Change to Attendance Policy

The attendance policy for schools has changed to consider the impact of the last few years and to support students, families and school in ensure positive attendance and good outcomes for all students.

As a result, our attendance policy has changed. Please do read its entirety on our website. In short, the key elements are:

• Good attendance and punctuality expectations of students is 95%+
• Parents/guardians are expected to contact the school; telephone or via parent mail to report an unexpected absence. A known absence should be requested via our online forms (on our website or collected from main reception).
• The contact details of the senior leader responsible for the strategic approach to attendance in school and the daily communication through the achievement team and attendance officer can all be found in the policy.

• The school’s day-to-day processes for managing attendance, for example first day calling and processes to follow up on unexplained absence are all explained on the policy.
• The school’s strategy for using data to target attendance improvement efforts to the pupils or pupil cohorts who need it most.
• The school’s strategy for reducing persistent and severe absence, including how access to wider support services will be provided to remove the barriers to attendance and when support will be formalised in conjunction with the local authority.
• The point at which Fixed Penalty Notices for absence and other sanctions will be sought if support is not appropriate (e.g. for an unauthorised holiday in term-time or continued lateness to school ), not successful, or not engaged with