Attendance
Fair Acres Federation (Faldingworth Community Primary School and Normanby by Spital Primary School) believes that in order to facilitate teaching and learning, good attendance is essential. Pupils cannot achieve their full potential if they do not regularly attend school. We understand that barriers to attendance are complex, and that some pupils find it harder than others to attend school; therefore, we will continue to prioritise cultivating a safe and supportive environment at school, as well as strong and trusting relationships with pupils and parents.
We take a whole-school approach to securing good attendance, and recognise the impact that our efforts in other areas – such as the curriculum, behaviour standards, bullying, SEND support, pastoral support, and the effective use of resources such as pupil premium – can have on improving pupil attendance.
We are committed to:
- Promoting and modelling high attendance and its benefits.
- Ensuring equality and fairness for all.
- Ensuring our attendance policy is clear and easily understood by staff, pupils and parents.
- Intervening early and working with other agencies to ensure the health and safety of our pupils.
- Building strong relationships with families to overcome barriers to attendance.
- Working collaboratively with other schools in the area, as well as other agencies.
- Ensuring parents follow the framework set in section 7 of the Education Act 1996, which states that the parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause them to receive efficient full-time education suitable to their age, ability and aptitude, and to any SEND they may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.
- Regularly monitoring and analysing attendance and absence data to identify pupils or cohorts that require more support.
The school’s attendance officer is Mrs Grummell. Mrs Grummell can be contacted email on enquiries@normanby.lincs.sch.uk. Staff, parents and pupils will be expected to contact the attendance officer for queries or concerns about attendance.
Our attendance and absence policy is available below.
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FAF Attendance and Absence Policy 2026 | [pdf 264KB] |
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Absence
Naturally, we do not expect a child to be in school if they are ill. If a child feels ill, they should stay off school until they are well enough to return. We will monitor the health of pupils in school and you will be contacted to collect them if they are unwell.
Guidance for infection control can be found on this link:
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Should I keep My Child Off School - NHS poster | [pdf 936KB] |
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Leave of Absence Requests
The school will only grant a pupil a leave of absence in exceptional circumstances. In order to have requests for a leave of absence considered, the school will expect parents to contact the Headteacher in writing at least two weeks prior to the proposed start date of the leave of absence, providing the reason for the proposed absence and the dates during which the absence would be expected to occur. Any requests for leave during term time will be considered on an individual basis and the pupil’s previous attendance record will be taken into account. Where the absence is granted, the headteacher will determine the length of time that the pupil can be away from school. The school is not likely to grant leaves of absence for the purposes of family holidays.
Where a pupil reaches the national threshold of 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks, the school will consider whether a penalty notice is appropriate. Each case will be considered individually to determine whether a penalty notice or another tool or legal intervention should be used to improve attendance.
A fixed penalty notice will be issued in line with the LA’s code of conduct and the DfE’s ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance. Penalty notices for unauthorised absences will be charged at £160, reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days. A penalty notice of £120 may also be issued where parents allow their child to be present in a public place during school hours without reasonable justification during the first five days of a fixed period or permanent exclusion. This will be reduced to £60 if paid within 21 days.
Parents will only get up to two fines for the same child in a three-year period. Once this limit has been reached, other action such as a parenting order or prosecution will be considered. Where attendance still does not improve following a fixed penalty notice, the school will work with the LA to take forward attendance prosecution as a last resort. Parents who are prosecuted and attend court because their child has not been attending school may be fined up to £2,500.
You can find more information about school attendance and fines on the following link - https://www.gov.uk/school-attendance-absence/legal-action-to-enforce-school-attendance