Our Attendance Focus

At Cotmanhay Junior School, we believe that every child gets one chance to access the best education. Every day counts and we class 'good' attendance as above 96%.

Attendance is everyone’s responsibility.

We understand that the barriers to accessing education are wide and complex, both within and beyond the school gates, and are often specific to individual pupils and families. Our focus is to work with families, and other agencies where necessary, to break down those barriers and help children attend school every day.

The foundation of securing good attendance is that school is a calm, safe, and supportive environment where all pupils are happy and ready to learn. It is the expectation of everyone within the wider school community to support pupils to be:

• Here in school 
• Every day
• Ready to learn
• On time

We will achieve this by:

• Promoting good attendance
• Reducing absence, including persistent and severe absence
• Ensuring every pupil has access to the full-time education to which they are entitled
• Acting early to address patterns of absence
• Building strong relationships with families to ensure pupils have the support in place to attend school

Why is regular attendance so important?

Attendance below 95% can adversely affect the academic progress of your child and limit their social development.  90% of children with absence rates below 85% fail to achieve the expected educational standards at the end of Key Stage 2. In addition, if your child is frequently absent they will not be able to take full advantage of the many personal development opportunities that are on offer at Cotmanhay Junior School to help them grow into active citizens with a range of interests and hobbies.