Attendance & Holidays

The law says that as a parent/carer you must make sure that your child receives a full-time education. This means that your child must attend every day unless there is a very good reason.

Regular attendance is essential for pupils to get the most out of their school experience, including their attainment, wellbeing, and wider life chances.

The pupils with the highest attainment at the end key stage 4 have higher rates of attendance over the key stage compared to those with the lowest attainment.

At KS4, pupils not achieving grade 9 to 4 in English and maths had an overall absence rate of 8.8%, compared to 5.2% among those achieving grade 4
The overall absence rate of pupils not achieving grade 9 to 4 was over twice as high as those achieving grade 9 to 5

It is vital that your child is in school each day

90% attendance = ½ day missed every week
1 school year at 90% attendance = 4 whole weeks of lessons missed
90% attendance over 5 years of secondary school = ½ a school year missed

Good attendance starts with close and productive relationships with parents and students. Where a student or family needs support with attendance we will work in partnership with students and their families to challenge misconceptions about what ‘good’ attendance is and to remove barriers to attending regularly.

All unexplained absence will be unauthorised and subject to Fixed Penalty Notice procedures. The law says that a fine to parents must be considered if a child misses 5 days of school for unauthorised absence. Alongside this, costs for fines will go up from £60 to £80 if paid within 21 days and from £120 to £160 if paid in 28 days.

Registration

Students should be on the school site by 08:30. This is to allow them good time to be in tutor time for 08:35.

All students must be at tutor time by 08:35
Students arriving late to school will be registered in the late tutor time room to avoid them disrupting the session for others.

Students who arrive at school after 09:00 must sign in at the Student Support Office and will receive an unauthorised mark for the morning session.

Students must not leave the school site without permission. Exceptional circumstances can be authorised by the Headteacher only.

Lateness without a valid reason will be sanctioned.

Repeated lateness will be subject to Fixed Penalty Notice procedures at the discretion of the school.

Term time holidays

From September 2013, the law has changed for all students and parents in the UK. Schools are not allowed to authorise leave of absence for family holidays unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Generally, the Department for Education does not consider a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance.

Exceptional circumstances are strictly limited to:

Service personnel who are prevented from taking holiday outside term-time
When a family needs to spend time together to support each other during or after a crisis such as a family death or to attend a funeral.

How to report an absence

Parents/carers MUST ring the school 01275 373737 and select Attendance . Or call 01275 376882 by 7.30 am. Parents/carers can also email attendance@skdrive.org to report an absence or complete the report an absence form.
Absence from school MUST be reported on the day and every subsequent day, for safeguarding purposes.
If you are having problems getting your child into school please contact our Attendance Officer on 01275 373737 or email attendance@skdrive.org.

Medical appointments

Students must provide evidence and seek permission, in advance, to leave school for medical appointments during the day

Routine medical and dental appointments must be outside of school hours
Absence for medical appointments will be authorised for up to half a day
Students must be at school before/after the appointment time
Students MUST sign OUT at Student Support with supporting evidence e.g. an appointment letter, this will be copied and returned to the student.
Students returning from an appointment MUST sign back IN at Student Support.

Penalty notices for unauthorised absence

Starting 19 August 2024, the national threshold for issuing a penalty notice has been met when:

a pupil has been recorded for an unauthorised absence for 10 sessions within 10 school weeks

a ‘session’ is a morning or afternoon

the ‘10-week school period’ may span different terms or school years

Fines are issued to each parent, for each child, as listed. These are the number of fines within a rolling three-year period.

The first penalty notice issued to a parent in respect of a particular pupil will be charged at £160 if paid within 28 days. This will be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days.
A second penalty notice issued to the same parent in respect of the same pupil is charged at a flat rate of £160 if paid within 28 days.
A third penalty notice cannot be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within 3 years of the date of issue of the first.
In a case where the national threshold is met for a third time (or subsequent times) within those 3 years, the Local Authority may consider a court prosecution.

Support with school attendance - resources for families

Guidance for parents on school attendance - Office of the Children's Commissioner

North Somerset Council - help with attendance

Absence request form

Reporting absence from school

During term time - Absence request form