Reporting an absence

Stage 1: The Parent/Guardian

Please telephone 01242 650920 and select option 1 to leave a message for our attendance team or send notification via the MCAS (My Child At School) interface before 9:00 am on the first day of absence and provide written confirmation for all appointments during school time. We ask for at least two weeks’ notice if you wish to request permission for leave of absence from school. All such term time absences are purely at the discretion of the Headteacher and only in exceptional circumstances. The Attendance Officer will contact home by telephone where no reason has been given for absence. A notification will be sent shortly after the phone call If the pupil is sill absent on the 3rd day of the week we will make contact again After one week a letter will be sent home, after a further week a reminder notification will be sent If no response is received the absence will be recorded as unauthorised on the pupils record.

Stage 2: The Head of Phase

The Attendance Officer and Head of Phase will meet to discuss issues for students in their phase. The Attendance Officer will run regular reports on the different cohorts within each house group. Student attendance will be checked daily and monitored at 8 sessions missed, then 16, then 24. The Tutor will meet with pupils who have missed 8 sessions of school. There will be an Encouraging Good Attendance Assembly for pupils who have missed 16 sessions of school. The Attendance Manager or Head of Phase and the Attendance Officer will meet with pupils who have missed 24 sessions of school. For long term attendance issues parents/guardians will be invited to a meeting to discuss ways of improving attendance. In severe cases we will involve our Education Welfare Officer.

Stage 3: Rewards

At the end of each half term [6 terms] the Tutor Group with the highest attendance in each House will receive cake on the last day of term At the end of each term [3 terms] the Tutor Group with the highest attendance in the school will receive an additional reward (usually chocolate/sweet based) on the last day of term A percentage attendance report will be run at the end of each term [6 terms] 100% attendance will gain 20 house points, 99% will gain 10 house points, and 98% will gain 5 house points. All these pupils will be issued with certificates celebrating their achievement. At the end of the summer term all pupils in KS3 and all pupils in KS4 with 100%, 99% and 98% will be entered into a prize draw. There will also be a prize draw for pupils with the most improved attendance.

Stage 4: Sanctions

Every 3 lates in a term will result in an after school detention. Concerns regarding lateness will be discussed with the Tutor/Head of Phase. Continued persistent lateness will result in the pupil making up the time lost during lunch and break times. A letter will be sent home detailing the full amount of time missed from school. 20 unauthorised absences in a row or 28 in an academic year could lead to prosecution. The school will send a penalty warning letter for unauthorised holiday and request a penalty notice without further warning, for further unauthorised absences from school.

Notes & Guidance:

To login to the MCAS Parent Portal you will need to have a valid e-mail address registered with the school and an Invitation Code which the school would have sent to you. If you do not have an Invitation Code please contact the school admin team for one, as you will NOT be able to access the Parent Portal without one. For MCAS access and guidance information please click here

Importance of regular attendance

Did you know?
Research shows that higher student attendance at school is associated, on average, with higher student achievement. Research published by the Department for Education (DfE) suggests that children with poor attendance are more likely not to be in education, employment or training when they leave school.
It argues that there is a clear link between poor attendance at school and lower academic achievement, highlighting that only 3% of pupils who miss more than 50% of school manage to achieve 5 or more A*-C/9-4 GCSEs, including English and Maths, compared with 73% of pupils who have more than 95% attendance.

Is 90% good?

A 90% mark in an exam may be good, but 90% attendance through five years of school equates to nearly a full school year lost.

Lateness has a negative impact

Being late can:

Disrupt lessons
Affect achievement
Being late adds up to loss of learning:
5 minutes late every day adds up to 3 days lost each year
10 minutes adds up to 6 days lost each year
15 minutes adds up to 9 days lost each year
20 minutes adds up to 12 days lost each year
30 minutes adds up to 19 days lost each year
Registration
All pupils should be in their tutor rooms and ready to register at 08.50am (this is also when the gates close) otherwise they should register at Reception and be marked as late.