Attendance

Why is excellent attendance and punctuality so important?

Excellent attendance and punctuality at the Academy are vital to help pupils achieve the best possible start in life. Pupils who frequently miss school often fall behind with their academic work which impacts on their progress. There is a strong link between good school attendance and achieving good results.

Did you know that:

• A child who is absent a day of school per week misses an equivalent of two years of their school life

• 90% of young people with absence rates below 85% fail to achieve five or more good grades of GCSE and around one third achieve no GCSEs at all

Attendance Essentials:

• Pupils must arrive at the Academy by 8.30am for line up at 8.35am and a prompt start to tutor time at 8.40am, in full Academy uniform, with all necessary equipment, and ready to learn. Pupils who are late will be given a detention.

• If a pupil is ill, the parent/carer must telephone the Academy on 020 8800 7411, wait for the prompt and press 1 to leave a message for our Attendance Officer. This call must be made before 8.30am and must be made on every day of absence. Alternatively, parents may email through the Edulink app to the Attendance Team.

• You must ensure that wherever possible medical and dental appointments are made after the end of the school day or during the school holidays. Where this isn’t possible, the appointment card must be shown to reception at least 2 days in advance, or the parent/carer must phone to discuss with the Attendance Officer. In the case of medical/dental appointments the parent/carer should provide their child with a signed note with details of the time they need to leave their lesson and the school site so that the teacher allows the student to leave class. It is the pupil’s responsibility to make sure that they have left class and are ready to leave the building on time for their appointment. Time cannot be taken out of school for non-essential appointments.

• Pupils must not take holidays in term time. Parents/carers may be fined by the Local Authority if they remove their child from school to go on holiday during school time. More detailed information about attendance is available in the Academy’s Attendance Policy or is available in paper form via our reception.

Help

If you, as a family, are experiencing problems with school attendance, it is of vital importance that you contact and discuss the matter with our Attendance Officer in the first instance. Tutors, Heads of Year and senior staff may become involved depending on the need of your child. Please be assured that everyone in the Academy is here to help, support and advise.

Each year a number of parents contact us regarding family holidays within term time. Government guidelines are very clear in that no leave of absence should be granted unless there are exceptional circumstances.

If you need to withdraw your child from school due to an exceptional circumstance, please complete the form below with a minimum of two weeks notice.

Request for Leave of Absence from School Form