At Elmwood School we have high expectations of success and believe that attendance is the key to this success. Regular attendance at school is fundamental for our pupils to reach their full potential, so we carefully monitor pupils’ attendance and set high targets for their attendance levels. We all have responsibilities in life and the pupils at Elmwood know all about theirs and what the impact is if they fail to attend. The table below highlights the affect of poor attendance on learning days missed:
| Average Attendance | Number of days learning missed? |
| 95% | 10 |
| 90% | 20 |
| 85% | 30 |
| 80% | 40 |
| Strategies we use to promote positive attendance at Elmwood School: |
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ATTENDANCE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
How is my attendance recorded at Elmwood during the National Lockdown? (6.1.21 to 8.3.21)
During the period of national lockdown, Elmwood School will remain open to vulnerable pupils and the children of critical workers. Where appropriate, we will continue to offer face-to-face provision for pupils. Pupils who are self-isolating should not attend school. Clinically extremely vulnerable pupils are also advised not to attend school.
All absences of pupils who are expected to attend will be followed by our normal procedures of contacting parents/carers to ascertain the reason why, however under DFE guidance if a parent/carer wishes for their child to be absent, Elmwood School will authorise the absence during the national lockdown period and this absence will not be penalised.
If a pupil is absent due to an illness that is non COVID-19 related; this will be marked as an ‘I’. If a pupil is ‘isolating, shielding or quarantining’ due to COVID-19 then an ‘X’ code will be used. If a parent does not send their child into school, then they will be marked as a ‘C’ code (leave of absence authorised by the school). If a child has a medical appointment, then they will be marked as a ‘M’ code. Expectations are that normal attendance procedures are still in operation and our Education Welfare Officer will still be available to help support you and your child to attend school.
These codes mean that your child’s absence is authorised. However, if your child is required to attend school and is absent for a reason that would have been an unauthorised absence before lockdown began, this will be recorded on our SIMs database for reference should your child’s attendance become a concern in the future. For example, your child is refusing to attend or not attending due to a birthday.
Attendance Codes during the National Lockdown Explained
| Code | Guidance as Published by DfE | Interpretation |
| / \ | Pupil is present | The normal recording of am (/) and pm (\) session to be used to demonstrate those pupils that are required to attend and are attending. |
| X | Pupils who are not eligible to attend a session.
If pupils not attending a session who meet the criteria for ‘not attending in circumstances related to coronavirus (COVID-19)’ |
The X code will be used for those pupils that are not attending but are shielding, isolating or quarantining. |
| C | Pupils who are eligible to attend a session but do not.
If pupils are not in school (except if they are shielding, self-isolating or quarantining). If the parent of a vulnerable child wishes their child to be absent, the parent should let the school know. The Department expects schools to grant applications for leave of absence given the exceptional circumstances. This should be recorded as code C (leave of absence authorised by the school) unless another authorised absence code is more applicable. |
The C code is to be used for:
· vulnerable pupils that do not attend a session that they are required to do so; · children of critical workers that do not attend a session they are expected to. |
| M | Where other specific authorised absence and attendance codes are more appropriate schools may want to use these as usual. | If pupil is due to attend but has a medical appointment then the appropriate code will be used. |
AUTUMN TERM 2020 ATTENDANCE
The graph above demonstrates that, since Lockdown was implemented by the Government due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Elmwood’s attendance is above the national average at the end of the first half term. The most recent data shows an attendance figure of 3.76% above the national average for state schools and 11.46% above the national average for state special schools.
The above attendance figures support all the hard work that parents, pupils and staff at Elmwood School have put in to ensure that pupils are accessing education in a safe environment.
Although we can celebrate these fantastic results, we must not become complacent! It is really important to make sure that every pupil attends and push attendance levels higher, to make sure that pupils do not miss out on their education.
It is no coincidence that higher attendance leads to higher academic achievement and the Department for Education expect that each pupil should achieve at least 96% school attendance.
A huge well done to Nurture Base for achieving a fantastic 95.12% during the first half term! They were closely followed by Transition with 94.46%. Pathways have some catching up to do, trailing behind with 83.55%.
During the first half term, there were a total of 26 pupils who achieved 100% attendance and received the 100% MARVELLOUSME badge. Massive congratulations to those pupils and keep up the hard work!
100% MAVELLOUSME badges will now be awarded weekly for those pupils who attend all week; there will be 7 to collect for the rest of this term so make it your mission to collect them all!
If you are not yet signed up to MARVELLOUSME please speak to the main office who will be happy to help.
Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow
EXPECTATIONS
Parents should always cover any absence with a phone call or note to school. Daily calls are made by staff to establish the reason for any pupil absence.
The Education Welfare Officer, visits School weekly to monitor pupil attendance and carry out any necessary home visits/referrals.
Elmwood discourages holidays being taken during school time and can only authorise a holiday in exceptional circumstances. Applications should be made to the Head Teacher well in advance, using a holiday request form that is available from the school office or by clicking on the link below.
This short video supports the schools ethos / vision and curriculum design. Many of our pupils (and parents / carers) initially had positive and exciting perceptions around education and schooling but through negative experiences and many battles for parents / carers to secure the appropriate provision for your child leaves us feeling “colourless”. At Elmwood we want to place the colour back into your child’s education and perceptions of learning (which go beyond the physical building of our school), we also want to share those magical moments with parents / carers to support purposeful conversations at the end of the day so you too can recharge and get your “colour” back after a difficult day.
At Elmwood we want your child to feel excited about attending and passionate about their talents and achievements and we will stand with parents / carers on that lonely roundabout to re-ignite that passion and love for learning.
Please click here to watch a video which supports our values / ethos and curriculum design.