Moments Matter, Attendance Counts
“As Children’s Commissioner, I have made school attendance one of my top priorities because children tell me how much they value their education and want to be in school. Every day counts: when children miss school, it’s not just about missing lessons, it’s also about losing valuable moments spent with their friends and teachers.”
– Rachel De Souza, Children’s Commissioner
Expectations:
There are strong links between regular attendance and high attainment. Together with parents/carers and students, staff will work hard to ensure that any barriers to attendance are identified quickly and resolved in a timely manner. Missed days from school have an impact on the wellbeing of students and can result in gaps in their learning.
We expect all students to arrive at school on time every day and we encourage parents to promote good attendance and monitor their child’s attendance using Talaxy. Parents should be aware of their legal responsibilities to ensure regular attendance to school.
Punctuality when attending school is crucial. Lateness to tutor sessions and lessons causes disruption to your child’s learning and the learning of other students in the class. All students are expected to arrive in school by 08:25 in time for AM registration at 08:30. Morning registration closes at 09.20, students who arrive after this time without an acceptable reason will be marked as unauthorised late.
Absence:
Parents/carers are expected to inform the school by phoning prior to the start of the school day if their child is unfit to attend. If no notification is received, an email will be sent home to notify parents that their child has not arrived at morning registration. If no reason is received, the absence will automatically be marked as unauthorised.
If your child is unwell:
We would not expect any parent to send their child to school if they are genuinely unwell. However, there are many occasions where students might start the day feeling unwell but they ‘perk up’ during the course of the day – sending them to school is the right cause of action.
More often than not, we recommend that if your child is feeling under the weather, they should still attend school and we will always contact you if they become too unwell to stay. Please contact the school to report that your child is unwell. We can help you to determine whether they should stay at home or come into school.
Medical Absences
If your child is going to be absent for 3 consecutive days we would request medical evidence to support the absence. If your child’s attendance is already being monitored (and you have been made aware of this) you may be required to provide evidence for every absence.
Term Time Leave
Students have 175 non-school days each year to spend on family time and appointments and we ask that you not take time out from school if these events can take place during the scheduled holidays. Students who are taken out of school during term time may find it hard to catch up and this can have a detrimental effect on their learning.
The law states that parents do not have the right to take their children out of school for holidays during term time. Any request for term time leave must be made in writing to the Head Teacher at least 2 weeks in advance of the first day of absence.
Requests for holidays during term time will not usually be granted. The Head Teacher will only authorise term time leave in EXCEPTIONAL circumstances according to DfE guidelines. Any unauthorised absence, including term time leave not agreed with the school, could result in a Penalty Notice being issued to each child for every child affected. St Marks will request a Penalty Notice, if students take an unauthorised holiday during term time.
It is not the school’s responsibility to issue work during term time leave as your child should be attending the school.
Attendance Monitoring:
Where attendance falls below our expected standard, contact will be made with parents to support an improvement through phone calls home, information and warning letters as well as meetings with the Attendance Officer.
Referrals to the Education Welfare Service
If a student’s attendance continues to be of concern, then a referral will be made to the Education Welfare Service, a private company that works in partnership with the school to improve the attendance of our students. At this point, a meeting will be requested with the student and parents so that we can work together to secure improvements.
Referrals to the Attendance Welfare & Support Service (BaNES)
Continued unauthorised absence will result in a referral being made to the Attendance & Welfare Support Service at the Local Authority. This could result in a Fixed Penalty Notice being issued or the case could be considered by the Local Authority for prosecution.
How much is a Penalty Notice?
£60 if payment is made within 21 days, £120 if paid after this but within 28 days.
If payment is not made, the local authority is required to commence proceedings in the Magistrates Court for the original offence of unauthorised absence by your child. If proven, this can result in fines and/or a range of disposals such as Parenting Orders or Community Sentences. Criminal records may be received.
If you have questions regarding your child’s attendance at St-Marks please call Mrs Paradise (Attendance Officer).