Belmont Primary School has unashamedly high expectations across all areas and any absence from school will be unauthorised unless the following are in place:

• Your child has attendance greater than 93% and a justified reason for absence has been provided for each day of absence.
• You are able to provide written evidence of a medical appointment if yours child’s attendance is below 93%.

Persistent absence is deemed by the government to be anything less than 90% attendance. We offer support to parents/carers if we have concerns about a pupil's attendance level.

Attendance Support Letter

• If attendance drops below 93% and includes periods of unauthorised absence, an Attendance Support letter is sent. The school Attendance Team will work closely with families to support improved attendance.
• If following a period of support by the Attendance Team, the level of attendance has improved, the support process will end.

Attendance Concern Letter

• If attendance has not improved, an Attendance Concern letter is sent. Parents/carers are invited to a meeting with the Headteacher and Attendance Team to discuss the school's concerns.
• A monitoring period is implemented, allowing time for attendance to improve. If attendance does improve, the formal process comes to an end.

Attendance Panel Letter

• If attendance does not improve within the agreed monitoring period, an Attendance Panel letter is sent, requesting the parents/carers to attend an Attendance Panel Meeting. At this point, there are a number of possible outcomes, such as the issuing of a Fixed Penalty Notice for persistent absence, the involvement of outside agencies such as Social Services and in extreme cases, prosecution.

These letters can often alarm some parents due to the legal content that we make reference to. Whilst we do not wish to cause any alarm to our parents and families it is vitally important that you are fully aware of legislation relating to our attendance policy and we will always endeavour to support you and your child within this process. Our intentions are only ever to improve the success of pupils at school.