- The school has targets to improve attendance and your child has an important part to play in meeting these targets.
- The minimum level of attendance for this school is 96% attendance and we will keep you updated regularly about progress to this level and how your child’s attendance compares.
- Our target is to achieve better than this however because we know that good attendance is the key to high achievement, and we believe our students can be outstanding.
- Through the school year we monitor absences and punctuality to show us where improvements need to be made.
- Information on any projects or initiatives that will focus on these areas will be provided in our home-school communications and we ask for your full support.
Learning and Achievement: –
- As a parent/carer you want the best for your child. Having a good education is an important factor in opening up more opportunities in adult life
- A child who is absent one day of school per week misses an equivalent of two years of their school life
- 90% of young people with absence rates below 85% fail to achieve five or more good grades at GCSE and around one third achieve no GCSEs at all
- Of students who miss more than 50% of school, only 3% manage to achieve 5 Grades 9-5 GCSEs including English and Maths
- Of students who miss between 10% and 20% of school, only 35% manage to achieve 5 Grades 9-5 GCSEs including English and Maths
- Of students who miss less than 5% of school, 73% achieve 5 5 Grades 9-5 GCSEs including English and Maths
- Statistics show a direct link between under-achievement and attendance below 95%
- Poor examination results limit young people’s options and poor attendance suggests to colleges and employers that these students are unreliable
- Poor school attendance is closely associated with crime – a quarter of school age offenders have truanted repeatedly
- At least 1 million children take at least one-half day off a year without permission
- 5 million school days are missed each year through unauthorised absence
- Absence at any stage of your child’s education leads to gaps in their learning. This in turn can
- mean that they fall behind in work
- affect their motivation
- affect their enjoyment of learning
- lead to poor behaviour
- affect their desire to attend school regularly
- affect their confidence in school
- mean they miss out on the social life of school and extra-curricular opportunities and experiences
- affect their ability to have or keep friendships
- impact their mental health
- There is a clearly documented link between high attendance and high achievement
- Regular attenders make better progress, both socially and academically, they find school routines, school work and friendships easier to cope with and find learning more satisfying
- Regular attenders are more successful in transferring between secondary school and higher education, employment or training.
Attendance team:
Mr Carragher – Vice Principal
Miss L Henry – Assistant principal [Attendance]
Ms A Zdunek [Attendance officer]
Ms A Sarwar [Attendance support officer]
Before reporting an absence please read through the NHS guidance.
Is my child too ill for school? Is my child too ill for school? – NHS
Absence Procedures:
A child not attending school is considered a safeguarding matter. This is why information about the cause of any absence is always required. If your child is absent, you must:
For unexpected absence:
- Contact us as soon as possible on each day of absence before 8.30am either by telephoning the Attendance Office on 01484 426466 option 1.
- First day telephone contact/text will be implemented for all students after 9.30am.
Where we have had no contact from a parent/carer than we will respond in the following manner:
For expected absence:
- Send in a copy of the paperwork for the appointment as soon as possible (such as letter or appointment card) marked for the attention of the Attendance/Welfare Officer, or bring the original into the College, where they can copy it for you.
- Please note that College is not asking any parent to incur a charge for such information and will not be liable for any cost. College will not return it unless asked to do so.
- On the day of the appointment write a note in your child’s planner, this will then excuse them from the lesson and enable them to sign out. Students should report to Student Services/reception to sign out.
- Medical evidence is requested for all medical appointments.