Attendance
At Whinney Banks Primary, we believe that regular attendance is vital for a child’s educational development, social interaction and future prospects. We place a high value on good attendance and punctuality and expect 100% attendance from children unless a child is absent due to illness or an unavoidable cause.
Our dedicated school attendance team consists of Mrs Thorpe (Headteacher), Mrs Wales (Assistant Headteacher), Miss Harrison (Senior Leadership Team), Mrs Anne-Marie Cartwright (Education Welfare Officer) and Mrs Robson (Parent Support Advisor). They are committed to working closely with parents and carers and are all available to provide help and support with any attendance or punctuality issues and concerns.
Click to view our Attendance and Absence Policy
Each class in school work as a team to climb our ‘Aim High Attendance Mountain’ each week. Overall weekly class attendance is monitored and displayed in all classrooms throughout school. This provides children with the opportunity to aim high with their attendance, challenge other classes or year groups and gain whole class achievements.
At the end of each half term, the top 5 classes in school are placed on the attendance leader boards (demonstrating half termly and year to date results) and these successes are celebrated in a whole school assembly.
It is parental responsibility to inform school if their child is absent, providing reason for absence. All absences are unauthorised unless parents give an adequate reason for them.
Requests for leave of absence during term time
All parents/carers of children at our school must complete a leave of absence form for any absence which is planned. Absence from school can only be authorised by the headteacher, if there are exceptional circumstances. It is up to parents/carers to provide full information on the leave of absence request form detailing the reasons for the absence. Please note that absence requests for holidays are highly likely to be declined as the school works within the government guidance on this matter.
If the absence is unauthorised (no exceptional circumstances found) you will receive a letter informing you of this. Unauthorised absence from school can lead to the issuing of penalty notice fines. These fines are issued by Middlesbrough Council per parent per child. Please click here for the current procedure for Middlesbrough Council regarding the fine amount and other sanctions which may happen should the absence reoccur over a 3-year period.
