Attendance
We want all of our pupils to have success in school and success in later life. Good attendance in school is essential. Good learners attend school.
We aim to achieve good attendance by operating a policy within which staff, pupils, parents, the Education Welfare Service and others can work in partnership.
The School will monitor attendance and ensure quick and early intervention if/when a problem is identified.
The School promotes good attendance by:
- Developing a positive classroom climate in which a positive group identity produces welcoming lessons.
- Having high expectations of prompt attendance throughout the school day.
- Collecting and analysing data to highlight trends with regard to cohort, gender, subject and to set targets where necessary.
- Ensuring that attendance is a feature of assessment data sent to parents/carers.
- Monitoring lateness.
- Reducing the number of persistent absentees (PA) (pupils with an attendance below 90%)
Pupils are expected to attend school for the full 190 days each year unless there is a good reason for absence.
Although being absent cannot always be helped as we all do become ill from time to time, please take a look at the table below to show you exactly how much time your child could be missing.
| 365 Days in a Year | 190 School Days in Total | Absence |
| 100% Attendance | 190 Days | 0 |
|
95% Attendance |
180 Days |
2 Weeks |
| 90% Attendance | 171 Days | 4 Weeks |
| 85% Attendance | 161 Days | 6 Weeks |
| 80% Attendance | 152 Days | More than half a term |
| 75% Attendance | 143 Days | 9+ Weeks |
Where a pupil is absent from school the school must differentiate between authorised and unauthorised absence. By law, only the school can approve absence, not parents. Generally the school will accept an explanation as to why a student may be absent. However in certain circumstances we may require further evidence to justify the explanation e.g. high level of absence for minor health reasons, unusual patterns of absence for instance the same day each week or frequent broken weeks or, where unauthorised leave of absence has been taken.
Apart from illness, permission for absence from school must be requested in advance. Holidays are not permitted in term time and cannot be authorised.
To request permission for an absence please use the form below. To inform our decision, your child's previous attendance will be taken into account, permission will not be granted where absence levels are already below 95%.
