Attendance & Absence
We want all of our students to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the school. Research has shown that there is a direct link between attendance and achievement and students that are not in school are more at risk of failing to achieve. In addition, they run a greater risk of getting involved in crime or becoming victims of crime.
The law requires that parents/carers are responsible for ensuring that their children attend school and are on time. Our Attendance Policy can be downloaded below.
Timings of the Day:
- Our school day starts at 8.25am. We expect all students to arrive at the school by 8.20am and to be in the playground, ready for line-up at 8.25am. Please ensure your child is in the school for a prompt start to the day.
Expectations:
We expect your child to be in the school every day and on time unless:
- He/she is too ill to attend (Medical evidence is required);
- He/she has a medical appointment that can only be made in school time (Medical evidence is required).
Guidance for Parents/Carers:
- Reinforce our expectations regarding full attendance and excellent punctuality with your son/daughter;
- Support staff when we take action over punctuality or truancy;
- Inform us of any change in contact details immediately;
- Contact the school to inform us of an absence, by 8.25am;
- Attend meetings to discuss your child’s attendance and punctuality, as requested;
- Ensure that your child completes any work that has been sent home or that he/she catches up with any work that they have missed.
Contacting Us:
- To report any absence, inform us of any future absence or advise us of changes to contact details, please contact the school and ask to speak to the Attendance Officer who will take the necessary details.
- To discuss any other issues or concerns please contact your child’s coach who will support you and your child.
Monitoring:
- We will contact you on the first day of absence, at home or work, if you have not previously informed us of the reason why your son/daughter is absent;
- We will send you an absence letter if we have not been able to contact you after 3 days;
- We will send you attendance and punctuality statistics each term as part of our progress reports;
- We will contact you and arrange a meeting to discuss any concerns we have with your child regarding attendance and punctuality.
Unauthorised Absence:
- This is where your son/daughter has been absent and the absence has not been explained, or we do not consider the reason for the absence to be acceptable.
Truancy:
- This occurs when your son/daughter misses school without authorisation or registers for school but does not then attend lessons. We will not accept truancy and we will inform you of any suspected truancy.
Leave of Absence:
- If you require your son/daughter to be absent from school, for extreme circumstances during term time, you will need to complete a Leave of Absence application form.
- The Headteacher will consider these requests on an individual basis taking into account the student’s attendance record and the circumstances surrounding the request.
Fixed Penalty Notices:
- Any parent who takes their son/daughter on a leave of absence during term time without the correct authorisation will be issued with a fixed penalty notice. A warning letter will be sent upon application.
- Any student with less than 95% attendance or with 5 or more sessions (2.5 days) of unauthorised absence will be sent a warning letter and if no improvement is made then a fixed penalty notice fine will be issued.
