on time, meeting our academy expectation of at least 97% attendance over the year. Fortunately we have very few parents who do not support their child in this.
We love to see the happy faces of the children as they get to school on time to play with their friends before sitting down together, ready to learn. Children who do not get to school on time or miss some days of school altogether find it more difficult to make friends and to catch up on their learning. Please remember that our school day starts promptly at 8:55am and children who are late miss the beginning of their reading session, an important skill for them to learn.
If your child is ill
We know that sometimes your child may be unable to attend because they feel unwell. In this case please contact 01604 768392 and leave a message telling us the reason for the absence and when your child will return, preferably before 8.30am each day. Some parents think that their child may be better off at home if they are ill, but generally we are happy to have them in school and will keep a close eye on them to make sure that they are ok, if you ask us to. We have also produced a helpful leaflet to help you to decide whether your child is well enough to come to school which can be found on the left of this page . We use NHS guidance to advise and you can access this yourself by clicking here.
If we do not hear from you first thing in the morning and your child is not in school, then we will try and make contact with you as quickly as possible to ensure that your child is safe. This could be by text, telephone or home visit. Please rest assured that we always pursue this until we are satisfied so you know that your child’s welfare is important to us.
Other Reasons for Absence
The vast majority of our parents recognise that their children are most happy and successful in school when they attend regularly. For that reason they do not ask for holidays during term time, because they know how damaging this can be for their child’s education. In the unlikely event that you want to ask for your child’s absence to be authorised due to an exceptional circumstance, then please ask to speak with the principal so that you can set out the special circumstances of your request.
If there is any other reason why you or your child is finding it difficult to attend school regularly and on time, then please do contact Miss Cameron Leslie who can help. Miss Cameron leslie has already helped many other parents and children in this way. Seeking early help, no matter the issue, can help you to avoid any fines for non-attendance which can be very costly and embarrassing.
Rewarding Great Attendance
We love recognising good attendance and punctuality and so do our children! We offer a range of rewards to children with good attendance:
- weekly certificates for 100% attenders
- weekly certificate and trophy for the class with the best attendance
- certificates each half term for children with 100% attendance
- a trip to the park or a cinema experience for the class with the best attendance each half term