Attendance

Statement of intent

This sets out the procedures to be followed, in the event, that a child is absent from pre-school. We have this policy because we believe that attendance in the Early Years is important because:

• It improves outcomes for children
• It fosters healthy habits for future attendance
• It helps children settle and form good relationships
• It helps to develop positive self esteem
• Under achievement is often linked to poor attendance
• Early identification of more serious concerns

Even though attendance is not compulsory we are aware of the impacts of non-attendance and note what is written In the Early Years Inspection Handbook;

‘Although attendance at the setting is not mandatory, providers should be alert to patterns of absence that may indicate wider safeguarding concerns. Inspectors will explore how well providers work with parents to promote children’s good attendance, especially the attendance of children for whom the provider receives the early years pupil premium’        Pg41, bullet point 160

Procedure

• The Manager and/or Deputy Lead are responsible for monitoring absence and following up any concerns raised by the team.

• It is the responsibility of all staff to report to the Manager/Deputy each day regarding lateness/absence or if a child leaves our setting unexpectedly.

• If your child is sick or cannot attend for some reason, you must call us before 9.30am that day to let us know.

• If we have not heard from you by 10.00am we may call you to establish why your child is absent.

• If we cannot get hold of you after several missed sessions, we may contact other professionals (Health Visitor/Siblings schools/ family Social Worker, particularly in the cases of our more vulnerable families) to ensure you and your child are safe.

• If your child is absent for more than 2 sessions and we have not heard from the parents/carers the Manager and/or Deputy will try and make phone contact with you to establish how/where your child is.

• If there is a Safeguarding concern the Manager and/or Deputy, would follow our Safeguarding procedure and phone MASH (see our Safeguarding Policy).

• If you are planning holidays during term time you must let us know in advance so we can record this in our register.

• Fees remain payable during periods of absence, unless alternative arrangements have been agreed.

• We must notify Southampton City Council where children in receipt of Early Years Free Entitlement are absent for more than 2 weeks in a term.

Maintaining good attendance

• We provide a welcoming atmosphere on arrival and the children are encouraged to look at books and self-register and say “good morning/afternoon” to their friends and staff whilst we confirm the register. We then move onto small group time activities. Being on time/attending pre-school allows your child to partake in these activities, and ensures they have a calm start to their session.
• If a child is missing a significant amount of sessions across the term or half term (e.g. if a child attends 5 sessions per week and is missing 2 or more sessions, or if patterns of missed sessions arise), we will monitor on an attendance form and then either phone you to talk about it or raise this at end of term parent consultation or, if more appropriate to the timescale of the absence we will invite parents to meet informally to discuss working together to improve attendance.