Attendance
Raise your child’s attendance – Raise their chances!
At Buxton Community School excellent attendance and punctuality is our aim for every student. Full attendance maximises learning opportunities and parents/carers have a vital role in promoting good attitudes towards attendance. We ask for support from parents/carers to ensure that their children are present at every opportunity, to arrive on time and to avoid allowing children to stay at home unnecessarily, or taking them out of school without authorisation. Evidence shows that students who attend school regularly make better progress both academically and socially.
We monitor student’s attendance closely and will follow up unexplained absence with parents/carers, by telephone and/or by letter. Where a student’s attendance record reaches a concerning level, we will contact parents/ carers to discuss ways in which the school can support you and your child.
Our school attendance target of 96% is the minimum that we expect for all students. Every lesson counts and it is this commitment to learning that will have a positive effect on student’s examinations and their futures.
Persistent Absence
Persistent Absence is a serious problem for students. Much of the work children miss when they are off school is never made up, leaving these students at a considerable disadvantage.
A student defined as a ‘Persistent Absentee’ is one who misses 10% or more of school. The Department for Education reduced this threshold from September 2015 from 15% previously.
Schools are challenged by the Government to address the problem of persistent absenteeism. Your local council can give each parent a fine of £80, rising to £160 if you do not pay within 21 days. f you get a second fine in 3 years it will be £160. If you do not pay the fine in 28 days you may be taken to court for keeping your child out of school. If your child is off school 3 or more times within the 3 years you will not be fined but may be taken to court.
Reporting Absence
What to do if your child is ill:
If your child is too ill to attend the school, parents/carers should contact the Attendance Officer as soon as possible:
- by telephone on 01298 23122 Option 1. The telephone system allows callers to leave a message 24 hours a day.
- Please give us your child’s name, Year Group, the reason for the absence, and how long you expect the absence to last. We ask that you contact us each day that your child is absent unless you have given us an indication of how long the absence will last.
What to do if your child has an appointment:
All routine medical and other appointments should be arranged out of school time. In exceptional circumstances, where an urgent appointment is required or for hospital clinic appointments that operate during the day only, we require sight of an appointment card or letter in order to authorise any absence from school.
Automated calls to parents/carers:
We take our safeguarding responsibility seriously and automated texts and calls are made daily to the contact numbers of parents/carers if a student is absent from Period 1 (8.50am to 9.50am),where the Attendance Officer has received no reason for absence. Texts are made on a daily basis, even where your child has been absent due to illness on previous days. We cannot assume that your child is still ill unless you have notified us. We would not wish to put your child at risk by failing to contact you.
NOTE: Please ensure your child realises the importance of attending registration on time and getting their present mark. Parents/carers can also help by ensuring that we hold up to date contact numbers.
Punctuality
All students are expected to arrive on time at school, ready for lessons. Students should arrive for no later than 8. 45am when the first bell goes. Students are expected to be at their first lesson by 8.50am ready to start learning.
Any student arriving late must report to reception.. After 8.50am, students will be marked as late unless they have a genuine reason. Exceptional reasons for lateness may be considered however, persistent lateness will be follow up by school.
We would be grateful for your support in ensuring that your child arrives on time.
Leave of Absence (including term-time holidays)
Parent/carers may be issued with a penalty notice fine or prosecution should leave of 5 days or more be taken which is not authorised by the Headteacher, or where repeated incidents of leave in term time for less than 5 days occur or where the unauthorised absence contributes to wider poor attendance that meets the legal threshold. Absence deemed for the reason of unauthorised leave in term time will be marked in the register with the Attendance code G.
You may be issued with a Penalty Notice should leave be taken which is not authorised. If unpaid this could lead to prosecution under section 444(1) of The Education Act 1996.
Any requests for term time leave should be made on a “LEAVE OF ABSENCE REQUEST FORM” available from the school office and handed in AT LEAST TWO school weeks before the first date of the requested absence whenever possible. You must have received written authorisation before your child can be absent from school.
All requests are considered individually, taking into account the circumstances of the request.
Where a child is absent with no reason provided and the Headteacher and/or attendance officer has grounds to believe that the child is on holiday the Headteacher may wish to challenge this absence and apply for a penalty notice to be issued.
Parents will be notified of the Schools decision either by telephone or in writing.
Support for Attendance
We monitor students’ attendance and punctuality very closely. We follow up unexplained absence with parents/carers by telephone and/ or by letter.
Where a student’s attendance reaches a concerning level, we will contact you by letter, telephone, or home visit to discuss ways in which we can work together to support you and your child. We may invite you to a meeting in school to discuss your child’s attendance and how the School can support you to improve this.