Absence and Attendance
Information for Parents and Carers
2017-2018
The law requires children to attend school regularly and punctually. Parents are responsible for making sure that their children of compulsory school age receive a suitable full-time education. This can be by regular attendance at school, at alternative provision, or otherwise (e.g. the parent can choose to educate their child at home). A child reaches compulsory school age on or after their fifth birthday and continues to be of compulsory until the last Friday of June in the school year that they reach sixteen. From September 2015 all sixteen year olds are required to continue in education or training until their 18th birthday.
Schools must monitor pupils’ attendance through their daily register and inform their local authority of the details of pupils who are regularly absent from school or have missed 10 school days or more without permission. School has a duty to address poor attendance and report to the authority any attendance that is irregular. Schools also have safeguarding duties under section 175 of the Education Act 2002 in respect of their pupils, and as part of this should investigate any unexplained absences.
Local authorities and all schools have legal powers to use parenting contracts, parenting orders and penalty notices to address poor attendance and behaviour in school. In addition to using these powers, local authorities and schools can develop other practices to improve attendance.
At Woodside we are committed to working in partnership with parents, pupils and the authority to ensure that absences and lateness are kept to a minimum.
Routines
Absence through illness
All other absences
A Polite Reminder
The school is obliged by law to differentiate between authorised and unauthorised absences. Only the school can authorise an absence. Whilst we deal sympathetically with any absence or lateness, authorisation will not be granted automatically – except in cases of a pupil’s genuine illness, injury or extraordinary family circumstances. Please note that parents may be asked to enter into a Parental Contract if the attendance falls below the minimum level of 95%. If the attendance falls below the 90% and unauthorised absence is 5% or over, the school may contact the Educational Welfare Service for further advise.
You may be fined for taking your child on holiday during term time without the school’s permission. This is particularly applicable to absence during any statutory examinations such as SATs.
Absence can be authorised only if the pupils is:
Or
Or
Useful Statistics for Parents and Carers
Lateness
Minutes lost each day |
Days lost per school year |
5 minutes |
3 days |
10 minutes |
6.5 days (over 1 week of school) |
15 minutes |
10 days (2 weeks of school) |
20 minutes |
13 days (over 2.5 weeks of school) |
30 minutes |
19 days (just under 4 weeks of school) |
Being late 10 mins every day for one year is equal to 33 hours - approximately 6 days!
Good Attendance
What does your child's percentage attendance mean? Parents/carers often become confused about what good attendance is. As a school our target attendance percentage is 98%.
Attendance Percentage |
Days missed over a school year |
100% |
0 Days missed |
95% |
10 Days missed (2 weeks of school) |
90% |
20 Days missed (4 weeks of school) |
85% |
30 Days missed (6 weeks of school – approximately half a term) |
80% |
40 Days missed (8 weeks of school) |
Research has shown that 17 days absence in a year results in a drop of one grade at GCSE over time.