Attendance Policy

ATTENDANCE POLICY Dated: September 2013 Review date: September 2014 Attendance and the Law The 1996 Education Act states: “The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable: i)

To his age, ability and aptitude, and

ii)

To any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise”.

It is a legal obligation of all parents/guardians/carers to ensure their child attends regularly, by law all children of compulsory school age must get a proper full time education.

The management of attendance Mrs D Townsend is Deputy Headteacher with full responsibility for the daily operation of The Ace Academy’s Attendance Policy.

The school’s targets as agreed for the academic year 2013/2014 are: 95% Attendance, <7% P.A. In addition to the above targets, the following will be closely monitored and targets set on a termly/ ½ termly/monthly/weekly basis (according to need) in order to work towards the school’s agreed figures: Year Groups’ attendance and P.A. Pupils within a particular attendance range Vulnerable groups Individual pupils Key principles on attendance;

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“Aspire to do your very best, attend school regularly and you will achieve your potential” Good, regular attendance and punctuality is high in our priorities at The Ace Academy. We take attendance and its link to attainment very seriously; all students are expected to aim to reach an attendance target of at least 97%.

Regular attendance instils good habits necessary for lifelong learning and future success. Whilst a child is at school learning, their risk of becoming involved in anti-social behaviour and crime is reduced. Regular attendance has a

positive effect on a childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s self-esteem, being in school on a regular basis increases a childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s circle of friends, whilst also enhancing enterprise skills, personal development and social skills. Our positive whole staff and school approach to attendance and punctuality is paramount in supporting the school to move forward.

Aims of the Policy To establish a set of principles, procedures and practices that, with consistency of approach, will have a positive impact on the punctuality and attendance of the whole school community.

Our Attendance Policy should encourage all students, Year groups and identified groups and individuals to attend school regularly through the implementation of specific measures: i)

Emphasising to pupils, at every opportunity the link between good attendance and their chances of success (Aspire, Attend, Achieve).

ii)

Setting challenging attendance targets for all students and groups, monitoring these rigorously and intervening swiftly if attendance falls.

iii)

Registering pupils accurately and efficiently.

iv)

Contacting parents the same day when we have an unexplained absence.

v)

Holding parents/carers to account for unexplained, condoned or prolonged absence, providing support to improve their childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attendance and taking necessary action if attendance does not improve.

vi)

Reporting school attendance figures/achievements/updates to parents via our regular behaviour and attendance newsletters.

vii)

Rewarding pupils for good and improved attendance and punctuality with a range of incentives, awards and rewards.

Objectives The focus of the school is to work proactively to ensure early identification and intervention in all matters concerning attendance and punctuality. The school will set out to achieve this through its defined objectives: i)

To continue with and further enhance our Aspire, Attend, Achieve system.

ii)

To increase the involvement of all members of the school community and beyond, continuing to work with, and receive the support of the local police force.

iii)

To provide a consistent system of effective communication with parents and carers.

iv)

To continue to promote the importance of good attendance and its link with good attainment.

v)

To provide a framework for monitoring and support, ensuring early identification, intervention and rigorous pursuit of poor attenders.

vi)

To provide an effective system for pupils returning to school after prolonged absence.

vii)

To develop a system for target setting that takes into account national, regional, whole school, year groups, and individual pupils.

viii)

To further develop the schools celebration of good attendance and punctuality.

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ix)

To continue rewarding good and improved attendance of identified pupils, registration groups and identified groups. Good Punctuality within these groups will also be rewarded.

x)

To continue with the support from WBA Foundation/Triple A Project, mentoring identified pupils, P.A pupils and rewarding them accordingly.

Responsibilities Achieving good attendance and punctuality is the responsibility of the whole school community.

Pupils – should try to attend all school lessons and be on time. If there is a problem that prevents them from doing so, the pupil should seek support from home, school, or both. Pupils should inform staff of problems with bullying, racism etc. Pupils must be encouraged to understand the importance of attending school and know that it is compulsory to attend school regularly. Pupils should all understand that only ‘real’ illnesses can be a reason for absence.

Parents/carers – have a legal responsibility to ensure that their child attends school regularly and on time.

Parents should inform school as early as possible on the first day of absence with explanation as to why their child will not be attending. Parents/Carers should seek support from school (via SAO) if they are having difficulty in getting their child to attend. Parents who fail to ensure their child’s regular attendance can be fined £60 (per parent, per child). If the payment is not made within 21 days this increases to £120.

School – through teaching, pastoral work, celebration of achievement and other appropriate means, the school will promote the importance of good attendance at all times. Staff will ensure that, in line with statutory guidelines, they are able to complete registers on time and accurately, are able to follow school procedures for tackling attendance problems, and are actively involved in celebrating and rewarding good levels of attendance.

In addition, staff will endeavour to take account of indicators and ascertain knowledge from other sources to help them to identify those pupils who may require speedy intervention. They will act upon this accordingly and refer to the Head of Year, Assistant Head of Year or SAO as necessary.

Educational Welfare Service now Attendance and Prosecution Services – our designated Senior Attendance and Prosecution Practitioner is Wendy Butler.

Off – Site Registration The Attendance Administrator will liaise with the named off site providers to ensure that an accurate register is maintained and updated on the schools Sims on a daily basis.

Absence Intervention of Non - Attenders Parents/Carers are expected to inform the school about reasons for absence as soon as possible. If this does not take place, intervention will be actioned through set procedures (see attendance protocol attached).

Re-integration of Non – Attenders Pupils who have for any reason experienced a length of absence from school of more than 20 days, or those who have experienced sporadic absence for whatever reasons will be supported by the school in their return to full time education. This may include a personalised reintegration plan which will be agreed by the pupil, their parents/carers, Head of Year and SAO.

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When long-term absentees return to school it is important that they are treated sympathetically by all staff. All staff who teach the student need to be advised in advance of an anticipated return so that they can plan how to re-engage them in their programme of study.

Holidays in Term Time We do not authorise holidays during term time. All holidays taken will be given ‘G’ code on Sims (unauthorised absence); this goes against a child’s attendance. Parents will be strongly urged not to take holidays during term time. Parents must complete and return a Leave of Absence request form at the earliest convenience. Where a request for extended leave is received by the school for a family overseas visit, parents will be advised to take into account the timing of the visit to create minimal disruption to the pupil’s education. Parents who consider a request for Leave of Absence during term time is for ‘exceptional circumstances’ should submit a written request to the Head Teacher. Parents will be advised that they could lose their child’s school place if they are not back attending school by the agreed return date. As part of our revised school policy we will make a referral to the Attendance and Prosecution Service for pupils who take unauthorised leave of ten days of more. Such a referral may lead to a fixed penalty notice being issued.

Monitoring and Evaluation Attendance and punctuality are central to attainment and achievement. The following procedures are in place to provide a rigorous system of monitoring and evaluation of attendance and punctuality. i)

LA target setting for both authorised and unauthorised absences.

ii)

Whole school, year group, reg group, and individual target setting by the school.

iii)

Monitoring of electronic registration on a daily basis.

iv)

Weekly and cumulative attendance based reports passed to every Head of Year, Assistant Head of Year and Deputy Head.

v)

Use of comparative data to establish the effect of extended holidays on attendance and achievement.

vi)

Use of school academic/pastoral information for those pupils who have been identified as likely to have or are having attendance problems.

vii)

Use of attendance and punctuality data for rewards/certificates and celebration of attendance.

viii)

Scrutiny of School Comms to monitor its effectiveness. Continue to obtain upto date parent mobile numbers and pursue missing numbers aggressively.

ix)

Scrutiny of Sweeps with local P.C. Follow up and work with those pupils who have been identified through the procedure.

x)

Pupils monitor their own attendance on a weekly basis with their tutor as part of their pastoral programme.

xi)

Monitoring of the attendance and achievement of vulnerable groups including those at risk of becoming Persistent Absentees and those with attendance below 85%.

xii)

Scrutiny of the effectiveness of school systems and processes for working with families, e.g., home visits, parent attendance contracts meetings, parents/carers social support meetings etc.

xiii)

Internal sweeps by Year Group, to identify internal truancy and errors in the registration of pupils.

xiv)

Use of ‘new intake’ data to identify and target support for vulnerable attenders as they enter Year 7.

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The named person responsible for monitoring and evaluating the policy and its procedures is Mrs D Townsend (Deputy Headteacher).

Recording and Reporting The school uses Sims as its system for recording both lesson and session registration. The system is able to generate a wide range of attendance based reports.

Parents/Carers are informed of their childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attendance record at each report issue when they receive a comprehensive registration certificate.

News about whole school attendance is shared with parents and the wider community through half termly newsletters, attendance flyers, the school website and the in-school plasma screens.

Weekly and cumulative attendance based reports passed to every Head of Year, Assistant Head of Year and Deputy Head All school staff are updated monthly on whole school, year group, tutor group and individual pupil attendance.

Following on from the monitoring and evaluation the designated person in charge will provide half termly report to the Task Group and Governing Body on issues relating to attendance and punctuality.

Promotion, Prevention, Intervention and Action on Attendance Promotion Aspire, Attend, Achieve information laminates are visible in every registration room, pupils are encouraged to plot their attendance via tutors on a monthly basis.

The school works constantly at promoting good attendance and punctuality. It has in place a range of strategies, procedures and rewards designed to promote and maintain attendance levels.

The importance of good attendance will be regularly promoted through the PSHE programme and assemblies.

Individual certificates are available for improved attendance & punctuality; these are rewarded by the Head of Year. Certificates for Gold attendance are rewarding each end of term by the Headteacher.

Those students who achieve 100% attendance and punctuality together with consistent hard work throughout the academic year will receive special commendation at the end of year awards ceremony.

A Governorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Award will be given to students who achieve 100% or 95% + attendance during their whole school career.

Prevention and Intervention

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Where pupils are identified as being likely to have attendance/punctuality problems or may be in danger of becoming long-term absentees the school provides a number of support mechanisms to work with both the child and parent/carers: There is a range of situations where the school needs to respond. These are:i)

Unauthorised or unexplained absence.

ii)

Unexplained absence of three days or more when a child has not returned to school.

iii)

A pattern of absence with parental notes over a period of weeks.

iv)

Persistent lateness covering more than two sessions within a period of one week.

v)

Unexplained absence from lesson during a session.

For ‘Action to be taken’ see Attendance Protocol (attached) Roles Checklist The Personal Tutor: To monitor the attendance of all pupils in their tutor group.

To be ready to take the register at 8.45 am.

To take the register, save and close by 9.05 am (schools registers close at 9.15 am).

To mark all students not present by the designated times using electronic registration. [N] To work with pupils in recording their attendance in pupil planners on a weekly basis during reg time.

To request and receive absence notes from pupils. Mark Sims accordingly and pass all notes and medical letters to Attendance Administrator for scanning onto pupil’s electronic file.

To require students to take home an absence letter request in the event of no written explanation for absence (proformas are in pupil planners).

To request translated letters from SAO if ethnic minority parents are not bilingual.

To alert the Assistant Head of Year or Attendance Administrator to contact parent/carer by letter or telephone of any early attendance concerns.

To inform the Head of Year / Assistant Head of Year of any causes for concern.

To implement strategies for promoting improved awareness of attendance within tutor group. Display and promote Aspire, Attend, Achieve literature, update monthly with pupils via report and colour chart from SAO (Joanne Edwards).

The Attendance Administrator: Ensure all missing registers are completed and printed by 9.30 am on a daily basis. A copy of ‘today’s registers’ will then be printed and kept in the Attendance Office in case of fire. (See appendix re fire drill).

Maintain accurate attendance and absence data.

Carry out first day calling, text messaging, deal with missing marks and any follow up work.

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Provide HOY with weekly attendance based reports.

Provide information to HoYs on a weekly basis regarding pupils late to school and late to lessons.

Be the first point of contact for parents or others who wish to contact the school to report pupil absence or attendance issues.

Follow up unexplained absences using a bank of ‘standard letters’ to parents, regarding various aspects of attendance and punctuality.

Head of Year / Assistant Head of Year: To check attendance weekly and liaise with each other.

To monitor and reward attendance certificates in Yr. 7 – 11.

To liaise weekly with SAO to monitor and identify students needing early intervention with attendance issues.

To interview students and parents re unsatisfactory attendance/behaviour and agree improvement strategies.

To arrange/accompany SAO and attend reviews in school for those pupils causing concern.

To make attendance a regular positive feature of year assemblies.

To induct and develop year tutor team in the role of the tutor, school procedures and practices.

The Assistant Head of Year has responsibility to co-ordinate the year team’s attendance and punctuality programme. This should include: -

Monitoring/interrogating year team data.

-

Meet weekly with SAO, reviewing pupils bespoke reasons for absence and agree what further action is required.

-

Drafting attendance action plans.

Promoting consistency among tutor team, ensuring Aspire, Attend, Achieve documentation is kept to a high standard in registration rooms.

-

Reporting to appropriate SLT.

Meetings.

To ensure that attendance and punctuality are key features of Year Team

Senior Attendance Officer: To liaise weekly with the Assistant Heads of Year.

Maintain an evidence database of stages of intervention.

Make home visits following requests from Head of Year/Assistant HOY to assess early attendance problems.

Liaise with Attendance Services and Dawn Thompson, referring pupils for intervention/prosecution purposes.

Arrange on site meetings for parent and pupil to sign Parent/Pupil Attendance Contract and discuss/agree the way forward.

Meet weekly with attendance team.

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Work with Local Police station on weekly truancy sweeps.

Triple ‘A’ WBA Foundation Coach/Mentor

Support the schools attendance team in promoting the importance of good attendance across the school.

Use whole school and individual attendance data to analyse patterns of attendance and identify vulnerable attenders.

To work with identified cohorts of pupils at risk of P.A. To liaise with parents to promote good and improved attendance of identified pupils.

To support the SAO in delivering the attendance rewards programme across whole school.

To report regularly to the Attendance team and to the Foundation on progress.

To implement the Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s incentives and reward package to encourage and reward good and improved attendance.

Deputy Headteacher with responsibility for attendance: To monitor school attendance, absence levels and punctuality on a weekly basis.

To lead the school Attendance Team.

To monitor Heads of Year / Assistant Heads of Year To review, monitor and evaluate schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attendance policy and procedures.

To monitor work of Senior Attendance Officer.

To report periodically to the Senior Leadership Team and Task Group/Governing Body regarding attendance.

Continued Professional Development In line with the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Professional Development Policy, all staff will receive appropriate training in order to enable them to be an effective part of the school attendance strategy.

The designated person responsible for attendance and punctuality, in conjunction with the designated person responsible for Continued Professional Development, will provide an annual training schedule to meet the needs of the whole school community.

Other Relevant Information/Policies There are many reasons why children at some time or other do not attend school. This document has set out its agenda for dealing with this. In addition to this, there are other school policies and procedures that impact upon its effectiveness. These should be taken into consideration when looking at identified attendance issues.

Information/Policies: -

Home School Agreement.

-

Pupil Support (SEN).

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-

Behaviour.

-

Bullying.

-

Safeguarding.

Our Attendance Process 97% and above, this is our attendance target for every pupil here at ACE, pupils achieving this will be giving themselves the best possible chance of reaching their full potential.

95% - parents/carers will receive and initial ‘cause for concern’ letter about their child’s attendance, a drop has been noticed and this will be monitored closely.

90% - parents/carers will receive a further attendance concern letter, stating that we require medical evidence before we authorise any further absences. So that we can discuss the reasons for decline in attendance parents will be invited into school or a home visit made by the Senior Attendance Officer to discuss their child’s attendance. A Parent Attendance contract should be signed by parent and child.

Further decline – If no improvements are made and attendance continues to drop a referral will be made to Attendance Services, further action will be taken which could result in parents being taken to court.

The 5 Stages of your School Attendance

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GOLD

If your attendance is 97% and above – you have been absent for less than 6 days in the year.

You have excellent attendance and you are giving yourself the best possible chance of achieving your full potential at school, you have a real opportunity to succeed in further education or the world of work.

SILVER

If your attendance is 95-96.9% - you have been absent for less than 10 days in the year.

You have good attendance and it is likely that you are able to achieve the grades that will give real opportunities to for you to continue in your studies or the world of work.

BRONZE

If your attendance is 90-94.9% - you have been missing for up to 20 days from school each year â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A full month lost!

We think your attendance needs improvement. These absences make it difficult for you to achieve your best.

AMBER

Attendance is 80-89.9% - missing up to 40 days a year, Eight weeks!

Your attendance is already a concern and is being monitored closely. Missing so much time makes it very hard for you to keep in touch with lessons, work and friendships. Experience has shown that you may achieve at least 2 GCSE grades lower than other students with similar ability.

Referral to external agencies like the Education Welfare Service may be necessary.

RED

Attendance is below 80%.

Missing so much time from school means it will be almost impossible for you to learn effectively. It will be extremely difficult for you to keep in touch with lessons, work and friendships. It will be very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve 5 GCSEs at grades A*-C. Furthermore, your parents could be found to be failing in their duty regarding your attendance and referral to external agencies will be unavoidable.

Quick guide to A.C.E. - Attendance Protocol

10 Step 1 - School Attendance target â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 97%

Step 2 – Text home for all unexplained absences (Attendance admin task)

Step 3 – 95% : Stage 1 letter sent out to parent/carer as agreed by AHOY and SAO (Attendance Admin task)

Step 4 – 90% : Stage 2 letter sent out to parent/carer as agreed by AHOY and SAO, (Attendance Admin task) the letter will request for medical evidence for all past and future absences, no evidence means automatic unauthorised mark. The parent will be invited into school

by SAO to sign a Parent Attendance Contract, or a home visit made if parents are non-compliant

Step 5 – Further decline (10 unauthorised sessions in a 4 week school period results in The Ace Academy issuing both parents a 15 Day Notification.

Step 6 – Further decline results in referral to the Attend

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ance & Prosecution Service for an interview under caution or possible Court action.

Evidence is essential. All communication with parents must be recorded in detail on SIMS – AHOY, SAO and AA task.

In addition to the above - P.A. prevention letters are sent out 2 weeks prior to the end of each term. All pupils who are at risk of becoming P.A. before school closes are targeted (Attendance Admin task).

Quick guide to A.C.E. - Late Protocol

Registration time is 8.45 am to 9.05 am. An ‘L’ code is used if the pupil is not in registration at 8.45 am – arrival beyond this time results in an ‘L’ code being given by Form Tutor. Registers close at 9.15 a.m. Pupils arriving after 9.05 am should report to and register with Attendance Admin (Kerrie Garner). All reasons for being late should be recorded in SIMS. Number of minutes late should be recorded in SIMS

2 Lates in a week – Letter sent home to parents/carers (Attendance Admin will automatically issue and attach doc in Sims)

3 Lates in a week – Letter sent home (as above) in addition - Attendance Admin will issue HOY a report showing all pupils with 3 or more lates in a week, these get given a detention by the HOY.

12 10 Lates – when a pupil goes beyond 9 lates so far this academic year, AHOY should refer to SAO for home visit or school meeting to complete parent contract.

Parents application for Leave of Absence during term time

PROCEDURES IN CASE OF FIRE OR ANY OTHER EVACUATION

1. Copies of ‘today’s registers’ printed and held in Attendance Office on a daily basis by 9.30 am. In the event of an evacuation before 9.30 a.m. there is a full set of tutor group lists kept by the Attendance Officer which can be used as registers.

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2. If the fire bell rings the Attendance Officer will take the registers to the evacuation point. The receptionist will also take the pupils’ signing out book to the evacuation point.

3. At the evacuation point the registers are distributed to tutors via the Heads of Year and Assistant Heads of Year.

4. Tutors check attendance of their group and mark registers accordingly.

5. Registers are collected back in and given back to Attendance Officer to retain for the rest of the day. Any missing pupils are checked against the pupil signing out book.

6. Names of any pupil who cannot be accounted for must be reported immediately to the Senior member of staff in charge.

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A.C.E. ATTENDANCE REWARDS Weekly Box of chocolates for 1 randomly chosen pupil achieving 100% attendance.

Monthly Pizza party for the top attending reg group during that month.

Chocolates for: -

Tutor group with the most improved attendance compared to previous month, 1 per year group.

-

Tutor group with highest attendance in their year group, 1 per year group.

-

Tutor group with best punctuality within their year group, 1 per year group.

-

Top attending Tutor Group so far this academic year.

Gold Members Club, 50 x Gold attending pupils are nominated by their Tutor and rewarded with chocolate and corporate school pen, new pupils nominated monthly.

Yearly Hummer / Limo Ride home treat for 8 - 14 pupils chosen from the ultimate attending reg group.

Albion Foundation Triple A awards package The Albion Foundation Mentor has a variety of rewards and awards that can be used for good or improved attendance and punctuality. These include WBA match day tickets, tours of the ground and facilities, player visits to school, WBA goodie-bags, certificates, Awards ceremony at WBA.

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A variety of other rewards or incentives are offered at certain times of the year to encourage full attendance.

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