We ensure that all our key staff have a confident understanding of our roles, working tenaciously, to promote our high expectations around attendance by working with both students and their families to ensure that the right support is in place on a day-to-day basis.

We will ensure Key staff are equipped not only to identify any trends or barriers that may exist around attendance and punctuality but to have those key conversations and build positive working relationships for all by listening, supporting, challenging and rewarding where required.

We recognise that it is important we not only recognise and reward those students who are here every day, but also those students who are working hard to improve their attendance, creating a whole school culture when attendance is seen as an aspirational behaviour valued by all.

We will help all students understand the importance of attending school regularly and the positive impact this has on their learning, wellbeing and future opportunities. Attendance achievements are shared with students and families throughout the year through year group assemblies, half-termly and termly house competitions, our school reward systems, and attendance communications sent home. By celebrating success together, we strengthen the partnership between school and families and encourage every student to achieve the best possible attendance.

Communication with parents and carers:

● We will regularly inform all parents about their child’s attendance and absence levels. This will be communicated through their Student Progress Report (up to three times per year dependent on what year the student is in).

● We will remind parents of the importance of regular attendance and punctuality in the school Bulletin, end of half term Rag’d attendance letters, our website and social media platforms, at open evenings and key events, in the Home-School Agreement and during all parents’ evening meetings.

Parents can support regular attendance by:

● Ensuring your daughter attends school on each day the school is open for the pupils, unless there is an authorisable reason to be absent. Only the school can authorise an absence.

● Telephoning the school with a reason for an absence on each day of absence before 8:00am.

● Arranging all non-emergency medical and dental appointments out of school hours or during school holidays.

● Keeping the school updated by telephone, email or letter of any changes of circumstances. Making sure we always have your current contact numbers; this includes all telephone numbers and emergency contact details.

In the majority of instances - absence should only happen:

● When your child is significantly/symptomatically ill and therefore unfit to attend school. There should be an observable symptom; ’feeling unwell’ is not enough. We may ask for medical verification where absence claimed as illness is frequent, prolonged or where there are absences before or after a school holiday.

● When there is an unavoidable/unforeseen reason or circumstance which is causing a difficulty.

● If your child has a documented medical condition that hinders regular attendance.

● Continued absences over three days or more will require medical evidence for it to be authorised.

· Downloading the NHS app for your child will support with any requests for medical evidence: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-app/

 

Absence Recording Procedure:

Parents / carers should contact the school by phone before 8am if their daughter is absent. The contact number is 0208 847 4281 selecting option 1

● If no contact has been made, the attendance officer has a duty of care and will make contact via phone call, text or email.

● Students attending after registration closes at 9.10am without proof of a valid reason will be marked as U, which is an unauthorised code and will affect the student’s overall attendance percentage.

● Where attendance is already a cause for concern or a student is on an Attendance Support Plan, medical evidence will be requested to authorise the absence – absences will be unauthorised unless medical evidence has been provided or the child has been sent home from school. Failure to provide this evidence will result in an unauthorised mark until the child returns to school.

● Accepted forms of evidence could include:

- Information that evidences the student’s appointment - Letter, email, text confirmation of doctors/clinician/hospital appointment - Picture of medication (name of child and current date of prescription to be clear)

 

Good Attendance: Once a child’s attendance falls to 90% for whatever reason, she is automatically defined by the Department for Education (DfE) irrespective of the reason for absence as a Persistent Absentee. Once a child’s attendance falls below 50%, they are termed Severely Absent.

Positive Statistics share. Much of the work they miss when they are off school is never made up, these gaps in their learning leave children at a considerable disadvantage for the remainder of their school career. Statistics show a direct link between poor attendance and under-achievement, particularly at GCSE.

Term time Leave:

We realise that there are rare and unavoidable occasions when there might be a particular problem that causes a student to be absent. If the absence is likely to be prolonged, parents must request leave of absence through the attendance page on the school website: (https://forms.gle/oSh2KjQ2kQkD6PFR7)

All holidays taken during term time will be recorded as unauthorised and the London Borough of Hounslow will be notified.

 

 

Management of Lateness

Good punctuality is essential for successful learning and shows respect for the whole school community. Learning begins as soon as the school day starts, so arriving on time helps students settle quickly and make the most of every lesson. Parents and carers are responsible for ensuring their child arrives at school on time each day. Regular lateness disrupts learning, both for the student and their classmates, and can have a negative impact on academic progress. Developing good punctuality also helps students build positive habits that will benefit them throughout their education and future employment.

AM - Registration – 8:40

PM – Registration – 13:30

 

School Action Flow Chart:

 

For further information and more detail please refer to our Attendance Policy