Attendance: Reach for the Stars!

I have been so pleased this week to see all year groups back in school full time. Our attendance notice board as so many classes each day with 100% and fantastic attendance over the week. 

Attendance is key to ensuring children succeed in school and research shows that poor attendance in the lower school directly effects grades throughout school and achievements later in life. 

Many of our classes are starting mental maths, spellings and reading during the registration period; this means children arriving late are missing out. We all understand Colombo traffic, however, arriving on time helps children to be settled and ready for the start of a busy day. Gates open at 7am and if children can be in class by 7.30 this will set them up for a good start to the day, it also means they do not disturb other children who have started working already. 

At BSC we expect 100% attendance and give 95% as the minimum requirement for Badge Holders. For some, 90% may seem like an acceptable level of attendance. The reality is that 90% attendance means that your child will miss 18 days of school during the school year – that’s nearly 4 school weeks.   

At this difficult time of COVID restrictions, may parents are worried about children being sent to school ill. I would like to remind parents that if children develop a temperature over 37.3 they should remain at home until the temperature remains under 37.3 without the need for medication for a minimum of 24 hours.  

It is vital that you please try to avoid making medical appointments during school time and arrange family holidays during the school holidays. 

Each week we celebrate the class, year group and Key Stage with the best attendance and at the end of term individual certificates are presented.  

Children who are working overseas or from quarantine are registered as ‘present online’ when work is completed at home and they can still contribute to their class gaining attendance certificates for the week. 

Ms Alison De Silva - Deputy Head Pastoral