Attendance – Every day Counts!
Introduction
Attending school on a regular, punctual basis is one of the most important ways of making sure learners get off to the best possible start in life.
We want every learner to attend school on time every day, and aim for 100% attendance, with no less than 97%, to ensure that they benefit the most from their education and progress from the learning experiences at Ysgol Uwchradd Aberteifi. We will work with parents/ carers to enable our learners to achieve this and offer families the support to avoid any unnecessary absences.
For our learners to get the most from their education it is vital that they attend regularly, arrive on time, every day the school is open unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable.
Ysgol Uwchradd Aberteifi aims to ensuring that every child reaches their full learning and development potential. One of the most important aspects of gaining a great set of results and learning how to succeed in life is to ensure that you have a good record of attendance and punctuality. These two areas are tools for life and are two of the most important skills we acquire when at school. We feel confident that through maximum attendance, learners will have a greater educational experience.
In a perfect world every school would like all learners to have 100% attendance as this would appear achievable when you consider the amount of school holidays that the children are entitled to. However, Ysgol Uwchradd Aberteifi recognises the fact that sometimes children are sick and cannot come into school, or there may be a family emergency that the child has to attend.
If you require further information, or indeed any additional support in ensuring your child’s attendance is on or above target, please contact your child’s Tutor or Head of Year in the first instance. Remember Every Day Counts!
Every Day Counts
Home / School Partnership
To enable us to work as a team and focus on this we will:
- Inform you of any unexplained absences.
- Report to you at least termly on how your child is performing in school, what their attendance and punctuality rate is and how this relates to their Attitude to Learning.
- Reward and recognise good or improving attendance.
- Support learners struggling with school through pastoral support from our school counsellor, ELSa, youth worker or referring to TAF (Team Around the Family).
- Responding to parental concerns through our Heads of Year.
We would like parents to:
- Start good habits early, arrive at school on time and keep to school rules.
- Always communicate with school to explain an absence.
- Providing medical evidence where appropriate of hospital or GP appointments. Absences will not be authorised without this evidence.
- Returning your child to school after outpatient appointments to minimise loss of learning.
- Make it known that you do not approve of poor attendance, lateness or truancy. Ensure your child only miss school for legally allowed reasons such as illness or days specifically set aside for religious observance.
- Attend parents’ evenings and other school events.
- Review your child’s Class Charts information.
Punctuality
- Punctuality is essential. Learners need to be at school by 8.30am.
- The school day starts at 8.35am and we expect your child to be in tutor group at that time.
- Registers are marked by 8.40am and your child will receive a late mark if they are not in by that time.
- If your child has 3 ‘late marks’ without an acceptable reason, in any one half term, they will be expected to make up this time by serving a detention with their form tutor.
Late Gate
- Each morning, members of the school pastoral team will be available at the school gates.
- Children who arrive late to school – after 8.35am will have their name taken. This may result in sanctions depending on the number of times a child has arrived late to school.
Being frequently late for school adds up to lost learning:
- Arriving 5 minutes late every day adds up to over 3 days lost each year.
- Arriving 15 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 2 weeks a year.
- Arriving 30 minutes late every day is the same as being absent for 19 days a year.
- 19 days lost a year through being late = 90% attendance.
Procedures to follow if your child is absent
If your child is absent from school please email swyddfa@aberteifi.ceredigion.sch.uk , or telephone 01239 612670 leaving the following details:
Preferred way of reporting an absence is by parentmail
- Learner’s name.
- Form Group.
- Nature of illness/reason for absence.
- Expected date of return.
- Caller’s name and relationship to learner.
If your child is absent you must:
- Contact the attendance officer (as above) as soon as possible on the morning of each days absence.
- Send a signed note in on the first day they return with an explanation of the absence – unless you have already made contact with school (providing medical evidence if you have been identified as having a history of ongoing absences).
- Or, you can call into school and report to reception where you can talk directly to us.
If your child is absent we will:
Endeavour to telephone or send you a text on the first day of absence if we have not heard from you.
Dental and other appointments
No learner may be absent, for reasons other than illness and medical treatment, without first obtaining the approval of the school. If a child needs to leave school to keep a dental or hospital appointment, they must bring the appointment card to show their tutor or Attendance Office staff (Mrs S. Jones) and must report to the office on leaving and returning to school. We hope parents will be able to restrict dental appointments to school holidays or after the school day ends. Absence from exam classes in particular can seriously affect attainment.
Holidays during Term Time
The Government’s (Pupil Registration) Regulations expects, in general terms, that families will be able to arrange to take their holidays when schools are closed. Where the annual holiday is not possible at those times, the Headteacher may – under exceptional circumstances – consider giving permission for a child to be absent from school for a maximum of 5 days in any one school year. Unnecessary absence should be avoided as it is bound to affect a child’s educational progress and attainment.
Under the current legislation Headteachers are not permitted to authorise any absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. When it is deemed that there are exceptional circumstances absence will still be refused in the following circumstances:
- A leave of absence has already been taken during the Academic Year.
- The request is within the Summer term between the Easter Holidays and up to the end of May.
- The request is at the beginning of the School Year in September.
- The attendance of your child would fall below the 97% target required by our school.
What happens when your child’s attendance falls below 95%?
- Parents may receive a letter advising them of their child’s attendance figure.
- Parents are invited to make an appointment with their child’s Head of Year to discuss their child’s attendance and the way forward to improve.
- If attendance falls below 95%, we will consider asking your child to access support from our pastoral team, particularly if there is a history of poor school attendance.
- Ensuring your child’s regular attendance at school is your legal responsibility and permitting absence from school without a good reason creates an offence in law and may result in prosecution. Any absence affects the pattern of a child’s schooling and regular absence will seriously affect their learning.
What happens when your child’s attendance continues to drop below 90%?
- With an attendance percentage at or below 90% a child is classified as a Persistent Absentee.
- Parents will be invited in to attend a meeting in school. Attendance at this meeting is compulsory. Non-attendance by the parents could lead to the school completing a formal referral to the Educational Welfare Officer for further support and for consideration of legal escalation.
- When a child’s attendance is a cause for concern the school will refer parents/ carers to Ceredigion’s Education Welfare Team.
What happens when your child’s attendance continues to drop below 90%?
- With an attendance percentage at or below 90% a child is classified as a Persistent Absentee.
- Parents will be invited in to attend a meeting in school. Attendance at this meeting is compulsory. Non-attendance by the parents could lead to the school completing a formal referral to the Educational Welfare Officer for further support and for consideration of legal escalation.
- When a child’s attendance is a cause for concern the school will refer parents/ carers to Ceredigion’s Education Welfare Team.
