THE MINSTER SCHOOL ATTENDANCE POLICY

Transcription

1 THE MINSTER SCHOOL ATTENDANCE POLICY School Lead: Governor Lead: Deputy Head (Pastoral) Chair of SD&P Committee Last reviewed March 2015 Approved March 2015 Date of next review March 2016 Signed by Chair of or Chair of Committee: Date:

2 CONTENTS Aim 1 Roles 1 Procedures and Strategies 2

3 ATTENDANCE POLICY AIM Our aim is to encourage full attendance at school. There is a clear link between attendance, motivation and achievement. Students need to feel secure at school, whilst following courses appropriate to their ability. Early detection of problems with attendance is important. Non-attendance at school can also provide early warning of potentially more serious problems. Every member of staff has an important role to play in encouraging good attendance and punctuality and preventing absenteeism. The Tutor s role is crucial in monitoring attendance and subject teachers too need to report absences. All staff have a part to play in the successful reintegration of students on their return to school. Parents/Carers need to be aware of the school s systems and be involved at an early stage if problems arise. Parental support is an important part of monitoring good attendance. The importance of good attendance is stressed in the students Personal Organisers, together with a full explanation of absence procedures. We expect parents/carers to recognise the importance of regular attendance at school and seek their support in: Ensuring that, with the exception of illness, their child attends school every session Ensuring that their child arrives on time to every session Keeping school informed of a student s absence Responding to any absence enquiry letters, which are sent out by the school Attending Parents Evenings ROLES Student: Strive for 100% attendance Be on time to school and to all lessons. Teacher: Students are registered for every lesson of the day using Lesson Monitor. Staff use SIMS to call up a register and having completed it, save it. This is done in the first 10 minutes of the lesson whenever possible. Staff must not overwrite marks which have already been put into the register and must use one of only 3 codes: / Present N Absent L Late (the number of minutes late must also be recorded) The Present code is used when students arrive late for a lesson with a note from another member of staff (e.g. Music Teacher or Nurse) explaining their lateness. A present code is also used when a bus arrives late and students are late for first lesson as a result. A paper register for trips and other activities is sent to the Attendance Officer. 1

4 Attendance Officer: The Attendance officer oversees the attendance systems in the school by: Monitoring absence on a daily and lesson by lesson basis and contacting parents/carers Processing manual registers for exams, trips and other activities Conducting a daily register audit (missing registers) Liaising with parents/carers re absence (receiving letters, phone calls, voic , e- mail or face to face) Generating daily SchoolComms messages to the parents/carers of students who have unexplained absence on the previous day when appropriate Writing to parents/carers on a weekly basis regarding any unauthorised absences which are between 1 and 2 weeks old Ensuring that absence information is correctly recorded including unauthorised absence for absences 3 weeks old or older Providing weekly Attendance Reports on a weekly basis for Heads of House and Tutors and also for parents/carers and staff as required/requested Providing lists of students with poor attendance to Heads of House on a weekly basis Discussing with Heads of House those students who need referring to Targeted Support and making referrals Sending termly letters to the parents/carers of students with particularly good attendance Ensuring that traditional registers are maintained Tutors: On a weekly basis, tutors will refer to the absence record supplied by the attendance officer. Tutors will: Remind students of the need for notes for whole sessions missed Question odd lesson absences, and record and return to attendance officer Refer students with ongoing attendance or punctuality issues to Head of House Tutors will not collect absence notes or holiday forms for students but will refer these students to Student Services. Head of House: The Head of House will become involved when students have ongoing attendance or punctuality issues. Heads of House will use the data provided by the Attendance Officer to decide who to refer to Targeted Support. They will also decide when parents should provide medical evidence for absences based on students identified as being a cause for concern. The Head of House will also request letters from the Attendance Officer for students whose attendance needs to be raised with parents/carers. The Head of House may also involve the Deputy Head (Pastoral), the School Nurse or the Behaviour for Learning Mentor when this is appropriate. The Head of House is also responsible for rewarding good attendance and for monitoring and reporting on the attendance of students in his or her care. Heads of House lead on developing individual approaches to improving attendance when this is necessary. 2

5 Deputy Head (Pastoral): The Deputy Head monitors the overall attendance of students in the school through line management meetings with Heads of House. The Deputy Head will provide a termly report to governors. Deputy Head (Curriculum: The Deputy Head will monitor and approve as necessary all alterations to student curriculum timetables where alternative provision is appropriate. The Deputy Head will report on this as necessary. PROCEDURES AND STRATEGIES Authorising Absence: Absences would normally be covered by a note, a phone call or an from parents/carers. If a student is absent for more than three days without notification, a letter should be sent home. Patterns of absence are monitored and figures for attendance are recorded on school reports. Only the school can approve absences, not parents or carers. If the Deputy Head (Pastoral), the Attendance Officer or the Head of House are unhappy about the reasons given then these should be investigated. If a doubt remains about the explanation offered, or where no explanation is forthcoming, then the absence must be treated as unauthorised, e.g. (except in exceptional circumstances) minding the house, looking after brothers and sisters, shopping trips. Holidays: Holidays should not be taken during term time as these are very disruptive to students education. Parents/carers are entitled to request up to 10 days of holiday during term time but the school does not have to give permission. The school will only allow holidays in exceptional circumstances. If a parent/carer believes that there are exceptional circumstances they should ask for a holiday form from the Attendance Officer. Once this has been completed and returned to the Attendance Officer, they will receive written advice as to whether this request will be authorised or not. Parents/carers should only book holidays once they have been informed as unauthorised holidays will be recorded as unauthorised absence. Any such exceptional request should be made with as much notice as possible. Internal Truancy: Internal truancy is followed up by Heads of House, investigating the reasons for students who are not present in lessons and issuing an after school detention. The Attendance Officer will be informed and will record the absence as unauthorised. Additional sanctions will be applied to persistent truants. Punctuality: Students should be encouraged to be punctual for all lessons. A student will be marked late if he/she arrives after the register has been completed. Lateness is monitored through tutor group reports by tutors. Students who are persistently late will be required to make up this time. 3

6 Prolonged Absence: Prolonged absence because of illness would involve referral to the home tuition service by the Head of House in conjunction with the Attendance Officer and co-operation with them in setting of work to be done at home. After a lengthy absence returning to school can be difficult for some students. Staff need to be sensitive to these difficulties. Support and help should be given with catching up on missed work and with settling back in to the school routine. Anxious students: Some students suffer from anxiety which can be linked to coping with the large number of students in school, working in some areas and attending assemblies. These students will need a good deal of support if they are to overcome, or learn to cope with, their anxieties. Strategies which have been used to help these students include: re-integration on a gradual and planned basis review of the student s timetable, grouping and tutor group a safe place for the student to work in or go to if necessary a named person to act as support and counsellor referral and support from the Targeted Support referral to the Educational Psychologist Rewards: Certificates are presented each year to students with good attendance (100% and 98%). Tutor group s attendance will also be recognised with the best group each week being awarded a certificate as well as the most improved tutor group. Interventions: Tutors and Heads of House will identify when interventions are needed by the Attendance Officer and Targeted Support, based on data and suggestions by the Attendance Officer. Attendance will also be reported through the yearly school reports to every student s parents or carers. Links to other policies This policy should be read alongside and in conjunction with other policies, in particular the: Child Protection Policy Behaviour Policy 4