Attendance

Attendance and Punctuality

 

It is vital that your child attends College as regularly as possible. This is important to avoid missing valuable lesson time and falling behind. Employers place great emphasis on consistent attendance and good punctuality and attendance will be mentioned in the pupils’ Achievement Plans each term. Registers are completed electronically each lesson in addition to period 1 at 9.00am where morning registration takes place and Academic Review when the afternoon registration takes place.

 

Absence

 

Children of school age who are registered at a school must by law, attend school regularly. It is vital that your child aims for 100% attendance. Registers are completed electronically each lesson in addition to period 1 at 9.00am where morning registration takes place and Academic Review when the afternoon registration takes place. Other than illness, any other absence should be kept to a minimum. If your child is ill and unable to attend College, please contact us by telephone as soon as possible.

When your child returns they MUST have a note from you explaining the cause of the absence. This should be handed to their Form Tutor who will keep it on file. When your child is absent please encourage them to use our Moodle Virtual Learning Environment and keep up to date with any work they are missing. Should your child need to be absent for a long period, the College will ensure that work is provided. It is important that they attempt to catch up on the work missed.

Unless the College has already been notified, on the first morning of absence, parents will receive a telephone call from College requesting a reason for absence. Truancy from school or failure to provide a reason for absence will result in the College coding the absence as unauthorised. This in turn could lead to the issue of penalty notices if attendance falls below an acceptable level. The College will provide you with regular updated records of your child’s attendance, and will let you know if we are concerned about it.

 

Holidays during term time

 

Due to changes in the law, with effect from September 2013 parents do not have the right to take their child out of school, and leave of absence for a family holiday will no longer be authorized and is likely to result in a Penalty Notice fine. The Headteacher will only authorise absence in exceptional circumstances, as determined by the Headteacher.

 

Lateness

 

Your child is expected to be on the yard at 8.50am each morning. After 8.55am your child is late and will have to enter College through reception where they will be met by a Pastoral Support Officer. Two sessions of lateness in a week will result in a Pastoral detention.

 

Medical visits

 

Occasionally pupils will need to leave the College during the day for an urgent visit to the doctor, hospital or dentist. They must bring a note from you to show to their Head of Key Stage who will sign the note. At the correct time pupils should excuse themselves from their lesson and go to Reception where they must present their note and sign the signing in and out book. When they return they should sign back in and go straight to their current lesson. Whenever possible appointments should be made out of College time.

 

Contacting home

 

In light of the above, it is essential that we are able to contact parents at the earliest opportunity. Please ensure that all contact details are correct including emergency phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Pupils are in effect a Health and Safety risk if we are unable to contact parents should an emergency arise.