Attendance
At Buckingham Park, we value the importance of high levels of school attendance both for children’s academic ability, but also for their emotional wellbeing and aim for 96% or above attendance for all pupils.
Leave of Absence and Holiday Requests
Buckingham Park CE Primary School will not grant term time leave of absence or holiday requests, unless there are clear and exceptional circumstances to support this. Generally, any leave of absence for the purposes of holiday, leisure or recreation will not be granted. All parents requesting this must complete the form by pressing the blue button below. No leave of absence is automatically granted and parents must wait for the outcome letter to be received before understanding whether or not this has been granted. Information about unauthorised absence and possible County Attendance Team referrals can be found in the Attendance Expectations section below.
Attendance Expectations
The below information is to remind Parents of our current Attendance and Punctuality expectations and how these impact your child’s attendance and registration marks in school:
In line with the new guidance, fixed penalty notices should be considered by all schools nationally where the new national threshold is met. This threshold is for 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 schools weeks. Please note, a school day is made up of 2 sessions (am and pm). This threshold can be met with any combination of unauthorised absence (for example, lateness after registers have closed, term time holiday etc). It does not have to be consecutive and can span different terms or school years.
Fixed Penalty Notice charges will increase from Monday 19th August 2024 from £60 to £80 if paid within 21 days or £160 if paid within 28 days. This will be issued per child and per parent.
The new guidance referenced above emphasises the importance of punctuality and attendance in supporting pupils education and overall wellbeing and we appreciate your cooperation and support in helping your children to arrive in school each day.
Please see below copies of the Attendance Policy and relevant links.
- The school gates are opened each morning between 8:30 and 8:45. Children are expected to be in class by 8:45 at which time the gates on the playground will be closed. Any children arriving after these gates close will not be in time for the register in class and will have to be brought in to school and signed in by parents at the front office.
- Any child in school by 8:45, in time for registration, will receive a present mark (/) on the register. Any pupils arriving between 8:45 and 9:00am will receive a late mark (L). A L mark will affect your child’s punctuality percentage which is regularly monitored and may trigger a supportive meeting with our attendance team.
- Children arriving after 9:00am will receive a late (U) mark. This will affect their attendance figure and will mean that their attendance for that day will be 50% and not 100% as it would be with a present mark. Low attendance in school will result in requests for meetings but may also trigger a fixed penalty notice (FPN) from the Bucks Attendance Team.
In line with the new guidance, fixed penalty notices should be considered by all schools nationally where the new national threshold is met. This threshold is for 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 schools weeks. Please note, a school day is made up of 2 sessions (am and pm). This threshold can be met with any combination of unauthorised absence (for example, lateness after registers have closed, term time holiday etc). It does not have to be consecutive and can span different terms or school years.
Fixed Penalty Notice charges will increase from Monday 19th August 2024 from £60 to £80 if paid within 21 days or £160 if paid within 28 days. This will be issued per child and per parent.
The new guidance referenced above emphasises the importance of punctuality and attendance in supporting pupils education and overall wellbeing and we appreciate your cooperation and support in helping your children to arrive in school each day.
Please see below copies of the Attendance Policy and relevant links.
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