Attendance & Punctuality
This is a successful school and your son/daughter plays their part in making it so. We aim for an environment which enables and encourages all members of the community to reach out for excellence.
For our children to gain the greatest benefit from their education it is vital that they attend regularly and your child should be at school, on time, every day the school is open unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable.
It is very important therefore that you make sure that your child attends regularly and this Policy sets out how together we will achieve this.
Why Regular Attendance is so important?
Any absence affects the pattern of a child’s schooling and regular absence will seriously affect their learning. Any student’s absence disrupts teaching routines so may affect the learning of others in the same class.
Ensuring your child’s regular attendance at school is your legal responsibility and permitting absence from school without a good reason creates an offence in law and may result in prosecution.
Promoting Regular Attendance
Helping to create a pattern of regular attendance is everybody’s responsibility - parents/carers, students and all members of school staff.
To help us all to focus on this we will:
- Report to you at least termly on how your son/daughter is performing in school, what their attendance and punctuality rate is and how this relates to their attainments;
- Celebrate good attendance by displaying individual and class achievements;
- Reward good or improving attendance through class competitions, certificates and outings/events;
- Run promotional events when parents/carers, students and staff can work together on raising attendance levels across the school.
Lateness
Poor punctuality is not acceptable. If your son/daughter misses the start of the day they can miss work and do not spend time with their Mentor getting vital information and news for the day. Late arriving students also disrupt lessons, can be embarrassing for the child and can also encourage absence.
How we manage lateness:
The school day starts with Period 1 at 8.35am and we expect your son/daughter to be in class at that time. Registers are marked and your son/daughter will receive a late mark if they are not in by that time.
In accordance with the Regulations, if your son/daughter arrives after that time they will receive a mark that shows them to be on site, but this will not count as a present mark and it will mean they have an unauthorised absence. This may mean that you could face the possibility of a Penalty Notice if the problem persists.
If your child has a persistent late record you will be asked to meet with the Head of Year to resolve the problem, but you can approach us at any time if you are having problems getting your son/daughter to school on time.
For further information regarding Attendance & Punctuality, or the procedure to report an absence please see our Attendance Policy below: