Dear Parents and Carers

Changes to Persistent Absence Levels in Schools

One of the many ways in which the Government sets and measures a school’s performance is the proportion of its children who are actually present each day. With the help and support of many parents Porter Croft has made great improvements in this matter. Since 2009 the proportion has gone up from 92.5% to 96.1%. I am very grateful to all those parents who have made efforts to ensure that their children get as much out of their time here as possible. We will never reach 100% but we do have a target of 96.5%. You and your child could help us reach that target if you could make sure that he or she is in school and on time as often as is physically possible.

Regular school attendance is essential to improve the educational outcomes of our children. For the past 2 years the Department of Education (DfE) have said that pupils with school attendance below 85% are at risk of becoming a persistent absentee.

85% = 28.5 days of lost learning each academic year

From September 2015, this threshold is being increased to 90%. Therefore pupils with attendance each half term below 90% will be classed as a persistent absentee. Any absence including illness, medical appointments, term time leave, punctuality and unauthorised absence will affect your child’s attendance rate.

90% = 19 days of lost learning each academic year

We monitor all children’s attendance as do the Local Authority. We want to celebrate our success stories as well as help those children with lower attendance rates. If your child’s attendance is above our target we celebrate this through class attendance awards and also through individual prizes for those children with 100% attendance. If your child’s attendance becomes a cause of concern, then a referral may be made to our Attendance Officer for consideration about how to improve your child’s attendance rate.

Like you, we want the very best for all our children; we hope, therefore, that you will support us in ensuring your child attends school every day and on time, in order for them to access the education they are entitled to and to enable them to reach their full potential.

Yours sincerely

Jim Dugmore
Headteacher