Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust monitors regular and punctual attendance within school. At St James’ we are committed to ensuring that our children are in school as much as they possibly can be. It is important that your child arrives at school on time. Lateness disrupts the lesson for the whole class, the teacher and your child. Children need to be in the yard at 8.50 am for school starting at 8.55 am.

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BCCET Traffic Light System

At St James’ we follow the BCCET traffic light system. The purpose of colour coding helps Staff, Parents and Pupils to have a clear understanding of our expectations.

• Red Zone: Under 92% Students in the red zone are more likely to underachieve, find making friendships difficult and misbehave. Legal action may also be taken against Parents/Carers of Red Zone pupils.
• Amber Zone: 92% – 96.99% Students in this zone are still at risk of underachieving due to the absence level. Students who miss school regularly are more likely to suffer from school related stress. If your child is in the Amber Zone we will contact you to complete a Parent Contract to help avoid attendance falling into the Red Zone.
• Green Zone: 97%+

You will be notified termly of where your child’s attendance falls on this system.

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Leave of Absence

We are not able to authorise Leave of Absence unless there are exceptional circumstances. Should you wish to apply for your child’s absence from school a request must be made one month in advance via Holiday Absence Form which can be issued at the school office. Unauthorised absences may make you liable to a fixed Penalty Notice.

Medical or dental appointments are counted as an authorised absence. We do, however, encourage parents to make appointments out of school hours. We understand that this is not always possible; therefore the pupil should only be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary for the appointment. You may be asked to provide evidence of your child’s appointment.

Please refer to our Attendance Policy below for full information information.

 St James Attendance Policy

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Penalty Notice Fines for School Attendance

The new National Framework for Penalty Notices, the following changes will come into force for Penalty Notice Fines issued after 19th August 2024.

 

• Per Parent, Per Child

  Penalty Notice Fines will now be issued to each parent, for each child that was absent. For example: 2 siblings with unauthorised absence during term time may result in each parent being issued with one penalty notice per child.

• 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a 10-week period

  Penalty Notice Fines will be considered when there has been 10 sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence in a 10 week period.

First Offence:

The first time a Penalty Notice is issued for Term Time Leave or Irregular Attendance, the amount will be: £160 per parent, per child, paid within 28 days. Reduced to £80 per parent, per child, if paid within 21 days.

Second Offence:

(within 3 years from the date of issue of first penalty notice) The second time a Penalty Notice is issued for Term Time Leave or Irregular Attendance, the amount will be: £160 per parent, per child paid within 28 days.

Third Offence:

(within 3 years from the date of issue of first penalty notice) The third time an offence is committed for Term Time Leave or Irregular Attendance, a Penalty Notice will not be issued, and the case will be presented straight to the Magistrates’ Court. Magistrates’ fines can be up to £2500 per parent, per child. This is a criminal offence and a parent may end up with a criminal record.