Attendance

Attend to Achieve!

At Bishop Barrington Academy we recognise a direct correlation between a student’s attendance and achievement and wish to encourage excellent attendance and punctuality. 

For our children to gain the greatest benefit from their education, it is vital that they attend regularly and are at school, on time, every day the school is open unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable. Research shows that students with excellent attendance regularly make better progress within their academic studies as well as socially. Excellent attendance not only supports students academically and socially but also prepares them for the world of work.

Parents / carers play a crucial role in advocating positive attitudes towards attendance. We ask for your support in ensuring that your child is on time and ready to learn at every opportunity, avoiding absence which is unnecessary.

We aim for all our students to have 100% attendance, making the most of the opportunities that are made available to them both within lessons, social times, within our extensive extra-curricular program, including RISE lessons for our Year 11 students. Every minute of learning counts. These opportunities will positively impact on your child both now and for their future choices.

We monitor all students’ attendance closely and follow up unexplained absence with parents/carers by text, email and/or telephone calls. Where a student’s attendance record reaches a concerning level, we will contact parents/carers to discuss ways in which we can support them and their child.

Persistent Absenteeism

Persistent absence is a serious issue 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 following table shows estimated cumulative absent session thresholds for around 10% absence (i.e. the time that students would be off for each half-term if all half-terms were of equal length):

For every day of school a student misses, it will reduce their attendance by 0.5%. Students are classed as persistently absent from school if their attendance is 90% or less, which equates to 20 days of learning missed, equivalent to 100 hours of learning.

Once attendance drops below 96% it has an impact on students’ GCSE grades. This applies from Year 7 to Year 11. 

Support for Attendance

We monitor the attendance and punctuality of each individual student closely each day and follow up absence which is unexplained with parents / carers as soon as possible by telephone or written communication. If a student’s attendance becomes a concern to us, we will contact you by letter, telephone, or home visit in the first instance to discuss ways in which we can work together to support you and your child.

Working together to support your child is key in order to ensure that they are achieving their academic potential and to support their well-being. It is absolutely essential that we work together in removing any attendance barriers. Raising your child’s attendance means that we are raising their chances in succeeding. Quite simply, if they are not here, they cannot learn.

Patterns of non-attendance, or a high number of unauthorised absences, will result in an attendance planning meeting being held with you and our attendance team. If attendance is not improved, a referral can be made to Durham County Council; this may result in their enforcement team issuing warnings or fixed penalty notices (fines). This is a fine of £60 per parent for each child if paid within 21 days, rising to £120 per parent for each child if paid between 21 and 28 days. Failure to pay can result in prosecution in the Magistrates Court.

New government regulations, regarding absence, are set to come onto force in all schools from September 2024.  Please see below guidance published by Durham County Council regarding these regulations:

If you would like to discuss any concerns that you have around your child’s attendance or are aware of any issues which may impact your child’s attendance then please contact the attendance team, year leader or form tutor to discuss this so that support can be offered by telephone on 01388 603307.

Reporting absence

If your child is too ill to attend school, parents/carers should contact our Attendance team, as soon as possible:

• by telephone on 01388 603307 before 8.30am. The telephone system allows callers to leave a message 24 hours a day.
• by email directly to the Attendance Team on the following attendance@bishopbarrington.net

Please give 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.

On your child’s return following an absence, we request that parents/carers send a note in with their child when they return, with an explanation of the absence. This note should be shown to their Form Tutor to allow us to ensure our registers are accurate. If an absence has been 5 days or more we request that parents/carers provide medical evidence (unless you have been notified that evidence is required for all absences). It is the responsibility of your child to catch up on work missed from their period of absence and it is our expectation that this is completed as soon as possible.

What to do if your child has an appointment:
We request that all routine medical, dental or other appointments, where possible, are made outside of school time. Where an urgent appointment is required or a hospital appointment within a day clinic has been made, we will require medical evidence in the form of an appointment card or letter in order to authorise the absence from school. In most cases, your child should attend school before the appointment and return to school afterwards wherever possible. They should bring a note from home to Reception when it is time for them to sign out. They should sign back in at Reception on their return.

Automated calls to parents/carers:

We take our safeguarding responsibility seriously and calls will be made daily to the contact numbers of parents/carers if a student is absent from registration (8.30am – 8.50am) and Period 1 (8.50am to 9.50am), where the Attendance Team has received no reason for absence.

We send texts to alert parents/carers when their child is not present in school and no reason has been provided for the absence. We ask that parent/carers then contact the Attendance Team to confirm their child’s absence.  The system is used to ensure that both the school and parents are aware of their child’s whereabouts. If no contact is made then a telephone call will be made the same day, even when 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.

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

We expect that all students arrive in to school on time by 8.20am in order to be at their line ups ready for shared messages at 8.27am. (morning meetings begin at 8.30am when registers are also taken).

Any student arriving late will be registered as late with the lateness also being recorded on ClassCharts. Unless there are exceptional circumstances regarding the reason for lateness, students will be expected to attend a 15-minute detention at the end of the following school day. For any repeat instances of lateness or lateness beyond 8.45am, additional time may be added to after school detention to reflect the additional minutes of lateness and will be followed up by the year leader.

We would be grateful for your support in ensuring that your child arrives on time. Arriving late for school does not set them on the correct path for the day ahead and means that they miss vital messages and learning opportunities.

Leave of Absence

An authorised leave of absence will only be granted in exceptional circumstances. The government advise parents / carers to avoid taking their child out of school during term time as this will negatively impact their education.

If you require a leave of absence for your child, you must complete the leave of absence form (a form is available from school reception) and ensure that your child returns this to their form tutor well in advance of the absence date. The Headteacher is under no obligation to authorise any leave of absence unless there are exceptional circumstances as to why this cannot be arranged out of school time. Requests for absence for reasons such as compassionate leave, special family events, sporting or musical competitions, etc., should be made in the same way.

All requests will be considered by the Headteacher on an individual basis and parents / carers will be notified of the decision by telephone or in writing.

Celebrating Excellent Attendance

Celebrating and positively rewarding students for excellent attendance is a part of the culture of recognising our students demonstrating our RISE values. This takes place during morning meeting and line-ups as well as through our social media platforms and letters to parents. The importance of attendance is promoted within school, positively reinforcing our drive of ‘attend to achieve’.

Students attendance is a focus of line-up messages and morning meetings, where discussions are had around good attendance habits and students are celebrated for their good attendance and punctuality. Students are informed of their weekly and yearly attendance, and individual students’ attendance is recognised throughout each half term with attendance praise letters. ClassCharts awards, half termly attendance draws and events, and termly rewards trips are awarded to students with excellent attendance.

The Attendance Team may also, when appropriate, provide incentives and rewards specifically targeted to individuals or groups where it is seen fit.

We do recognise that in some cases, absence from school is unavoidable. Examples include students being absent from school:

• to mark a religious observance.
• to attend a specialist medical appointment related to a lifelong medical condition.
• to grieve for, and attend a funeral of an immediate family member.

In all cases where a parent / carer is seeking an exception to be made, the Headteacher must authorise this. Please see the ‘Leave of Absence’ section above for further information and the leave of absence form.