Attendance - be here, be great

At Horizon Primary Academy, attendance is a whole school approach and a whole school responsibility. 

It is every member of staff’s responsibility to ensure that our children are in school.

We pride ourselves on our attendance and the actions we take to ensure that every child attends well.  Our approach is based on the understanding that it is everyone’s responsibility to encourage and support good attendance. Poor attendance and punctuality directly affects children’s personal, social and academic skills.  Our attendance target for all children is 96 – 100%. 

The Horizon Attendance Team

The government class 90% (and below) as Persistent Absenteeism (PA) and 50% (and below) as Severely Absent (SA).  Below 90% may lead to the involvement of the Local Authority.  Attending school every day means 100% attendance.

The table below shows what the percentages mean:

Celebrating Attendance

Attendance and punctuality is celebrated every week in our celebration assembly.  'Everyday Elephant' and 'Hurry up Hedgehog' are awarded each week to the class with the highest percentage of attendance and arriving at school on time every day.  On every classroom door is a traffic light system whereby everyday, our Attendance Ambassadors change the colour on each traffic light to reflect the attendance of that classroom for the day.  Children work collaboratively and compassionately to encourage everyone in their class to be in school every day and on time.  

Each term, we hold invidual and class and parent attendance challenges and these have included being awarded certficates, special stickers, attendance wristbands, extra house points, visitng the 'Topshop', picnics and bingo events.  We will also send letters and texts home to celebrate improved and consistent attendance.  

The government class 90% (and below) as Persistent Absenteeism (PA) and 50% (and below) as Severely Absent (SA).  Below 90% may lead to the involvement of the Local Authority.  Attending school every day means 100% attendance.

There are a few reasons why a child should not be in school and it is essential that you, as parents/carers, play your part in ensuring your child is in school every day.  The Public Health Agency has a useful guide to help parents decide whether a child is well enough to go to school, based on their symptoms.

Most pharmacies can also offer prescription medicine for some conditions, without you needing to see a GP or make an appoinment.  They can also offer a walk-in access to professional health advice as well as be open late, on weekends and bank holidays when GP surgeries are closed.