OUR ATTENDANCE TARGET IS 96%

Attendance is important

We expect children to be in school every day. Understandably, there are rare occasions when this might not be possible. Prior to the pandemic, pupils with attendance of 96% or above was considered good. However, if children have had to isolate for 10 days due to having coronavirus, then they would only be able to achieve 94.89%. This has had an impact on a number of our children’s attendance. As a result, we are adjusting our school target to 94%, although we do try to ‘Aim High’ so our challenge target is 95%.

We would like to introduce our 'Attendance Champion' - Mrs Jo Crocket.  Jo is our Pastoral Leader and works closely with all our families.  If you have any questions or need support, please contact Jo - you can find her in The Hub!

 

                              

The responsibility of parents

As parents of our children here at Cherry Tree, you should:

• Ensure that your children arrive at school on time
• Instil in your children an appreciation of the importance of attending regularly
• Work in partnership with us at Cherry Tree to resolve issues, which may lead to non-attendance
• Notify the school on the first day if your child is absent. This could be via telephone (preferable), Arbor or email. Please provide an explanation of why your child is not attending school.
• Avoid where possible arranging medical/dental appointments during school hours.
• Avoid booking holidays during term time.
• Be aware of our school’s attendance policy, which can be found here.

 

Being on time

Nursery start times are 08:34 for the morning session and 12:15 for the afternoon session.

Our school day for children from Reception to Year 6 is 08:45 – 15:15 and learning begins at this time. Registers will be officially closed at 9am, as will the school gates. If you arrive late for school, you must come to the school office through the Main Entrance on Berry Avenue to sign your child in. Similarly, the school day ends at 15:15, please be prompt in picking up your child as this may incur a fee.

You may not realise, but persistent lateness really does add up...

If your child is not in school

If your child is unwell and unable to come to school, please inform the School Office of their absence before 9.15am on that day. Please give details of the absence as, in this current time, we require more information than ‘my child is not well’. E.g., my child has been up all night with a sickness bug and will not be in school today. You can do this by calling 01923 245490 (option 1 if out of hours) or emailing attendance@cherrytree.herts.sch.uk or you may wish to update this on Arbor, via in-app messages.

You will be asked to provide medical evidence in the form of an appointment card or prescription etc if:

• Your child's absence is prolonged
• Your child has a low attendance rate e.g. lower than 96%

 

How we will manage attendance at Cherry Tree

Mrs Hibberd and Mrs O’Keeffe meet every fortnight to review individual children’s attendance. These meetings are fed back to senior leaders and class teachers. The appropriate course of action to support our children and their families is then decided. In order to do this consistently, we will be following this flowchart in line with our attendance policy. Please always keep your child’s class teacher in the loop should you have any issues. They are here to support you.

We thank you for your cooperation in ensuring that our children are in school, and on time. Please don’t hesitate in contacting our school office for any further support with this.