Attendance Matters
Every day in school matters.
There are only 190 days in the school year, we expect students to be in school for at least 95% of the time. This allows for up to 9 days of absence.
What is our school’s commitment to supporting your child’s attendance?
We are committed to supporting every child’s success through high quality teaching, support and personal development opportunities that form the foundation of excellent attendance. For those who may find school difficult, we provide strong pastoral support to help students to overcome barriers and engage fully with school life. Parents and carers can expect open and clear communications about their child’s attendance, particularly if they are at risk of falling below 90%, ensuring that we work together as partners. We also believe in recognising effort, so we celebrate both excellent attendance and significant improvements, encouraging every student to achieve their very best at Haygrove!
How can parents help children maintain good attendance?
- Establish positive routines around sleep, social media and phone use and organisation in the morning
- Book appointments outside of school hours where possible
- Use the Arbor parent app to monitor and celebrate good attendance at home
- Encourage resilience in your child and talk positively about school
- Show interest in your child’s day, ask about what they have learned, their friendships and things that they are excited about
Legal requirements
Students arriving late after the register has closed will be given an unauthorised mark which counts as an absence. The register opens at 08:40am and closes at 09:10am.
The Government classes all children with 90% attendance or under as being a Persistent Absentee. 90% attendance (10% absence) over 5 school years is the equivalent of half a year off.
As a parent/carer, it is a legal requirement to:
- Ensure your child comes to school every day, on time, fully equipped, in correct uniform and ready to learn.
- Ensure the school has up to date addresses and contact telephone numbers. We will contact you if your child is absent and you have not contacted the school.
- Contact the school on the first day of your child’s absence and for each day of absence thereafter.
- Where possible, ensure that ALL medical appointments are made outside of school time, except in cases of medical emergency.
- Ensure that holidays are not taken in term time. Any Leave of Absence must be applied for in writing and can only be agreed by the Headteacher and only for exceptional circumstances. If Leave of Absence is not agreed, this will be marked as an unauthorised absence.
Holidays and Planned Absence in Term Time
Holidays taken during term time will not be authorised and other planned absences will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances. Parents need to apply in writing for all planned absence with details of such exceptional circumstances, in advance to the Headteacher for consideration.
If you take leave during term time which is not authorised, a Fixed Penalty Notice of £160 per parent, per child may be issued by the Local Authority if there have been at least 10 sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence. This will be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days.
Irregular Attendance
Penalty Notice Fines will be considered where there has been 10 sessions of unauthorised absences in a ten week period. This may not be consecutive and may be across different terms or academic years. As with unauthorised holidays, the cost of the Fine issued by the Local Authority if £160, reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days or for a second offense, £160 with no reduction. After the third offence of irregular attendance the case may be presented straight to Magistrates’ Court. Magistrates fines can be up to £2500 per parent, per child. Cases found guilty in the Magistrates’ court can show on parents’ future DBS certificates due to ‘failure to safeguard a child’s education’.
