Attendance

Attendance

Good attendance at school is one of the most important factors in ensuring that children and young people have the best opportunities in life. Being in school gives children the best chance to learn, make friends and get the most from their education. Parents and carers are legally required to make sure that their children attend school regularly. This means your child must attend school every day that their school requires them to. 

At Archbishop Sentamu Academy every pupil has an attendance target of 95-100%. The lower end of this target sounds high at 95%. However, whilst a 95% test score would be a fantastic achievement, when it comes to attendance it still means that your child has missed 54 lessons. This makes it very difficult to catch up and make the same academic progress as those who attend every day. 

In Year 11, pupils with an attendance figure of 95-100% achieve 1-2 grades higher in their GCSE’s than those with reduced attendance. 

“The world is run by those that show up”

The school works within a framework for attendance and must adhere to the Department for Education guidance. There is also further guidance from Hull City Council on attendance which is linked here: School attendance and absence | Hull

What to do if your child is poorly 

• If your child is poorly, you must phone into the academy on each day of illness and write or send medical evidence such as a hospital appointment or doctors note.
• If your child has got a health problem such as asthma, epilepsy, diabetes or suffers from allergies, there is no reason your child cannot come to the academy and enjoy a normal everyday academy life like other children.
• Most health problems can be managed within the academy with help; just ask your child’s tutor for help and advice 

What if your child’s attendance drops? 

• If your child is off school and you do not contact the office to report the absence you will receive contact from the attendance team at the academy
• If your child is absent from school for more than three days, you will receive a phone call home or a home visit to see if any support is required.
• If your child’s attendance drops below 96%, it will be monitored closely.
• If your child’s attendance falls below 90%, they will be recognised as a persistent absentee and may be reported to the local authority.

Actions that could be taken if your child is persistently absent

• Home visits conducted by the pastoral team.
• Letters regarding attendance will be sent home to advise you of further action.
• A formal attendance contract meeting will be arranged in school.
• If there is still no improvement your case could be passed to the local authority for possible prosecution; this could result in a fine or a prison sentence.

Appointments 

We encourage parents and carers to arrange medical and dental appointments outside of school hours. However, if this is not possible, please send a note with your child for him/her to show the teacher and the office staff when they sign in or sign out. 

Leave of absence

According to the Department for Education guidelines, Headteachers/Principals can only authorise leave of absence in exceptional circumstances. It is important to understand that parents and carers do not have an automatic right for their children to have time off for holidays in term time. Holidays within term time will not be granted for any student unless there are exceptional circumstances, and there may be a fine imposed. 

Lateness 

Punctuality to school is very important. Only students who are present in their form room at the start of registration will be marked present. Registration starts at 8.40am. Students who arrive in their form room after registration has started will be marked late by their tutor. 

Students who arrive after the start of Period 1 (9.10am) must sign in at student services. Office staff will give late students their mark, however absence texts/phone calls will be sent to parents/carers of students who arrive late but do not sign in. 

Rewards for good attendance

Periodically there are live reward draws for all students in form. Students who meet the criteria are entered for the draw. Students can also win rewards for attendance streaks as these are discussed in form time. We also run reward events throughout the year for students with excellent attendance. 

We realise that some children have medical conditions that impact on their attendance and external circumstances (such as bereavement) that may impact on their attendance for a short period of time. We do look at this when allocating rewards for attendance and this will not impact on the rewards that children can receive.