Attendance

Research shows that there is a clear link between high attainment and good attendance in school.  Therefore it is vital that students attend school every day.  The school has a number of support strategies in place to help ensure that all students can achieve their full potential, these include:

• Regular monitoring of student attendance and punctuality - morning registration is taken electronically by the teacher of Period 1 at 8.40am.  In addition to this we have electronic registration in all lessons to ensure attendance throughout the day.
• Celebrating good attendance - we celebrate students' 100% attendance at the end of each academic year.  These students are invited to enjoy a meal together at a local restaurant.  Year groups award mascots to the form groups who have the best attendance and we are looking to launch an attendance bingo in the near future.
• Actively working to improve attendance - from our regular monitoring of attendance, we can quickly see if there are any causes for concern.  If attendance is a cause for concern then a series of actions are taken.  Parents will be informed by phone call and/or a letter.  Should there still continue to be a concern, parents will be invited into school to discuss the issues and, if necessary, the Education Welfare Officer will be informed.  Parents and their sons/daughters may be invited to attend an attendance panel where the Education Welfare Officer will be present along with Governors of the school.  The Education Welfare Officer will work with parents to help improve their children's attendance but they do have the authority to award fixed penalty fines and instigate court proceedings against parents for their children's non-attendance.
• Actively working to improve punctuality - From our regular monitoring of punctuality, we can quickly see if there are any causes for concern.  If students are late more than once a week then they will have to attend a punctuality detention which is run once a week.

We will continue to use these strategies and work with students and parents in order to ensure that students have the best possible opportunities for success.

The holiday form is no longer available as the Governors have not authorised holiday absence for any student during term time since September 2007. Only in exceptional circumstances such as a family bereavement or participation in a representative sport will authorised leave will be granted. In these circumstances, parents should write directly to the Headteacher.

Penalty Notices - In line with Local Education Authority practise we must advise parents/carers that a Penalty Notice may be imposed in certain cases where unauthorised holiday leave is taken or a child has regular unauthorised attendance.