Attendance & Punctuality Policy

Policy details

• Date created - January 2024
• Date reviewed - January 2024
• Date approved - January 2024
• Next review date - January 2025
• Policy owner -Matt Round

1.0 Introduction

Co-op Academy Delius has a very diverse and needs-lead pupil population which can, and does, pose attendance challenges. Current population data shows that 17.6% of our school role has pupils who have severe and complex health and medical needs.

We use the Department of Education attendance data dashboard to drive improvement based on SEND Attendance data comparatives, and even then SEND schools have very different populations, but whilst this is the case, Co-op Academy Delius recognises the clear link between the attendance and achievement of pupils. The aim of this policy is to encourage the highest possible levels of attendance and punctuality for pupils within School to support learning and development.

The importance of attendance and punctuality is underpinned by an awareness of safeguarding issues. It is important to see our children every day and provide an educationally safe and secure environment.

To gain the greatest benefit from their education it is vital that all pupils attend regularly and on time. Pupils should aim to attend every day that the school is open.  We set a target for all pupils to aim for 100% attendance with the exception of certain pupils who may have particular health issues which are a barrier to full attendance. As a school we define regular attendance as 95%.

Co-op Academy Delius believes Teachers, Parents, Carers, Pupils and all members of our School community have an important contribution in improving attendance and punctuality ensuring pupils attend to achieve. This Policy sets out how we will achieve this together and should be read in conjunction with the Attendance Procedures attached to this document.

2.0 Aims

• Maximise the overall percentage of pupil attendance and punctuality at Co-op Academy Delius.

• Reduce the number of pupils who are persistently absent and raise the profile of attendance and punctuality amongst the school community.

• Provide support advice and guidance for parents, pupils and staff.

• Develop clear procedures for the maintenance of accurate registration for pupils.
• Ensure a systematic approach to gathering, analysing and acting upon attendance data.

• Ensure a whole school approach to ensure consistency of intervention strategies.

• Continue to promote effective partnerships with the Co-op Academy Trust, Local Authority, Children’s Services, Health and other partner agencies.

2.1 Promoting regular Attendance at Co-op Academy Delius:

This is everyone’s responsibility; all members of staff, parents/carers and pupils.

To help us all focus on this, Co-op Academy Delius will ensure:

• Appropriate interventions are in place to improve punctuality.
• An appropriate curriculum is provided and will be reviewed regularly.
• The need for high quality teaching and learning throughout the school is recognised as being essential to the promotion of attendance.
• Pupils are provided with appropriate support to minimise absence from school. This includes Co-op Academy Delius and multi-agency provision, as appropriate.
• Children Looked After and Pupil Premium pupils and other vulnerable groups are given appropriate support, and attendance is monitored rigorously.
• Effective partnerships with parents/carers are encouraged through regular contact and support provided.
• Parents/carers are kept informed of pupils’ attendance and punctuality through first day contact, termly progress reports, individual DoJo messages, text and letters and meetings when required.
• Attendance and punctuality is supported and recognised in class lessons and at assemblies.
• Staff attendance roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and all staff should ensure these are followed.

3.0 Attendance Expectations and Absence Procedures

A child not attending school is considered to be a safeguarding matter. This is why information about the cause of any absence is required.

3.1 Expectations of Parent/Carer

Ensuring your child’s regular attendance at school is a parent/carer’s legal responsibility (Section 444  of the 1996 Education Act) and permitting absence from school that is not authorised by the school creates an offence in law.

• Ensure your child arrives for school on time: school opens at 8:55am, learning starts at 9.00am.
• Telephone school if your child is to be late before 10.10am

• For routine non-emergency medical and dental appointments please ensure they are made outside of school hours. Attending a medical appointment is still classed as an absence from school and it will affect your child’s attendance percentage.  If your child has to attend a medical/dental appointment within the school day please send your appointment letter or card to us via class DoJo or telephone the school office. Medical Appointment Reporting, without this evidence the absence will be unauthorised.

• Contact school preferably by 8:45 am for each day of absence if your child is unable to attend through illness, giving an indication of the expected duration and return date to school (via class DoJo, telephone, email to deli-office@coopacademies.co.uk  or leave a message in person at the main reception).

• If a DoJo message, text message, phone call is received, because of your child’s absence, it is important that you respond to this to ensure your child is appropriately safeguarded.

• Contact the School office by phoning 01274 666472 and then 2 for pupil absence, if the reason for absence requires a more personal. If we are unable to answer, please leave a message and if required we will call you back.

• In case of emergency we need a minimum of two up to date contact numbers at all times so please ensure you inform us of any changes especially to mobile telephone numbers. (As a school we request a minimum of two emergency contact details be provided so that if the first contact cannot be reached we have a further contact point.).  If we find a contact number to be out of use or discontinued we will contact you via email or letter to update our records, in the case of emergency, where no parental contact can be obtained, we may have to contact Social Care of the Police for support.

• Requests for exceptional circumstances such as leave of absence in term time, can be requested from the School office. Requests such as these are to the Headteacher and can only be authorised by the Headteacher. Co-op Academy Delius has a zero tolerance on absence from school during term time.  

3.2 If a pupil is absent we will

• Telephone and text parent/carer on the first and subsequent days of absence if we have not heard from them by 9.30am.

• We will initially contact the primary contact recorded for the child and then call or text subsequent contacts for an explanation of absence.

• If no response is received for the unauthorised absence when school makes contact, a member of school staff may conduct a home visit. If there are any safeguarding concerns on record, contact will be made with the family as soon as possible.

• If a pupil’s absence rate falls below 90% parents/carers will be informed by letter.  The table below explains the contact points we will have with parents/carers.

• If a pupil’s absences are increasing and we are not aware of a good reason the parent/carer will be invited, via letter, to meet a member of the School Leadership Team and/or Attendance Lead.

4.0 Understanding types of Absence   

• Co-op Academy Delius has to record every absence that a pupil takes from school and this is why it is important that parents/carers advise school about the cause of any absence, preferably by class DoJo, text or phone on the first day and every subsequent day of absence.

4.1 Authorised Absence

• Authorised absence is when the school has accepted the explanation offered as satisfactory justification for the absence or given approval in advance for such an absence. If no explanation is received, absences cannot be authorised. It is the Headteacher, not parents who make the decision to authorise any absence from school.

4.2 Unauthorised Absence

Unauthorised absence is when the school has not received a reason for absence or has not approved a child’s leave absence from school after a parent’s request. This includes but is not exclusive to:

• Parents giving their children permission to be off school unnecessarily, such as for

shopping, birthdays, sporting events, to look after siblings.

• Absences which have not been explained.
• Pupils who arrive at school too late to get their mark.
• Illness reported with no medical evidence.

This type of absence may lead to the use of Penalty Notices or other sanctions from the Local Authority

4.3 Persistent Absence

• Pupils are defined as persistent absentees by the Department for Education (DFE) if their attendance falls below 90%. This is for any absence whether authorised or unauthorised. The DFE expects schools to intervene well before pupils reach a level of persistent absence.
• Whilst we understand that certain cohorts of pupils' attendance is limited to Complex health reasons, as a school we will support whilst endeavouring to improve individual attendance.

• Whilst we understand that pupils can be absent from school because they are ill, sometimes they can be reluctant to attend. If a pupil is reluctant to attend or a parent/carer has concerns, it is important that contact is made with the school as soon as possible to gain support and to work together to gain a resolution.

5.0 Attendance Team

Attendance Lead: Matt Round

Attendance Officer: Samaira Musa

Attendance Administrator: Stacey Hamilton

6.0 Why Regular Attendance is very important

Any absence affects education and regular absence will seriously affect pupils’ learning.

Pupils who have time off often find it difficult to catch up and do well.

• 90% attendance is equivalent to a pupil missing a half day schooling per week or approximately 118 lessons per year.

Ensuring your child’s regular attendance at school is your legal responsibility and permitting your child to have any absence without a good reason from school is an offence in law (The Education Act 1996) and may result in legal action.

6.1 Tracking Attendance

The use of the Arbor for Education allows Co-op Academy Delius to track and monitor attendance of individual pupil or cohort groups, and to target strategies to support and manage improvements in attendance. Once registers are completed each day, if a pupil enters or leaves one of the attendance groups detailed in the appendix below, the Attendance Team are notified and associated actions are put in place.

7.0 Leave of absence in Term Time

The Law does not give any entitlement to parents to take their child on holiday during term time. Any application for leave must be in truly exceptional circumstances and the Headteacher must be satisfied that the circumstances warrant the granting of leave.

Parents/carers can receive a Penalty Notice for taking their child on holiday during term time without prior consent from school. Consent cannot be given retrospectively.

Headteachers cannot grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. The Headteacher will determine the number of school days a child can be away from school if the leave is granted.

8.0 Lateness

Poor punctuality is not acceptable. If a pupil misses the start of the day they can miss work and late arriving pupils disrupt lessons,

Our school day starts at 8:55am, teachers have activities and lessons ready for your child from this point in the day.

8.1 How we manage lateness

Process for Co-op Academy Delius

The school day starts and registers are taken at 9.00am by the class teacher and pupils receive a late mark if they are not in their class by 9.10am

• If a pupil arrives late to school parents/carers will be respectfully challenged by school office staff or SLT for a reason for lateness.

If a Parent/Carer has any problem getting their child to attend school on time they should contact the School Office to arrange a meeting with a School Leader or Attendance Lead, who will offer support to resolve the problem.

The use of Arbor allows Co-op Academy Delius to track and monitor pupils who may be regular late attenders and action key strategies to manage and support.

9.0 People Responsible for Attendance Matters at Co-op Academy Delius

All school staff, parents/carers and pupils need to work as a team to support the attendance and achievement of pupils. This continued support therefore is vital in making every pupil’s journey through school a success.

Co-op Academy Delius

Office Attendance Procedures

To improve pupil attendance at Co-op Academy Delius the following procedures are in place to ensure we are tackling absence and improving pupil attendance.

Office Procedure:

Marking pupils as attending school:

• Class register opens at 8.55am and closes at 9.30am - All registered pupils completed.
• Late marks recorded by 9.30am
• Pupils arriving late are ‘warm and friendly challenge’ and reasons for lateness recorded. (Appendix 1 Late challenge script)
• Late marks are alerted to attendance lead at the end of each week with reason for lateness through Arbor automatic alerts. The Attendance Team will then respond accordingly to each individual case.

Absence calls (calls to be made between 9.40am and 10.30am)  

• A script is followed for calls to identified groups (appendix 2)  
• Priority call list identified individual pupils and cohorts registered as ‘N’ code are contacted between 9.40am and 10.30am
• Calls not answered before or responded to in this timeframe are recorded and reported to the Attendance Team. Where possible ensure all ‘N’ codes are cleared by end of day.
• If calls are not answered before 10.30am a DoJo/text/email message is sent.
• Attendance escalation is actioned for pupils on 4th day absence for potential home visit or CME (Child Missing in Education referral) on the 5th day.

Following up frequent absence (office staff to attendance lead)

• Notified late arrivals tracked by Arbor with a weekly report sent to the Attendance Team weekly.
• Live attendance tracker  and Arbor alerts used by Attendance Team to monitor and identify individuals with associated actions spreadsheet updated weekly by the Attendance Team.
• Live tracker informs staged approach to actions.

1. Dojo/text/email message for pupils below 90%
2. Letter to families for pupils below 85%
3. Invitation to attendance meeting 80% - Attendance plan formulated (signed)

• Leave of Absence request submitted immediately to Head Teacher (Academy has a zero tolerance to LOA requests)

Appendix 1:        Late arrival challenge

• Opening conversation:

‘Good morning, I hope all is ok? Thanks for bringing xxxxx into school, can you tell why you are late this morning? 

• Record reason for lateness..

• Reminder of why school is important and not to be late:

Please can you make sure that xxxxx is on time for school tomorrow, we have to be in school by 08.55am. If we are having problems then we can set up a meeting with a senior leader.

• If a meeting is requested:

Ok, can you let me know what time is best for you, and we can arrange a meeting.

Appendix 2:        Absence calls  

• Introduce yourself:

‘Good morning, it's xxxxx from Co-op Academy Delius. I notice xxxxx has not come into school this morning, can you please tell us why that is?

• Record reason for absence.

• Follow up conversation (depending on reason)

Illness:

‘Oh I am sorry to hear that, have you made a doctor's appointment? (again depending on the reason), can you tell me when you expect xxxxx to be back into school.

They have an appointment:

‘Ok, what time is the appointment?, please can you make sure you bring xxxxx to school after the appointment.

Appendix 3:

Co-op Academy Delius

Class Attendance Procedures

To improve pupil attendance at Co-op Academy Delius the following procedures are in place to ensure we are tackling absence and improving pupil attendance.

Attendance is everyone's problem

Class Procedure:

Marking pupils as attending school:

• Class register opens at 8.55am and closes at 9.30am - All registered pupils completed.
• Late marks arrivals must be informed to the school office by 9.10am
• If a pupil is late and missed by the school office, challenge in a  ‘warm and friendly challenge’ manner. Report immediately to the school office.
• If you know a pupil is going to be absent (appointment, parent informed and no reason), these must be challenged in ‘warm and friendly way’ and inform the office immediately  (Appendix 2 - Script)  
• Do not agree any changes to attendance, such as late arrivals, these MUST be signposted to a member of SLT

Keeping abreast of pupil attendance: - Pupil attendance is everyone's responsibility.

• Keep in contact with pupils who are absent through a wellbeing DoJo/text/email/phone call home.
• Inform school office of any absence requests (appointments/leave of absence in term time)
• Inform Attendance lead if you have any concerns over pupil attendance
• Child illness in school and sending child home has to be sanctioned by member of SLT
• Promote good pupil attendance in PSE curriculum and through school assemblies
• Contribute to School half termly newsletter

Late arrival challenge (as per office script)

• Opening conversation:

‘Good morning, I hope all is ok? Thanks for bringing xxxxx into school, can you tell why you are late this morning? 

• Record reason for lateness..

• Reminder of why school is important and not to be late:

Please can you make sure that xxxxx is on time for school tomorrow, we have to be in school by 08.55am. If we are having problems then we can set up a meeting with a senior leader.

• If a meeting is requested:

Ok, can you let me know what time is best for you, and we can arrange a meeting.

Absence challenge (parent/carer request for absence)  

• Addressing parent/carer

Hi, how are you today? xxxxx has an appointment? What time and where? Have you got a text or appointment card* for the school office?

Please make sure xxxxx comes into school straight after their appointment, thank you, it's really important they do not miss any learning, thank you

• If not*

Could you please bring it in as soon as possible.

• Leave of absence request

If a parent/carer approaches you regarding leave of absence in term time, please do not agree or suggest this will be ok.

Signpost the request to Sam Musa in the school office, for a LOA form. You may emphasise that there will be a meeting with the Head Teacher.

If the request for LOA is over the phone, please tell Sam Musa in the school office immediately.

Appendix 4:

Attendance Actions