Attendance
Here at St Margaret’s at Troy Town, every school day matters. Regular attendance helps children to learn, build friendships, feel that they belong and benefit fully from school life so that they can ‘Let their light shine!’
The Department for Education’s July 2026 statutory guidance, Working Together to Improve School Attendance, makes clear that improving attendance is everyone’s responsibility. Its approach is to expect high attendance, monitor patterns, listen to and understand barriers, facilitate support, formalise support where needed and use enforcement only where other avenues have been exhausted. Our 2026/27 attendance procedures follow this approach.
Our ambition is for every pupil to strive for 100% attendance.
In line with the Medway Attendance Policy, we expect pupils to maintain at least 96% attendance wherever possible. A pupil is classed as persistently absent when they miss 10% or more of possible schooling, for any reason, and severely absent when they miss more than 50% of possible sessions. We monitor attendance carefully so that concerns can be identified early and support put in place.
Our Termly Attendance Awards
At the final Celebration Worship of each term, we will award certificates for:
Amazing Attendance: For children achieving 96 - 100% attendance during the term.
Everyday Effort: For children demonstrating positive attendance habits, effort and commitment to coming to school, including those who may have faced barriers to regular attendance.
Impressive Improvement: For children who have made a notable improvement in their attendance and/or punctuality from their individual starting point.
Attendance Prize Draw
Children recognised through any of the three awards will have their name entered into our termly prize draw. We will draw one Infant winner and one Junior winner, who will each receive a special prize!
Celebrating the little things too!
We won't wait until the end of term to recognise success. Throughout the term, staff will celebrate positive attendance, effort and improvement through praise, stickers, small rewards and positive messages or conversations with families. Most importantly, our approach is designed to be positive, fair and inclusive.
Support first – working with families
Some children face greater barriers to attendance than others, including pupils with medical needs or SEND. Where attendance begins to cause concern, our first priority is to listen, understand what is getting in the way and work with you and your child to remove barriers. Support may include reasonable adjustments, pastoral support, early help or work with other services. Please contact Lynne, our Attendance Manager, or myself as early as possible if your child is finding attendance difficult.Punctuality
Our school gates open at 8:40am and close promptly at 8:50am. Children arriving after this time must be accompanied to the school office and a reason for lateness provided. Arriving late can mean missing important routines, instructions and learning, and repeated late arrival after the register has closed can be recorded as unauthorised absence.
Reporting absence
If your child is too unwell to attend, please telephone the school office on 01634 843843 as soon as practically possible and before 9:00am. Please contact us every day your child is absent and give a clear reason. If we have not heard from you, we will make contact as part of our absence and safeguarding procedures.Illness and medical appointments
In most cases, a parent’s notification that their child is too ill to attend will be accepted without medical evidence. Medical evidence will not be requested routinely; however, where we have a genuine and reasonable doubt about the authenticity of an illness, or where attendance is already a concern, appropriate evidence may be requested. Wherever possible, please arrange routine medical and dental appointments outside school hours. Where this is not possible, please notify us in advance and provide the appointment information; pupils should attend school before and/or after the appointment where they are well enough to do so.Leave of absence and holidays in term time
Headteachers may grant leave of absence only where exceptional circumstances apply. Every request will be considered individually on its own facts and circumstances; the school cannot operate a blanket policy that automatically grants leave. Permission must be requested in advance using the school’s Leave of Absence Request Form which can be requested from the school office. Family holidays are not considered exceptional circumstances and will therefore be unauthorised.Unauthorised absence, Notices to Improve and penalty notices
The national threshold for considering a penalty notice is 10 sessions of unauthorised absence within a rolling period of 10 school weeks. Ten sessions are equivalent to five school days. The 10-week period can span terms and, where relevant, different schools or education settings. Meeting the threshold does not mean a penalty notice is automatic: the individual circumstances, support already provided, whether a Notice to Improve or another intervention is more appropriate, and relevant Equality Act duties must be considered.Where voluntary support has not been effective or has not been engaged with, the school may formalise support and, where appropriate, issue a Notice to Improve before referring the matter to Medway Local Authority. A holiday-related unauthorised absence that reaches 10 sessions in 10 school weeks may result in a penalty notice without a Notice to Improve being issued first.
Penalty notices are issued to each liable parent for each child. If a penalty notice is not paid within the stated timescale, the local authority may consider prosecution. The purpose of these measures is to protect children’s right to education; our priority remains early support and partnership with families.
It is also your responsibility to notify us on each day that your child is absent. If we do not hear from you, then we will make a phone call to the main contact number; a text message may also be sent. These procedures are to ensure that we know where your child is and that you are all safe.
Acceptable reasons for absence
We recognise that there are circumstances where a pupil's absence can't be avoided.
Acceptable reasons for being absent from school include:
- Illness: when your child is unwell, either physically or mentally, and unable to attend school
- Medical appointments: if your child has a medical appointment that cannot be scheduled outside school hours, please notify us in advance and provide relevant documentation (e.g. an appointment card)
- Religious observance: we respect the diverse cultural and religious backgrounds of our pupils. If your child needs to be absent for religious observance, please submit a request and the headteacher will review it
- Exceptional circumstances: in exceptional situations, such as family emergencies or unforeseen events, please contact the school immediately to discuss the absence
How you can help
- Aim for 100% attendance!
- Ensure your child attends every day they are required to, unless they are too unwell to attend.
- Make sure your child arrives on time and is ready to learn.
- Tell us promptly about every absence and keep us updated each day.
- Arrange routine medical and dental appointments outside school hours wherever possible.
- Don’t take holidays and other leave during term time.
- Contact us early if there is a barrier making attendance difficult so that we can work together to support you and your child.
Did you know …?By working together in close partnership, we can support every child to attend well and thrive in line with our Christian vision, “Let your light shine” , and if you ever need advice or support with attendance, please do not hesitate to speak to Lynne, our Pastoral Manager, who is always happy to help.
A two week holiday in term time means that the highest attendance a child can achieve is 94.7%