Annual Rewards

• Award Assemblies – 100% attendance award and most improved attendance award- certificates, badges and medals  
• Platinum awards for children who achieve 100% for the whole year 
• Gift vouchers, days out and treats 
• Ice cream van visit 

Termly Rewards

• Award Assemblies – 100% attendance certificates and badges at the end of each half term  
• Children who get 100% attendance are put into a raffle to win a gift at the end of the year  

Ongoing rewards and recognition

Weekly recognition- stickers and the class with the best attendance wins the trophy. Recognition in assembly of the most improved attendance. As well as the above, we utilise a whole host of additional rewards and recognition to praise and encourage good attendance and punctuation. This includes ongoing and targeted praise from class teachers, pastoral team and SLT. 

Initiatives also include certificates, letters, emails and praise in class. 

Parents are requested not to arrange family holidays during term time. 

You should not expect the school to agree to an absence for a holiday in term time – the law says that parents do not have the right to take their child out of school for holidays during term time. 

If you feel there are exceptional circumstances why your child needs to be absent from school, you should apply, in advance, by writing to the headteacher explaining clearly the dates and reasons you are requesting leave of absence. 

If the school refuses a request for leave of absence and the child is still taken out of school this will be recorded as unauthorised absence and noted in the child’s record. This will be reported to the Local Authority. 

The Local Authority may issue a penalty notice for the period of absence.

Please note: all absences on the last days of term will be unauthorised unless we have medical evidence. This will count towards the fining process.  

Should a child take term time leave and fail to return to school following a period of leave, the school may, with the agreement of the Local Authority, and following all statutory checks, delete the pupil from roll. 

Students with poor attendance, and/or poor levels of punctuality, will not be eligible for the same level of reward and recognition as those whose attendance and punctuality are in line with school expectation. 

Students with poor attendance and/or punctuality may not be allowed to: 

1. Represent the school in sporting events 
2. Participate in school productions 
3. Attend any school visits or trips that are not a compulsory part of the school curriculum 
4. Participate in student leadership opportunities 
5. Be eligible for any student privilege clubs 

Students with poor attendance and/or punctuality should expect: 

1. Regular communication with parents regarding their attendance 
2. Bespoke interventions to support in raising attendance in line with Nishkam attendance policy 
3. For their child to be subject to an attendance support plan 
4. For the family to be subject to the Nishkam graduated Response for Attendance 
5. Be subject to prosecution through the Fixed Penalty Notice process 

At Akaal Primary School, Derby we monitor all absences. Early intervention is a significant factor in limiting student absence and ultimately improving student attendance. We ensure that a rigorous attendance monitoring and family support system works in partnership with our parents in their statutory duty of ensuring their children attend school regularly. This system will add an additional layer of support before the punitive Fixed Penalty Notice Pathway directed by the Department for Education and the Local Authority. 

Our attendance monitoring system implements phases of intervention prior to pursuing the Fixed Penalty Notice Pathway. This can be seen below: 

In Derby Fixed Penalty Notices are issued by the Local Authority to avoid duplicate notices. This ensures consistent and equitable application of policy, protects school-home relationships and allows alignment with other enforcement sanctions and statutory interventions. Fixed Penalty Notices will only be issued for offences where the Local Authority is willing and able to prosecute and that are agreed at either the Local Authority School Attendance Panel (LASAP) or the FPN panel. 

The Local Authority will ensure that the issuing of Fixed Penalty Notices will be closely monitored to ensure that recipients pay the relevant fine. In instances where the penalty is not paid within the appropriate period, the Local Authority will prosecute. 

1. A Fixed Penalty Notice can only be issued in cases of unauthorised absence 
2. The Local Authority will receive requests to issue Fixed Penalty Notices from schools and requests will be screened to ensure adequate evidence of support and intervention, as required by the pathway, is submitted. 

Term times are for education.  This is the priority.  Children and families have 177 days off school to spend time together each academic year, including weekends and school holidays. The headteacher will rightly prioritise attendance.  The default school policy is that absences will not be granted during term time and will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances. 

If an event can be reasonably scheduled outside of term time then it would not be normal to authorise absence for such an event, for example:  

1. holidays or other travel, including as a result of parental work commitments, are therefore not considered ‘exceptional circumstances’; 
2. leave which is taken because of the availability of cheaper fares or other costs are not regarded as exceptional circumstances; 
3. claims of illness as a reason for a delayed return, particularly after normal school holidays will not be considered unless accompanied by travel tickets dated before the school opens or other agreed dates.  Medical documentation from abroad will not normally be accepted unless accompanied by travel documents indicating travel dates prior to school reopening. 

Some additional guiding principles: 

1. Reasonable adjustments for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities will be made and may result in a leave being grated as an exceptional circumstance. 
2. When making absence-related decisions, the head teacher will consider: 

• a pupil’s record of attendance for the current and previous academic years; 
• time of absence being taken in the school year.  If the request is made to extend the beginning or end of a school holiday period, it is unlikely to be considered exceptional. 
• The head teacher can determine the length of the authorised absence as well as whether a particular absence is authorised. 

To request a leave of absence, please request a form from the school office. 

Leave will not be granted for: 

• Children whose attendance is below 98% 
• Children in Years 2 or 6 before and during the statutory assessment period (February to May)