Securing Good Attendance
At Duke Street we have a range of incentives which are used to reward good attendance.
Individual and class rewards are awarded regularly, and good attendance is celebrated in our good news assemblies each week.
Our school target for attendance is 96%. Any pupil whose attendance is at or above this level has the best possible chance of achieving well. For those pupil’s whose attendance dips below this level, a range of support measures are put in place by class teachers, our outreach team, the senior leadership team and our local authority attendance advisor to quickly work with parents to address any dips that can impact on progress.
Our leaflet below outlines these steps in more detail, so you know what to expect.
Punctuality
At Duke Street, we also value punctuality. Good punctuality is essential for pupils to achieve their full potential. It is also vital for students to form good habits for later in life.
All pupils are expected to arrive punctually for school every morning. The school doors open to all classes at 8:45am. All children are expected to be in classrooms ready for registers to be taken (at 8:45am in reception and at 8:55am in KS1 & KS2). Each day gets off to a very prompt start with key learning in maths, phonics or reading taking place across all classes during the first 15 minutes of each day.
Any child who arrives late will miss this key learning 
and will fall behind their peers. KS1 & KS2 classes are encouraged to arrive in school before the register is taken at 8:55am to allow them to have additional time to complete their Early Bird Maths. In KS1&KS2, children receive stickers for completing their Early Bird Maths by 9am. These stickers are collected on their personal sticker charts which they can exchange for prizes once complete. Weekly punctuality raffles also take place across all classes weekly. Both these incentives are very popular with our pupils.
On the rare occasion that a pupil arrives late, they must be accompanied to the school office by an adult. The adult will then be required to complete a late arrivals form outlining steps that will be taken to ensure future punctuality. Our outreach team monitor late arrivals and parents will be invited to meetings should punctuality become an issue.
Term Time Holidays
At Duke Street, we support the local authority and the Department for Education by not authorising holidays during term time (unless there are exceptional circumstances) as we can see the detrimental impact this has on the children in the classroom on their return to school.
Parents do not have a right to take term time holidays. The availability of cheap holidays is not an exceptional circumstance.
We appreciate that the cost of holidays during term time can be lower than during school holiday periods. To support families to take cheaper holidays we have combined 3 of our INSET days in May/June to create an extended half term. This provides 12 days to allow families to take holidays during this time so that they can benefit from cheaper prices. In addition to this, parents have another 12 weeks of school holidays to select from for a holiday, which we believe is ample.
From September 2024, the Department for Education has announced national changes to penalty notices issued for unauthorised absence in term time. These changes will come into effect on 19th August 2024. The changes to be aware of are:
• Penalty notices issued for offences that take place after 19 August 2024 will be charged at a new rate of £160 per parent per child. This can be paid at £80 if paid within 21 days.
• Any second penalty notice issued to the same parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period will be issued at the rate of £160 to be paid within 28 days with no option for a discounted rate.
• The threshold at which a penalty notice must be considered is set at 10 sessions (equivalent to 5 days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10-school week period. This may include absences
as a result of arriving late after the register closes. The 10 school weeks may span different terms or school years.
• A maximum of 2 penalty notices may be issued to a parent for the same child within a rolling 3-year period, so at the 3rd (or subsequent) offence(s) another course of action will need to be considered (such as prosecution or one of the other attendance legal interventions). This will apply to families who take term time holidays on multiple occasions and over multiple years.
The school should be approached in writing before a holiday is booked to seek the headteacher’s authorisation, if this is during term time.
Further information can be found in our attendance policy below. If we can offer any support with school attendance or punctuality, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with your child’s class teacher or our outreach team.
Attendance Policy
