Attendance
New End’s Headteacher, Karyn Ray, is also the School Attendance Officer. She can be contacted on head@newend.camden.sch.uk or via the school office on 020 74310961.
New End School believes that good attendance at school will contribute to a solid foundation for a child's education. The school will therefore give good attendance and punctuality a high priority. We will encourage all children to maintain high levels of attendance and punctuality through rewarding good attendance at all ages and also rewarding improvements in attendance.
We have worked hard for many years to see our school's attendance figures above both National, London and Camden averages. New End children WANT to be in school!
We believe that emphasising the importance of attendance throughout the school and amongst all members of the school community is the most effective way of positively raising attendance levels. All members of the school community need to be involved in the setting and the monitoring of attendance and punctuality targets each year. We also believe that it is essential to convey our positive regard for regular attendance to parents/carers and children. The following strategies will be used to promote positive attendance:
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Giving particular attention to the collection, reporting and publication of attendance and punctuality data in school;
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Use of incentives and rewards in recognition of the efforts of parents/carers and children to improve attendance (e.g. achievement certificates and badges for punctuality and attendance, focussed achievement assemblies on this etc.);
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Sending letters to parents/carers when a child attains 100% attendance over a specific time;
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Parents/carers to receive accurate and clear information about their child's education and attendance/punctuality and how important it is that children attend school, including a section in the child's annual report on attendance and punctuality (percentage attendance, positive comments for effort etc.);
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Listening to parents'/carers' reasons for their child's absence and giving clear consistent messages about what the school will accept as a valid reason;
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Early intervention with parents/carers through interview, parents' meetings and parent evenings;
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Prevention through early intervention of children with difficulties;
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Setting attainment goals/targets for individuals/class groups/phases;
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Welcoming children back into school after illness and providing reintegration support;
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Analysing the underlying causes of poor attendance and the relative effectiveness of strategies that contribute to improving attendance;
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Effective working relationships with outside agencies, and in particular the Educational Welfare Service
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New End will make use of the full range of potential sanctions – including, but not limited to, those listed below – to tackle poor attendance. Decisions will be made on an individual, case-by-case basis.
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Letters to Parents
Regular letters are sent to families whose child’s attendance has fallen below 95%, noting the days lost to learning due to absences. The children receiving these letters are monitored closely with the aim of getting their attendance improved. There are different letters used for children whose attendance is below 95%, below 90% (known as persistently absent) and below 50% (known as severely absent).
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Penalty notices
The headteacher (or someone authorised by them), local authority or the police can fine parents for the unauthorised absence of their child from school, where the child is of compulsory school age, by issuing a penalty notice.
