Attendance and Punctuality

 

Maricourt Catholic High School recognises that positive behaviour and good attendance are essential for pupils to get the most of their school experience, including their attainment, wellbeing and wider life chances.

 

The law entitles every child of compulsory school age to an efficient, full-time education suitable to their age, aptitude, and any special educational need they may have. It is the legal responsibility of every parent to make sure their child receives that education either by attendance at a school, or by education otherwise than at a school.

 

Where parents decide to have their child registered at school, they have an additional legal duty to ensure their child attends that school regularly and on time. This means their child must attend every day that the school is open, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being too ill to attend or being given permission for an absence in advance from the school.

 

The Department for Education (DfE) has produced statutory guidance for maintained schools, academies, independent schools, and local authorities. It is called “Working together to improve school attendance” and it includes a National Framework in relation to absence and the use of legal sanctions. Our School Attendance Policy reflects the requirements and principles of that guidance.

 

This policy is written with the above guidance in mind and underpins our school ethos to:

 

  • promote children’s welfare and safeguarding.
  • ensure every pupil in our school has access to the full-time education to which they are entitled.
  • ensure that pupils succeed whilst at our school.
  • ensure that pupils at our school have access to the widest possible range of opportunities at school, and when they leave school.

 

Our policy has been developed in consultation with school governors, teachers, the local authority and parents & carers. It seeks to ensure that all parties involved in the practicalities of school attendance are aware and informed of attendance matters in school, and to outline the school’s commitment to attendance matters. It details the responsibilities of individuals and groups involved and the procedures in place to promote and monitor pupil attendance.

 

Our policy aims to raise and maintain levels of attendance by:

 

  • Promoting a positive and welcoming atmosphere in which pupils feel safe, secure and valued.
  • Raising and maintaining a whole school awareness of the importance of good attendance and punctuality.
  • Ensuring that attendance is monitored effectively and reasons for absences are recorded promptly and consistently.

 

For our children to gain the greatest benefit from their education it is vital that they attend regularly and be at school, on time, every day the school is open unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable. Pupils must attend every day, unless there are exceptional circumstances, and it is the headteacher, not the parent, who can authorise the absence.

 

Promoting Regular Attendance

 

At Maricourt we believe in developing good patterns of attendance and set high expectations for the attendance and punctuality for all our pupils from the outset. It is a central part of our school’s vision, values, ethos and day to day life. We recognise the strong connections between attendance, attainment, safeguarding and wellbeing.

 

 

Helping to create a pattern of regular attendance is the responsibility of parents, pupils and all members of school staff.

 

To help us all to focus on this, we will:

 

  • Submit a daily attendance return to the Department of Education, in line with the legal expectations placed on all schools.
  • Build strong relationships and work jointly with families.
  • Give parents/carers details on attendance in our newsletters.
  • Promote the benefits of high attendance.
  • Accurately complete admission and attendance registers and have effective day to day processes in place to follow-up absence as required by law.
  • Celebrate excellent attendance by displaying and reporting individual and class achievements.
  • Reward good or improving attendance.
  • Report to parents/carers regularly on their child’s attendance and the impact on their progress.
  • Contact parents/carers should their child’s attendance fall below the school’s target for attendance.

 

 

Roles and Responsibilities School Community

 

Role of All Staff

 

  • Promote the importance and value of regular attendance to pupils and their parents.
  • Build and maintain positive relationships with pupils and their parents.
  • Contribute to a whole school approach that supports good attendance, reinforced by quality teaching and learning that encourages pupils to attend and succeed.
  • Adhere to relevant regulations and legislation.
  • Implement and uphold systems for reporting, recording, and monitoring the attendance of all pupils, including those educated off-site.
  • Ensure accurate and timely recording of attendance registers.
  • Participate in the evaluation of school strategies and interventions related to attendance.
  • Work with external agencies to improve attendance and provide support to pupils and their families.

 

Role of Parents

 

  • Make sure your child attends every day.
  • Provide two emergency contact numbers to the school.
  • Notify the school on the first day of absence.
  • Try to make all medical appointments (doctors, dentist and hospital) out of school time.

(This is not always possible but, in such cases, try to minimise the disruption to the day by getting an early morning appointment so that your child can attend afterwards OR a late afternoon appointment so that they can complete most of their timetable before leaving.)

  • Encourage your child to take responsibility for being on time for school ensuring they have a realistic bedtime and will not be too tired to get up in the morning for school.Equipment should be prepared the night before.Regularly checking your child’s planner can help you to do this.
  • Discourage your child from staying overnight with friends during the week.This sometimes leads to them both being late (or not attending at all) the next day.
  • Talk positively about going to school.
  • Work with the school and local authority to help them understand their/your barriers to attendance.
  • Proactively engage with the support offered to prevent the need for more formal support.
  • If your child is on an attendance support plan /attendance contract, ensure they undertake the actions that have been agreed.
  • Monitor your child’s internet and social media use to ensure they are not experiencing any difficulties that may prevent them from wanting to attend school.
  • Do not book holidays or visits during term time (Leave of absence during term time is not a parental right.If there are special or exceptional circumstances, please contact the Head teacher and complete the correct documentation and a decision will be made if the absence can be authorised or not.)

 

Role of Pupils

 

  • Speak to your class teacher or another member of staff if you are experiencing difficulties at school or at home which may impact on your attendance.
  • Attend all your lessons ready to learn, with the appropriate learning equipment requested and on time for the class.
  • Follow the school procedure if you arrive late. This will help the school to monitor your attendance and keep accurate records. This is also vital for health and safety in the event of a school evacuation.
  • If on an attendance support plan /attendance contract, ensure they undertake the actions that have been agreed.

 

Absence Procedures

Daily absences are managed and monitored by our attendance officers

Mrs M hunter

attendanceandadmissions@maricourt.net

0151 330 3366

 

 

If a child is absent from school the parent must follow these procedures:

 

  • Contact the school on the first day of absence before the start of the school day 08:45am
  • The school has an answer phone available to leave a message if nobody is available to take your call, or you may call into school personally and speak to the office staff. Please be aware that, if you leave a voicemail to report your child’s absence, you may receive a call from the school so that we may discuss the absence before deciding as to whether the absence is to be recorded as authorised.
  • Contact the school on every further day of absence, again before 08:45 am
  • Ensure that your child returns to school as soon as possible and you provide any medical evidence, if requested, to support the absence. Medical evidence may be requested where your child is having multiple periods of absence which are reported as being due to medical reasons. When determining whether a child is too ill to attend school, both parents and school staff can consider the advice contained within the NHS advice. Should I keep my child off school checklist poster (publishing.service.gov.uk)

 

A clear reason for absence should be stated when informing of absence. We monitor and review all pupils’ absence, and the reasons that are given, thoroughly.

 

 

If your child is absent, we will:

 

  • Telephone or text you on the first, and every subsequent day of absence, if we have not heard from you, however, it is your responsibility to contact the school.
  • If we are unable to contact parents by telephone, we will telephone emergency contact numbers, send letters home and a home visit may be made, in the interests of safeguarding.
  • A referral will be made to Local Authority if no contact has been made with parents by the 10th day of absence (or sooner if deemed appropriate), at which point your child will be deemed “missing from education.”

 

If absence continues, we will:

 

  • Conduct home visits
  • Write to you if your child’s attendance is below 95% and causing concern and/or where punctuality is a concern.
  • Arrange a meeting so that you may discuss the situation with our Progress Leader and/or Senior Attendance Champion
  • Create an Attendance Support to address any barriers to attendance and make clear each person’s role in improving the attendance patterns of your child.
  • Offer signposting support to other agencies or services, if appropriate.
  • Refer the matter to the Local Authority for relevant legal sanctions if attendance deteriorates following the above actions.

 

Punctuality

 

Poor punctuality is not acceptable and can sometimes lead to irregular school attendance patterns. Good timekeeping is a vital life skill which will help children as they progress through their school life and out into the wider world.

 

Pupils who arrive late disrupt lessons and, if a child misses the start of the day, they can feel unsettled and embarrassed and risk missing vital work and important messages from their class teacher.

 

The times of the start and close of the school day for all pupils at Maricourt School are: (example but adapt to your own)

 

Line up: 08:45am

Registration starts: 8.55am

Registration closes: 9.20am

End of the school day: 3.25pm

 

How we manage lateness:

 

  • The school day starts at 8.50am when children can begin to come into school.
  • Registers are taken at 8.55am
  • Children arriving after 8.55am are required to give their names at the “Late gate”, giving a reason for lateness.
  • Students arriving at 8:55am will receive an “L” code and will be issued with a 30-minute detention for that afternoon.
  • At 9:20 the registers will be closed. In accordance with the Regulations, if your child arrives after that time, they will receive a mark that shows them to be on site – ‘U,’ but this will not count as a present mark, and it will mean that they have an unauthorised absence (see 8.5)
  • The school may contact parents/carers regarding punctuality concerns.

Unauthorised lateness could result in the school referring to the Local Authority for sanctions and/or legal proceedings. If your child has a persistent lateness record, you may be asked to meet with your child’s Progress Leader, but you can approach us at any time if you are having difficulties getting your child to school on time. We expect parents and staff to encourage good punctuality by being good role models to our children and, as a school, we celebrate good class and individual punctuality.

What if I need wellbeing support?

We recognise that there may be barriers to attendance and want to work with families to support this. Please contact your child’s progress leader if you would like to speak to someone regarding pastoral support.

 

Details of our pastoral system can be found here:

 

Maricourt Catholic High School & Sixth Form Centre - Pastoral System

 

We also have a Mental Health and wellbeing sign posting resource to make access to local services easier to locate.

 

Maricourt Catholic High School & Sixth Form Centre - Pupil and Parent Interactive Support Guide

 

We also have a page dedicated to parents to support Mental Health and Wellbeing and support the referral process.

 

Maricourt Catholic High School & Sixth Form Centre - Parents Self-Referral

 

 

Attendance and Punctuality Policy

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School Life