Report an Absence

Call Reception: 01628 502663

If you are concerned about your child’s attendance, in the first instance, please contact their form tutor or Head of Year.

BEFORE YOU REPORT THE ABSENCE, CONSIDER THE BELOW :

Students who attend school are more likely to do well and achieve their full potential both academically and personally. To give your child the best chance possible they need to be in school. It is the responsibility of parents and carers, staff, students and governors to ensure all students have good attendance.

There is a clear link between attendance rates and high achievement. We consider the levels of attendance to be as follows :

ATTENDANCE LEVELS	CATEGORY	EQUALS DAYS ABSENT	EQUALS WEEKS ABSENT	NUMBER OF LESSONS MISSED
97% & ABOVE	GOOD
95% & BELOW	CAUSE FOR CONCERN	10 days	2 weeks	50 lessons
90% & BELOW	PERSISTENCE ABSENCE	20 days	4 weeks	100 lessons
85% & BELOW	PERSISTENCE ABSENCE	30 days	6 weeks	150 lessons
80% & BELOW	PERSISTENCE ABSENCE	40 days	8 weeks	200 lessons

HOW CAN YOU HELP YOUR CHILD'S ATTENDANCE ?

Illness

If you are unsure if your child is ill, send them in any way. We will send them home if they are genuinely unwell.

Children can be given medication at school such as paracetamol or antibiotics. Do not let the administration of medication be a reason for pupils staying at home.

If your child is absent due to illness, do not give them another day “just to make sure” or “because it’s Friday anyway”. Send them back to school as soon as they are well.

Medical appointments

Make sure all medical appointments are outside school hours. If medical appointments are essential, please arrange these between morning and afternoon registration where possible.

Holidays

Holidays during term-time will not be agreed. Any planned absence needs to be agreed by the Headteacher and will be granted on a case by case basis and in advance. Any holidays or periods of absence taken which have not been approved will be recorded as unauthorised absence and may result in a fine.

Using Arbor to monitor your child’s attendance

The introduction of Arbor allows you to keep track of your child’s attendance each day and over time. Please do use Arbor regularly to discuss your child’s attendance. Form tutors will be using Arbor to monitor attendance for students.

It is also possible to report absence via the in app messaging service in the Arbor parent app.

How we will support your child’s attendance ?

If your child is absent without authorisation, the school will email, text or phone home on the first day of absence to check the reason for their absence.

If your child’s attendance starts to fall, their form tutor will discuss this with them to identify if there are any issues.

If attendance continues to fall the school’s Attendance Officer and Head of Year will meet with the student to support improving their attendance.

If attendance falls below 90% the Attendance Officer will send a letter of concern home, explaining our concern and further meetings may held.

Where attendance does not improve, a referral will be made to the Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) and parents and carers will be invited into school for an attendance meeting.

Following this if attendance still does not improve, a fixed penalty notice may be issued.

Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs)

Fixed Penalty Notices may be issued in cases where students are either absent from school without authorisation or when an absence is linked to a holiday application that has not been authorised. Further information on FPNs can be found here: School attendance and absence: Legal action to enforce school attendance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)