Attendance

One of the most important things you can do for your child's future is to make sure they attend school

every day and on time!

At New Moston Primary we want the very best for all of our children. Striving for 100% attendance is the shared responsibility of pupils, parents, staff and governor’s. The best outcomes will be achieved by home and school working together and high attenders will be recognised and rewarded. Please ensure that your child attends school well and work with them on the importance of education and making their attendance excellent. 

At New Moston Primary School we celebrate our attendance HEROs - children who are - 

Here 

Everyday 

Ready and 

On time 

Can you be an attendance HERO? 

What does the law say?

Your child’s regular and punctual attendance is a legal requirement under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996.

Manchester guidance can be found in the key documents below.

If your child is between 5 and 16 years of age and is a registered pupil at a school, it is the legal responsibility of the parent/carer to make sure that child/ren attend regularly and on time.

Parents have a legal duty to make sure that their children are properly educated. It is the parent’s responsibility to ensure that their children attend school regularly and arrive on time. If you allow your child to be absent from school without good reason, the school will not authorise the absence, you will be committing an offence, and you could be issued with a penalty notice or prosecuted.

Reporting Absence  

If your child is not going to attend school parents/carers must: - 

1. Report their child's absence.  As a school we use the Studybugs app which is a effective and prompt way to report absence.  Please download the Studybugs app linked below :) Alternatively, telephone school (0161 681 3321/1055) or email attendance@newmoston.manchester.sch.uk before 9.30am on the first day of your child's absence to let us know why your child is not in school and when you expect that they will return.
2. If your child has an appointment please send evidence of this to the email address or show the appointment card to the office before the appointment. If possible appointments should be booked for out of school hours.
3. If your child is going to be absent for more than one day please keep in contact with school, letting us know when you expect your child will be ready to return. 
4. If we have not heard from you by 9.30am you will receive a text asking you to contact school to explain your child's absence. If we have not heard from you by 10.30am we will phone and/or email. We will repeat this on the second day of absence. If we have not heard from you by midday on the third day of unexplained absence, we will complete a home visit. If we are still unable to make contact with anyone - including your emergency contacts - we will contact the police and ask them to make a safe and well check. We might also contact Children's Services for further advice. 

All absences must be recorded by school every day.  There are different records as follows : - 

• Authorised absence - where a satisfactory explanation for the pupil's absence has been given, for example - illness, medical appointments (where evidence is shown), exceptional circumstances such as family bereavement when permission has been given by the Head Teacher.
•  Unauthorised absence - where no satisfactory explanation has been given for a child's absence, for example - no contact made or reason given, staying off school due to someone else's illness, a pupil or family members birthday, "we slept in" - arriving at school after registers close will be recorded as an unauthorised absence.  

Fixed Penalty Notices 

Where a pupil records 10 sessions of unauthorised absence (5 days) school will issue an Attendance Warning Letter to each parent/carer.  If any further unauthorised absences are recorded then a request may be made to the Local Authority to issue a Fixed Penalty Notice Fine.  

The Local Authority fine for a Fixed Penalty Notice is £120 per parent, per child.  This is reduced to £60 if paid within 21 days.

Further information on all of this information can be found in our attendance policy and/or parent leaflet, which is linked below.  Guidance from the Local authority is also referenced below. 

Our full attendance policy can be found via the link below.

School timings 

Start and finish times for all classes with effect from 5th September 2023 are as follows, please be punctual.