Attendance
Kenmore Park Infant & Nursery School promotes good school attendance and punctuality for every child. Regular and punctual attendance at school is both a legal requirement and essential for pupils to maximise their educational opportunities. School attendance is also a component of safeguarding children.
The Government expects schools and local authorities to:
- Reduce absence including persistent absence;
- Ensure every pupil has access to full-time education to which they are entitled; and
- Act early to address patterns of absence.
- Parents to perform their legal duty too by ensuring their children of compulsory school age who are registered at school attend early; and
- All pupils to be punctual to their lessons and attend school regularly.
Legal Enforcement by Harrow Local Authority
As part of promoting good attendance and punctuality the school has adopted the Harrow Local Authority attendance policy will use its legal powers to enforce school attendance where this becomes problematic, including powers to prosecute parents who fail to comply with a school attendance order (Section 443 of the Education Act 1996) or failure to ensure their child’s regular attendance at school (Section 444 of the Education Act 1996).
In addition, the Local Authority will impose Penalty Notices as an alternative to prosecution on parents for unauthorised absence and may also be issued where parents allow their children to be present in a public place during school hours without reasonable justification.
The Education (Penalty Notices) Regulations 2007 sets out the details of how the penalty notice scheme must operate. Harrow Code of Conduct for issuing penalty notices will be made available for schools, parents/carers and other interested parties.
Harrow Council will also be conducting Pre Court Panel meetings in accordance with the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act 1984.
Parents must report the reason for any absence on the first morning by 9.30 a.m. or the school will make contact to follow up reasons for absence.
Permission must be sought from the headteacher for absence from school for any reasons other than sickness or medical/dental appointments. The headteacher is only permitted to authorise absence in exceptional circumstances.
Attendance figures 2022 to 2023
- Overall Attendance: 94.19%
- Persistent absence: 17%