Wath CofE Primary School is a learning community where we want the children to feel so they can be brave in a range of ways, safe in the knowledge that they will be supported to succeed if they are not successful first time. We believe in building strong relationships with children and families so that both stakeholders have the confidence in staff and our provision to enable risk taking and performing tasks which put them in the ‘stretch zone.’  We strive to ensure everyone coming into our school feels welcome, happy and safe and we support families and children to have good attendance in order to foster this. We recognise that some pupils find it harder to attend school than others on the basis of worries and concerns and therefore all staff prioritise building positive relationships with all pupils and their families, finding opportunities and the correct mechanisms to address worries developing appropriate support and solutions.

Through positive relationships with staff and each other as well as an engaging and relevant curriculum, we want the children and their families to feel positive about the children coming to school. Staff meet and greet children and families at the beginning and end of the day with senior members of school staff also available in the playground before and after school to meet children and their families. Curriculum opportunities and the way it is delivered, means that all learning is promoted as positive experience for our children. Opportunities for families to engage with their children’s learning through Class Dojo and regular chances to visit their child’s classroom mean that this positivity is shared with families as well as children. We recognise children and families experience periods in their lives where it is harder for them to be positive about school life or life in general and this can affect their attendance. A mixture of class support, work with the school parent support lead or engagement with the school attendance lead enables children and families to reduce the challenges in their lives and improve pupil attendance.

We aim for our children to be confident, independent learners who see the answer as only the beginning of learning and have a strong understanding of the learning process – to achieve this children need to be regularly in school, building on their resilience daily. Through a stimulating curriculum, we set high expectations for our children and teach the value of resilience to encourage positive attitudes to learning and enable mistakes to be the start of the learning process rather than setbacks. We want them to attend well so that they can adopt a ‘can do’ attitude to all they approach, to become increasingly independent in their learning and to recognise all they can accomplish with a resilient approach, something that good attendance gives them the opportunity to grow.

We are an inclusive school where all children’s talents are recognised. We endeavour to ensure through quality first teaching provision supported by appropriate scaffolds and reasonable adjustments, that all children can access a full curriculum offer where they are able to feel successful and make progress. Through our behaviour policy, collective worship, PHSE lessons and particular theme days, we promote kindness and an understanding of particular children’s specific needs. Visits and after school clubs are staffed appropriately so that all children can attend and enjoy these opportunities. We recognise that some pupils find it harder to attend school than others therefore all staff prioritise building positive relationships with all pupils and their families.  The inclusion team ensure that we know each and every pupil as individuals and remain professionally curious as to what the individual barriers our pupils and their families face, providing the right support at the right time.

The Law

The Wath Church of England Primary School Attendance Strategy

Our attendance strategy is written in line with the DFE’s ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ (WTISA):

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‘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. Good attendance begins with school being somewhere pupils want to be… a calm, safe, and supportive environment where all pupils are keen and ready to learn.’

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We aim to work together with staff, parents and the local authority to ensure that we have the right culture in our school to promote good attendance for all pupils.  This means the right support being offered at the right time to enable pupils to fully access education, including our most vulnerable children. 

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Our staff must remain professionally curious at all times and forge strong, trusting relationships with parents and carers in order to work together with families, by listening to and understanding barriers to attendance and working together with families to remove them.

Improving attendance must be a whole school approach across the entire school community, including teaching and support staff, parents and carers, children, the trust and governing body, the local authority, and other local partners.

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Together, we aim to achieve good attendance in all our schools through Expect, Monitor, Listen and Understand, Facilitate Support, Formalise Support and Enforce in accordance with WTISA 2024.