Attendance Procedures
Daily Attendance Procedure
Start of the School day
School starts at 8:45am.
The drive gate will be open at 8:40 to allow the children in Nursery, Reception and Year 1 to enter. Siblings of children in these year's may also enter through this gate.
Children in Year 2 and above should enter via the Welwyn Road Gate (unless they have younger siblings in which case they may enter via the drive gate with their sibling).
The gate will be opened by a member of staff at 8:40 and will remain open until 8:45am.
If your child arrives after 8:45am they will need to enter via the Office and will be marked as Late.
Any children arriving after 9:15 will receive a U attendance code (late after registers close).
If your child receives 10 U codes over the space of a half term you be could be issued with a fine.
We understand that sometimes there are unavoidable situations which may cause your child to be late on the odd occasion, please phone ahead if this is the case.
If you would like any more information regarding our attendance policy please contact the office.
Hollybush is committed to working in partnership with our families parents to improve attendance and outcomes of all our children.
Attending school has a huge impact on your child’s academic success starting from reception all the way through their school journey. Families play a vital role in making sure that their children get to school safely, regularly and on time.
We know that any time missed from your child’s learning is so difficult to get back. Things move so fast in a school; the pace of learning, new topics, friendships, even the way in which we build children’s confidence all rely on children being in school every day so they don’t miss out.
The nationally expected attendance for a child at primary school is between 96% and 97%. #
That means only being absent from school for up to 7 days in a whole school year, usually due to illness.
Always make school a priority
- Never make doctor, dentist or optician appointment during school time unless this is absolutely necessary. (If you do need to make an appointment in school time try to ensure that your child misses as little of school as possible)
- We know that travel companies don’t make it easy for families, but never book a holiday during term time (it won't be authorised, your child will fall behind and you may be fined).
- Don’t allow your child to miss school on Mondays and Fridays if you are going away for the weekend.
- Don’t allow your child to take a day off because of the weather.
- Don’t allow your child to take a day off for their birthday.
Start and End of Day Safeguarding Procedures
Entrance to the school building by parents at any time is only permitted via the office.
The school office should only ever be accessed via the Office side door – all visitors are required to sign in and must never enter the building through any other door, this includes the old main entrance.
At the end of the day pupils are taken to the school office if they have not been collected. Please always advise the office if you are running late. Your child may then be placed in the After School Club and a fee charged.
Parents must have provided clear verbal or written permission to the class teacher or office for children to be released to an adult who is not the parents or carers of the child.
On occasions, staff may need to verify collection arrangements. As this is in the interests of safeguarding, we would always expect full co-operation and understanding with this.
Year 5 & 6 pupils may be permitted to walk home by themselves but only with parental consent. Please update the consent section of your child's Arbor account if you wish to allow your child to begin walking home by themselves.