Attendance and Punctuality

Lark Hill Primary School, Christ Church C.E and Lewis Street Primary School believe that the regular education of all children, irrespective of age, gender, race or ability is crucial to each and every pupil.

Parents and carers must:

• Ensure that their children achieve a minimum attendance figure over 95%
• Ensure that their children arrive at school promptly at 8.40am
• Contact school directly before 9.30am to report their child’s absence
• Ensure that non-emergency medical appointments, i.e. dental check-ups, are made outside of school hours
• Ensure family holidays are taken out of term time

Punctuality 

Parents or carers who bring their children to school late will be expected to wait with their child outside the double blue doors (near the office) until 9.15am. This limits the disruption to lessons when children arrive late to class.

Nursery children are to be collected from the classroom at 3.00pm. Reception, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 children are to be collected from the classroom at 3.15pm.

Any child arriving after 9.30am will receive a U code which is an unauthorised absence.

Further details can be found in the school’s Attendance Policy.

Appointments

If your child has an appointment you must  notify the office in advance and provide a copy of the appointment slip or letter. Children are to be collected from the office for any appointments and must be signed out by the parent. After the appointment they should return to the office and be signed in before returning to class. 

Absence

Should your child be absent, please ring school before 8.40am. You must advise school as to the reason for your child’s absence from school.  Evidence will need to be provided, such as a medical note, doctor’s note or medicine that your child is taking. 

Don’t forget to ring school before 9.30am should your child be absent from school. 0161 921 1390

Holidays/leave absence from school

Lark Hill Primary School cannot authorise holidays in term time. The Executive Head Teacher will only grant leave of absence in extraordinary circumstances. A detailed of circumstances can be found in our full policy available to download from our Policies section.  

Should you decide to take your child on holiday in term you will be served with a fine by Salford City Council.  Payment within 21 days of receipt of notice is £60.00 and £120.00 if paid after this but within 28 days. The fine will apply to each parent for each child who fails to attend regularly.  Both Penalty Notices must be paid. For example, in a family where there are two parents who fail to ensure the regular attendance of their two children, the fine would be £240.00 for each parent. 

Poor punctuality

Being frequently late for school adds up to lost learning:

▪ Arriving 5 minutes late every day adds up to over 3 days lost each year.

▪ Arriving 15 minutes late every days is the same as being absent for 10 days year.

▪ Arriving 30 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 20 days a year.