Meadow High School Parent Portal - Weekly Bulletin - Issue 28

Dear Families

I would like to thank those families who have had meetings with school staff at attendance panel meetings and have gone on to work with their child to improve their punctuality and attendance. Thank you and well done!

Please find a reminder of parent / carers responsibilities below as well as the school responsibilities.

Parents are expected to:

Ensure their child attends every day the school is open except when a statutory reason applies.
Notify the school as soon as possible when their child has to be unexpectedly absent (e.g. sickness).
Only request leave of absence in exceptional circumstances and do so in advance.
Book any medical appointments around the school day where possible.
Work with the school and local authority to help them understand their child’s barriers to attendance.
Proactively engage with the support offered to prevent the need for more formal support.
Proactively engage with the formal support offered – including any parenting contract or voluntary early help plan to prevent the need for legal intervention.

Schools are expected to:

Have a clear school attendance policy on the school website which all staff, pupils and parents understand.
Develop and maintain a whole school culture that promotes the benefits of good attendance. Accurately complete admission and attendance registers.
Have robust daily processes to follow up absence.
Regularly monitor data to identify patterns and trends and understand which pupils and pupil cohorts to focus on.
Have a dedicated senior leader with overall responsibility for championing and improving attendance.
Proactively use data to identify pupils at risk of persistent absence.
Work with each identified pupil and their parents to understand and address the reasons for absence, including any in-school barriers to attendance.
Where out of school barriers are identified, signpost and support access to any required services in the first instance and act as lead practitioner if attendance is the only issue and/or the local threshold for formal early help is not met.
If the issue persists, take an active part in the multi-agency effort with the local authority and other partners.
If a case meets the local threshold for formal early help/family support, this includes conducting the early help assessment and acting as the lead practitioner where all partners agree that the school is the best placed lead service.
Where the lead practitioner is outside of the school, continue to work with the local authority and partners.
Where absence becomes persistent, put additional targeted support in place to remove any barriers.
Where necessary this includes working with partners.
Where there is a lack of engagement, hold more formal conversations with parents and be clear about the potential need for legal intervention in future.
Where support is not working, being engaged with or appropriate, work with the local authority on legal intervention.
Where there are safeguarding concerns, intensify support through a referral to statutory children’s social care.
Work with other schools in the local area, such as schools previously attended and the schools of any siblings.
Agree a joint approach for all severely absent pupils with the local authority.
Proactively use data to identify cohorts with, or at risk of, low attendance and develop strategies to support them.
Work with other schools in the local area and the local authority to share effective practice where there are common barriers to attendance.
Maintain the same ambition for attendance and work with pupils and parents to maximise attendance.
Ensure join up with pastoral support and, where required, put in place additional support and adjustments, such as an individual healthcare plan and, if applicable, ensuring the provision outlined in the pupil’s EHCP is accessed.
Consider additional support from wider services and external partners, making timely referrals. Regularly monitor data for such groups, including at board and governing body meetings and with local authorities.

If parents feel the school and or local authority have not delivered what they are expected to, they should discuss the case with the school and/or local authority’s attendance support team.

Thank you for engaging with us and supporting your child to have excellent attendance.

Very best wishes for the weekend.

Mrs J Rigby

Headteacher