Attendance

Attendance Expectations at Haven High

We expect students have absence levels below 5%

This means:

• no more than 9 school days off over the full year, or
• no more than 1½ days absent per half term, on average, or
• being present in school for 4 full weeks for every 1 day absent

0% Absence

0-5% Absence

0 days missed

More likely to have positive friendships - a protective factor for mental health and wellbeing

5-10% Absence

1-9 days missed over the full year

Almost TWICE as likely to achieve grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSEs

10-18 days missed over the full year

For each additional day of absence, the typical pupil could miss out on an average of £750 in future lifetime earnings

10% Absence

19 days missed over the full year

Average of 1 day off every 2 weeks

Earn an average £10,000 less by aged 28

More than 10% Absence

20 or more days missed over the full year

60% less likely to be employed by 28

100% Present

100-95% Present

95-90% Present

90% Present

Below 90% Present

Excellent

Expected Standard

Concerning Absence

Persistent Absence

Serious Concern

Reporting Absences

Contact us before 8.45am every day your child is absent

We recommend the MyEd app, which will allow you to text us and includes the facility to automatically translate.

Punctuality Expectations

8.00am

FREE breakfast club opens in the school canteen

8.40am

Students should be in school and making their way to Lesson 1

8.45am

Students should be at their Lesson 1 classroom and ready to start working

9.15am

Registers close. If arriving after this time, students will get an unauthorised late mark

Reasons not to be Absent from School

Absences may be unauthorised if…

A PARENT DOES NOT CONTACT US TO TELL US WHY THE CHILD IS ABSENT

Remember to contact us by 8.45am every day your child is absent

YOUR CHILD HAS FALLEN OUT WITH SOMEONE OR IS WORRIED ABOUT BULLYING

They need to talk to us to help solve the problem instead of avoiding it.

YOUR CHILD FEELS TIRED

They need to have an earlier bedtime so that it’s easier to get up in the morning.

YOUR CHILD HAS HEADACHE OR A COLD

Drink plenty of fluids. Bring a water them to school and take painkillers before school.

BEING SICK OR HAVING RUNNY POO IS NOT AN AUTOMATIC REASON TO BE ABSENT

This is often do with poor diet or tiredness, rather than it being contagious.

MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS

Medical appointments should be arranged in school holidays or after school, where possible.

YOUR CHILD FEELS LOW OR WORRIED - We have trained professionals in school who can support children’s emotional health. Come into school and speak to your Year Hub.

YOUR CHILD IS REFUSING

We need to work together to understand why. We may recommend Early Help support.

HOLIDAYS

We do not authorise holidays. Any such absences will be unauthorised and may lead to a fine

TOO MANY ABSENCES

If your child’s attendance is too low, we may ask for medical evidence to authorise illnesses

Leave of Absence and Holidays

Leave of Absence Request Form is available on the school website

All leave will be unauthorised unless there are exceptional circumstances

Requests for exceptional circumstances to be considered must be made at least 20 school days before the leave begins.

Leave cannot not be retrospectively authorised. If we do not agree to the authorisation BEFORE the leave begins, it will be unauthorised

Penalty Notice fines will be considered when a student has 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in 10 school weeks

One session = half a day, 10 sessions = 5 full days. Applies to leave of absence and other unauthorised absences, or a combination, and can be consecutive or not.

Medical Appointments

No appointments will be authorised unless evidence of the appointment is provided

Planned appointments should be made after school or in the holidays, if possible.

If appointments are made in school time parents should minimise disruption to learning, by booking the appointment for late afternoon or early morning

Optician’s appointments are easy to book at weekends so will not be authorised

Students are expected to attend school before and after appointment times

Dentist check-ups should be booked for during the school holidays or after school.

Illness Absence

It is expected that children will attend school with minor ailments

These can usually be managed by encouraging the child to drink plenty of water, get enough sleep at night and take paracetamol – none of these things require a day off school

Haven High expects that:

absences of 3+ consecutive days

or

2+ separate absences in a half term

would warrant some medical advice or attention.

We know there can be genuine reasons for absence. Our aim is to work with you to make sure your child gets the best possible education and support. To ensure we are supporting your child in the right way, we may ask for medical evidence.

Medical evidence allows us to:

• Make sure we are recording absences accurately and in line with Department for Education guidance.
• Identify any ongoing or recurring health issues so we can offer the most appropriate support in school.
• Work together with you and, if needed, health professionals to help your child attend regularly.

Acceptable forms of evidence includes:

• An appointment confirmation (text message, email, or letter)
• A copy of a prescription or medication label with child’s name on
• Hospital/Medical letters
• A screenshot/print out of your child’s patient summary from: https://www.nhs.uk/nhsservices/gps/view-your-gp-health-record/

Attendance Support at Haven High

Each year group has their own Education Welfare Officer to support improved attendance.

This should be the first person to contact if there is a barrier to your child attending school.

Attendance across the academy:

• Ongoing monitoring by form tutor during daily form time, who will highlight any wellbeing concerns and advocate for support.
• Attendance, wellbeing and pastoral monitoring by a dedicated pastoral team for each year group.
• Access to Year Hubs for ongoing support and time-out spaces
• Access to the Learning Support Hub for time-out spaces, when SEND needs are identified.
• Teaching staff ensure catch up work is provided to students who have been absent.
• Homework to be set on ClassCharts for absent students and an expectation that it is completed.

Working with parents to encourage good attendance at school:

• Attendance information shared regularly with parents and on school website in accessible language.
• Daily text sent for absences where we have not received a reason for the absence
• Phone calls and emails to parents and carers to challenge absences
• Home visits, announced and unannounced, to encourage attendance at school
• Attendance Support Meeting, to discuss, identify and make plans to overcome barriers to attendance
• Attendance Contract and Action Plan, to promote positive changes to attendance

Persistent Absence Form Groups

Haven High have form groups designated for students with low attendance in each year group.

The government classes students with attendance below 90% as Persistently Absent.

To support students to improve their attendance and punctuality at school, some students with attendance is below 90% will be allocated to a Persistent Absence Form Group

Persistent Absentee Form Groups are temporary and will concentrate on focused form time learning to catch up on missed work and promote good attendance, punctuality and behaviour in school.

This will also allow fair attendance competitions between other form groups to not be impacted by the low attendance of persistently absent students.

Students in the Persistent Absence Form Group will return to their previous form group when they have 6 school weeks of 100% attendance.