Attendance and Punctuality

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We take this matter very seriously at Risca Primary School. Parents and schools have a responsibility to ensure that all pupils are punctual and attend school. The exceptions are when children are too ill to attend, for medical appointments or for religious celebrations.  Each year we have to report to the Welsh Assembly Government the number of unauthorised absences and the percentage of attendances.

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Please ensure your child attends school on time each day. A child arriving late disrupts his/her continuity of learning and also, the learning of others in class. Children arriving after 8.50am are recorded as late and these are regularly monitored by the school.  Registers are closed at 9:20 each morning and at 1:10 each afternoon, which means that if your child arrives after these times they are marked with an unauthorised absence. Persistent unauthorised absences become the responsibility of the Education Welfare Service of the LEA.

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In the case of absence due to illness, the school must be informed on the first day of absence, in order for us to record the absence as authorised. This should be done by letter, telephone or in person. We have an answer phone service to report a child’s absence. If your child has sickness, diarrhoea or conjunctivitis please ensure that he/she is clear from symptoms for 48hrs before he/she returns.

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Where the absence or lateness is due to medical appointments the school must be informed beforehand and letters or record cards shown. If a child is absent and the school have not been informed then a telephone call made to parents/carers asking them to contact with a reason for absence. 

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For holiday taken within school sessions, the Head Teacher must give permission.  We recommend that holidays are not taken during term times, as they can disrupt education.  A child who is unavoidably taken on holiday during term time must understand that it may be classified as an unauthorised absence. Individual absences are scrutinised by the Education Welfare Officer half termly and they may decide to visit individual children’s homes to ascertain any poor attendance.

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Children who miss school for other reasons will be marked with an unauthorised absence and this will be marked on records and reports. We have a tablet Signing in and Signing Out System to enable us to monitor absence and to ensure that we know exactly who is in the school at all times.

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Our attendance figures compare favourably with Welsh Assembly Government Targets. Up to date percentages can be obtained from the School Office.

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Please help us achieve our whole school target of 95.4% by sending your child to school everyday. Not only does it help them to learn, it develops their social and interaction skills and makes our school a better place to be.