Student Attendance and Punctuality Policy

⚠️ SAFEGUARDING-RELEVANT POLICY — REQUIRES HUMAN SIGN-OFF BEFORE USE The Children Missing Education section of this policy touches child safety. Before it is published or relied upon, Al Fajer Private School leadership must: (1) fill every [NEEDS AFS INPUT] placeholder — school hours, the attendance email, and the Ministry of Education reporting route in particular, (2) confirm the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) referral route, and (3) formally adopt it with real dates. Nothing in this document has been invented to fill those gaps.

DOCUMENT CONTROL

Table of Contents

1. Rationale
2. Definitions
3. General Responsibilities
4. Inappropriate Attendance
5. Holidays During Term Time and Appointments During the School Day
6. Early Departure from School
7. Traffic and Congestion Around the School Site
8. Irregular Attendance and Punctuality Procedures: KG1 – Grade 6
9. Children Missing Education (CME)

1.0 Rationale

1.1 As a school, we recognize that regular school attendance and punctuality are most important. Irregular attendance and consistent lateness undermine the educational process and lead to educational disadvantage. AFS monitors and responds to any instances of irregular attendance and/or punctuality and adopts a fair, consistent, and even-handed approach. Because our students are young children, responsibility for attendance and punctuality rests with parents, and the school's response is always supportive: we work with families to remove whatever is getting in the way of regular attendance.

1.2 The school's aims related to attendance and punctuality are:

1.2.1 Create an environment in which children look forward to attending school and lessons; 1.2.2 Make students' attendance and punctuality a priority for all community members; 1.2.3 Achieve zero unauthorized absence and zero lateness.

2.0 Definitions

2.1 Authorized absence: absence for a valid reason. Reasons may include (but are not limited to) illness, medical care, injury, family emergencies, and other such events beyond parents' control. This is included in the absence total reported to parents in termly school reports.

2.2 Absence (approved educational activity): absence from school on trips or other such events that have been planned by, or participation in authorized by, the school. Such absence is not included in the absence total reported to parents in termly school reports.

2.3 Unauthorized absence: absence that does not have a valid explanation and therefore cannot be authorized by the school. This is at the discretion of the Principal.

2.4 Unexplained absence: absence that has yet to be categorized as authorized or not, generally due to the student remaining away from school.

2.5 Expected attendance: the expected percentage of school days that are attended by a student in any given period. For AFS, this is 95%.

2.6 Lateness: arrival at school and registration after the morning registration cut-off [NEEDS AFS INPUT: AFS school hours — registration time and lateness cut-off]. The cut-off point is when the morning assembly/anthem begins [NEEDS AFS INPUT: time]. In the case of lesson attendance, a student is late if they arrive for a lesson after the lesson start time (as per the school schedule).

2.7 Truancy: deliberate avoidance of some or all of a lesson.

3.0 General Responsibilities

3.1 All staff

3.1.1 Be a good role model and lead by example; 3.1.2 Give attendance and punctuality a high profile; 3.1.3 Praise students for arriving on time; 3.1.4 Take prompt action when students are late or absent without authorization; 3.1.5 Keep an accurate register on the school's student-information system [NEEDS AFS INPUT: AFS student-information system]; 3.1.6 Inform grade-level leads [NEEDS AFS INPUT: confirm AFS leadership titles below the Principal — "grade-level lead" is used throughout this policy pending confirmation] and/or the school leadership team of any ongoing concerns with attendance or punctuality.

3.2 Classroom/homeroom teachers

3.2.1 Contact parents on the third consecutive school day of unexplained absence.

3.3 Grade-level leads

3.3.1 Support classroom/homeroom teachers with monitoring, responding to, and remedying attendance and punctuality problems as they arise; 3.3.2 Monitor students recognized as having irregular attendance and/or punctuality; 3.3.3 Contact parents concerning attendance and/or punctuality concerns.

3.4 School leadership team

3.4.1 Monitor attendance and punctuality; 3.4.2 Implement and oversee reward and support systems.

3.5 Attendance officer [NEEDS AFS INPUT: confirm the AFS role responsible for attendance records]

3.5.1 Record late arrivals who do not attend morning registration; 3.5.2 Update the student-information system as explanations for absences are sent by parents; 3.5.3 Contact parents as required; 3.5.4 Monitor the accuracy of attendance records.

3.6 Students

3.6.1 Arrive in time for morning registration every school day [NEEDS AFS INPUT: AFS school hours]; 3.6.2 Be on time for every lesson; 3.6.3 Report to the front office if late and unable to attend registration (younger students are accompanied by a parent/guardian).

3.7 Parents

3.7.1 Ensure that children arrive for school on time every day; 3.7.2 Provide a written explanation for children's absences from school by emailing the homeroom teacher and [NEEDS AFS INPUT: AFS attendance email]. The school MUST receive a written explanation from parents; 3.7.3 Not take children out of school during term time (family holidays should be taken outside term time); 3.7.4 Keep children at home when they are unwell; 3.7.5 Email [NEEDS AFS INPUT: AFS attendance email] if a child needs to leave the school premises during the school day for a genuine and previously unforeseen reason, giving at least one hour's notice to avoid delays. Notice before the start of the school day is preferred.

4.0 Inappropriate Attendance

4.1 While the school wants to celebrate exemplary attendance, we are mindful of students attending school when they should not. When a child is unwell, they should stay off school, particularly when the illness may be contagious. At other times, for different reasons, the school may request a doctor's note confirming that a child is fit to attend school. We ask for support from all students and parents in this matter.

5.0 Holidays During Term Time and Appointments During the School Day

5.1 Absence during term time can seriously affect a student's progress. Any request for permission to take a student out of school during term time should be made in writing to the Principal at least one week in advance. AFS attaches equal importance to every school day, and important events may be held at the very beginning or end of term time. Therefore, early departures for, and/or late returns from, school holidays are not recommended.

5.2 Medical, dental, and other appointments should not be made during the school day, where possible.

5.3 If a student misses all or part of a school day because of a medical / dental / visa / etc. appointment, the school requires documentation of the appointment in order to authorize the lateness or absence from class, or to issue a gate pass if required.

6.0 Early Departure from School

6.1 Students may, of course, need to leave the school early, for a variety of reasons. There are three ways in which students may leave early:

6.1.1 The school receives a written request from parents, at least one hour in advance (preferably before the start of the school day), via [NEEDS AFS INPUT: AFS attendance email]; 6.1.2 The school nurse recommends that the student leaves school early (see First Aid Policy); 6.1.3 In case of emergency (at the discretion of a member of the school leadership team).

6.2 In each case, a student must be given an electronic gate pass by the school front office [NEEDS AFS INPUT: confirm who issues electronic gate passes at AFS].

6.2.1 The gate pass includes the reason for the early departure. 6.2.2 The security guards check that the electronic gate pass has been issued before allowing the student to leave — and a young child is only ever released into the care of a known, authorized adult.

There are no exceptions to this rule — it is in place to protect children and ensure AFS follows best practice for the safeguarding of its students.

7.0 Traffic and Congestion Around the School Site

7.1 The roads around the school are often very busy at the start and end of the school day. However, repeated irregular attendance and/or punctuality cannot be ascribed to heavy traffic or congestion at school: there is no reason why families cannot leave for school slightly earlier in the morning. While the school utilizes a common-sense approach to problems caused by abnormal traffic conditions (for instance, due to localized flooding), it does not accept the argument that students must be continually absent or late because of this.

8.0 Irregular Attendance and Punctuality Procedures: KG1 – Grade 6

AFS operates a single, supportive framework for all students. The steps below escalate gradually — from parent contact, to a conference with the teacher, to grade-level and leadership involvement, and finally to the Principal — and at every step the aim is to understand the cause and agree on support, not to punish.

8.1 Attendance

8.1.1 Daily attendance should be at or above 95%, i.e., on average, no more than 1 day absent for every 19 days attended. 8.1.2 The classroom/homeroom teacher contacts parents on the morning of the third consecutive day of unexplained absence. 8.1.3 The classroom/homeroom teacher monitors daily attendance on the student-information system [NEEDS AFS INPUT: AFS student-information system] and discusses with parents, at a conference, if a student is not on track to meet the 95% target without good reason.

8.1.3.1 After the initial meeting with the class teacher, refer to the grade-level lead if there is no improvement within 2 weeks. 8.1.3.2 If there is still no improvement within 2 weeks after the grade-level lead's meeting, refer to the school leadership team. 8.1.3.3 If concerns persist, the Principal meets with the parents to agree a plan of support for the child's regular attendance.

8.2 Punctuality

8.2.1 Any concerns about student punctuality are raised with parents at parent-teacher conferences. 8.2.2 Attendance and punctuality are included in termly reports to parents.

9.0 Children Missing Education (CME)

See also the Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy.

9.1 We recognize that a child going missing from education is a potential indicator of abuse or neglect.

9.2 Staff are made aware of these procedures at induction and through this Attendance Policy. We will make every attempt to obtain more than one emergency contact number for each child registered at the school, to ensure we are able to make contact with a responsible adult when a child is missing education and is also identified as a welfare and/or safeguarding concern. Any such concern is referred to the designated safeguarding lead [NEEDS AFS INPUT: DSL name and contact details].

9.3 When a student is removed from the school's enrollment at a standard or non-standard transition point, we will notify the Ministry of Education through the required channel [NEEDS AFS INPUT: MoE reporting route for student withdrawals and transfers] and keep our enrollment records up to date.

9.4 We will ensure that we follow these procedures for dealing with children that go missing from education, particularly on repeat occasions, to help identify the risk of abuse and neglect, including sexual exploitation, and to help prevent the risks of their going missing in future.