Attendance News
We would just like to thank parents and pupils for their effort in improving attendance and would like to share with you just how well you have done – just look at how you have improved!

As you can see…….a massive 7.9% increase since 2005/06

We are also working with pupils who are considered Persistent Absentees (students with below 80% attendance) who made up 26% of our cohort in 2006/07 but are now running at 10.53% which is a huge 15.57% improvement. We need to continue to work hard on this figure as the Government still consider us to be a ‘Persistent Absence School’ but we are confident that we will improve this figure in the next school year.

NEW PROCEDURES FOR PUNCTUALITY AND TRUANCY
Our new punctuality procedure will take effect after the Easter break and we hope that you will work with us in order to address persistent lateness. Pupils truanting from school not only put themselves in danger but this is also seen as non school attendance and as such parents can be prosecuted.
Punctuality - more...
Truancy - more...

[ DOWNLOAD: Attendance and punctuality Policy April 2009 ]

Having a good education will help to give a child the best possible start in life. Most children are normally educated at school and regular attendance is of vital importance. Poor school attendance damages educational achievement and the future progress of young people. Promoting and supporting good attendance at school is essential to learning and attainment.

Responsibilities
By law, all children of compulsory school age (between 5 and 16) must get a proper full-time education. Parents are responsible for making sure this happens, either by registering your child at a school or by making other arrangements which provide an effective education. If your child is registered as a pupil at a particular school, that school must give permission for him or her to be absent. If your child does not go to the school at which he or she is registered, the County Council could take legal action against you.

Family Holidays during Term Time
Wherever possible, you should take your holidays during school holidays.
You do not have the right for permission to take your child on holiday during term time.
If your child does not return to school at the agreed date, their place at the school could be lost.
Please avoid taking your child on holiday at times when he or she should be taking exams or tests or changing schools.
You should not expect your child's school to agree to a family holiday during term time. The school will carefully consider your request and they may take the timing and duration of the leave and your child's attendance record into account.
Schools will not agree to your child missing more than a total of ten school days in exceptional circumstances in any one school year.

County Council
The County Council is responsible, by law, for making sure that registered pupils of compulsory school age attend their school regularly.
We employ education welfare officers to monitor school attendance and to help parents meet their responsibilities.
Education welfare officers work closely with schools. Some are actually based in schools.
If your child is not attending school regularly, an education welfare officer may visit you.
It is important that you co-operate with the education welfare officer to make sure your child overcomes his or her attendance problems and gets a proper education.
If you do not do everything you can to co-operate with the education welfare officer and the school, we may have no choice but to consider legal action. This could result in parents being issued a fixed penalty notice of up to £100, fined up to £2,500 for each child who is not going to school and/or a possibilty of imprisonment for up to 3 months.

Punctuality
Our new punctuality procedure will take effect after the Easter break and we hope that you will work with us in order to address persistent lateness. Please be aware that school begins at 8.40am and your child should be in registration at this time.

• Any pupil late to school will be given a late mark and break time detention unless there is a genuine reason for lateness and attendance have been informed.

• If your child accumulates 10 late marks they will be spoken to by the Attendance Office to determine the reason for lateness.

• A letter will be sent home along with a punctuality contract which we would ask you to sign and return to school.  This indicates that you are willing to work with school in order to improve your child’s punctuality.

• If there is no improvement and your child accumulates 20 late marks then we have no alternative but to inform the Education Welfare Service which can ultimately result in prosecution for persistent lateness.

Truancy
Pupils truanting from school not only put themselves in danger but this is also seen as non school attendance and as such parents can be prosecuted. Therefore, whilst we do not have a high incidence of truancy, the following procedure is now in place.

• When a pupil truants school will contact parents, and send a letter regarding a 20 minutes detention.

• Failure to attend will result in a 40 minute SLT detention.

• If the above detentions are not completed the pupil will be given a one day internal exclusion.

Please note – if a pupil is not in lesson but for example wandering around school this is also considered truancy.

Conclusion
Poor or non school attendance is a difficult problem sometimes involving complicated issues. There are no easy solutions, but much can be done by ensuring that everyone who is involved works together and co-operates in fulfilling their responsibilities.