School Alerts

Attendance

Follows information for the actions around prolonged absence from school

ATTENDANCE FLOWCHART

Attendance

Students are expected to attend school every day during term time. If they are absent then a justifiable reason must be provided by telephoning the Academy before 8.30am on the first day of absence. If we do not hear from you we will send a truancy message to your designated phone. Daily notification is required. When students return to the Academy following an absence, a note must be provided with any relevant medical evidence explaining the reason for absence.

The minimum expectation for all students is 96% attendance, though all students should be aiming for 100%. We monitor the attendance of each student every week. If attendance falls below 90% we will contacting parents/carers to challenge the low attendance and to offer support to improve it.

In most cases attendance is good but where it fails to meet our expectations and support offered does not improve the situation, we will refer to the Education Welfare Service who will offer further support but ultimately may need to take formal measures to improve attendance. Parents have a legal duty to ensure that their child/children are at school every day and on time.

Punctuality
Being on time is an important part of self-discipline and is essential to good time management. Students should always arrive at the Academy, and at lessons, promptly. Students who arrive after the 8:35am bell will be marked late and any student arriving after 9:05am will be marked absent for the morning session. If students arrive after 8.35am they will need to report to the Student Administration Office.

Illness or accident during the school day
If a student feels ill during the school day they should tell their teacher who will discuss this with the student. If they feel so ill that they need to go home they will be asked to go to the First Aid/Student Admin who will contact parents. If there is an existing attendance issue it is likely that negotiation will take place between ourselves, the student and parent to try to find a way for the student to remain in school if this is appropriate.

Medication
If your child needs to take medication during the school day which has been prescribed by a doctor, it needs to be brought to the Student Administration Office in its original packaging with a letter explaining the dosage and when your child needs to take it. The medication will then be locked away and administered by a first aider at the appropriate time. We request that you only send medication into school that you don’t need at home to avoid your child having to remember to collect it at the end of every day. If your child needs pain relief during the day, unfortunately we are unable to provide this, however, if you are happy for your child to carry no more than 2 paracetamol in their bag then it is acceptable for them to administer these themselves providing this is with your agreement.

Medical Appointments
We request that where possible, all medical appointments are booked outside of the school day. Whilst this is usually possible for routine doctor and dentist appointments we know that hospital and orthodontist appointments can be more problematic and will be sympathetic to students needing to leave the Academy during the day for this type of appointment. Students should bring a note into school giving them permission to leave the site, sign out at the Student Administration Office and sign back in on their return.

Planned Absence
We are only able to authorise planned absence from school during term time in exceptional circumstances. For example this could be a day off for a wedding of an immediate family member (possibly with a travel day either side if necessary), a close family bereavement or funeral or another ‘one off’ circumstance. If your child needs to be absent from school for an exceptional circumstance, please collect a form from the Student Administration Office and submit this at least two weeks prior to the requested absence. Any absence which is not authorised will be recorded as such on your child’s attendance certificate.

We are not permitted to authorise any family holidays and students will not be permitted to be absent from school for this purpose. We will inform the local authority of any child who is absent from school for the purpose of a family holiday and this absence may result in a fine.

 

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