Attendance
Attendance Matters
Encouraging regular school attendance is one of the most powerful ways you can prepare your child for success, both in school and in life. When you make school attendance a priority, you help your child get better grades, develop healthy life habits, avoid dangerous behaviour and have a better chance of achieving their full potential.
Students who attend school regularly also feel more connected to their community, develop important social skills and friendships, and are significantly more likely to leave school with good qualifications, setting them up for a strong future.
The target attendance figure for all students is a minimum of 96% attendance. 96-100% is the ‘Excellent Attendance’ group.
At 96% attendance – 73% of students achieve five good grades at GCSE (9-4) including English and Maths, however even at 96% attendance a student would have missed 45 hours of learning.
20 days off per school year means that a pupil has approx. 90% attendance. At 90 % attendance your child will have missed 97 lessons in one year! If this trend went throughout the 5 years a child is at secondary school, this would equate to half a year of missing school time in total.
The research shows that for every 17 days missed from school a child is likely to drop one GCSE grade in EVERY subject. Only 35% of those with attendance between 80-90% will achieve five good grades (9-4) at GCSE including English and Maths.
We wish to work in partnership with parents and carers and seek your full support in ensuring that your child attends school every day and on time. We are always pleased to work together with parents and carers in resolving any difficulties as we are committed to improving attendance levels at school. If you are ever concerned about your child not wanting to attend school or facing barriers to attending please contact your child’s tutor at the earliest convenience. Often the earlier we can intervene and other support the more success we have.
We offer a range of rewards for students who have good attendance and want this to be something that is consistently discussed with students. We would welcome similar conversations at home.
Students start their school day at 8:40 with tutor time. This is a key part of the day. We request your support with ensuring your child is on time. If students are late they will be marked as late and given a detention. If a student arrived after our registers close they would receive an absent mark for their AM session. Each school day is made up of an AM and a PM session, this means their overall attendance figure would be affected.
From September, the guidance now states that parents can receive a penalty notice for any child who has 10 or more unauthorised absences over any period of 10 school weeks. Every day’s absence counts as 2 absent sessions (morning and afternoon), this also means that students who are persistently late could also be given a penalty notice. This is something we aim to avoid and would like to work alongside families to prevent.
Key Points for Information
Students should attend school for 190 days per year.
All communication around attendance should be done via the Weduc app. Alternative methods of contact will be attempted if necessary, however we strongly recommend parents use the app where possible. The schools attendance line can be reached on 01278 764088, this can be used should you be unable to use the Weduc app. Any Absences without explanation will have to be coded as unauthorised. Please ensure contact is made if your child is unwell by 8:40.
Ultimately the school is responsible for deciding if the absence is acceptable or not. Only genuine absence will be authorised. You must provide medical certificates or evidence of appointments if you wish us to consider them, or if your child has a poor attendance record.
Where at all possible we request that you ensure that medical appointments are made outside of school time. Holidays should not be taken in school time
We will on occasion need to send you letters to let you know about potential effects of your child’s attendance, should it drop below 96%. In each of these letters there is specific legal wording which has to be used. Please respond to letters or telephone calls regarding attendance and punctuality as required by the content of the letter or if you wish to discuss the impact of attendance further.
All requests for leave of absence in term time must be made in writing on the leave of absence request form at least four weeks in advance of the required date. Please note there are very few circumstances that schools are now able to approve term time leave.
As a parent or carer you are committing an offence if you fail to ensure that your child attends school regularly and punctually, even if they are missing school without your knowledge.
Penalty notices / Term time absence
Unauthorised absences include term-time holidays, lateness to school after the register has closed, or any other unauthorised absence. The 10 week period can be counted over different terms or even academic years. For example, if your child has three days off school for a holiday in July, and then arrives late after the register closes 4 times between September and October, you could receive a penalty notice.
Any holiday of a week or more will attract a penalty notice.
The amount of the fine increased in September 2024, to £160 (reduced to £80 if paid within 28 days). If a parent gets a second penalty notice within a three year period, the fine is £160. Every adult with whom the child lives (including step-parents) will receive the fine, and the fine applies to every child who is absent. For example, if 2 adults take 2 children out of school, the fines will amount to £640 (reduced to £320 for a first offence paid within 28 days). Please be aware that this money goes to the local authority, NOT the school.
We understand that these penalty notices will not be popular with families. Headteachers are not allowed to authorise holidays in term-time unless there are genuinely exceptional circumstances. The law is specific that headteachers are expected to enforce these penalty notices robustly.