ATTENDANCE POLICY

You are expected to:
• Attend 100% of lessons (including work experience or other school trips or visits)
• Ensure that you are punctual to all registrations am/pm, assemblies and all lessons and that your attendance is registered.
• Get permission in advance for any time you need to take time off, with a letter from your parents explaining the reason and/or presentation of an appointment card.
• Contact the school office to report illness or sickness or any other non-negotiated absence before 9 am (this includes when you should be attending work experience or trips/visits arranged by the school or link organisation).
• Inform the school of the expected duration of your absence at the time you telephone the school.
• Attend school every morning - there are no study leave allowances in the mornings. In the afternoons if students have one lesson, you must be there in the afternoon for that lesson.

The school is expected to:
• keep records of student attendance both at registrations and in lessons
• monitor student attendance and any absences

Getting permission for an absence ('negotiated' absence)
It is understood that there is very occasionally a reason why you may need to apply for permission to be absent. It is up to the school to agree this negotiated absence with you.

The following list gives some of the reasons where permission may be granted. (However, regular occurrences will be questioned by your Form Tutor in the first instance).
• Medical appointment (where it cannot be arranged out of school time).
• Driving test.
• Official study leave with prior permission from school.
• Attendance at all examinations.
• Religious holiday/festival pertinent to your faith.
• Maximum of TWO visits to university, either to attend open day or for an interview or career related interview.
• Appointment with Connexions personal advisor.
• Participating in a significant extra-curricular activity eg Mock Bar trial, sports trials, Young Enterprise etc.
• If you are officially the responsible carer for a family member and an emergency arises.
• Severe weather (exceptional circumstances).
• Representing the school at an outside event.

If you are ill ('non-negotiated' absence):
In incidents of genuine sickness, you or your parents must inform the school office of your absence before 9 am. A note should be brought to school from your parents on your return.

Frequent absences due to illness will be investigated further and after three days will require a Doctor’s note. After a week, procedures will be put in place to assist the process of catching up with school work, on your return.

The following list indicates reasons for which permission to be absent cannot be given:
• Holidays, except under exceptional circumstances for the family.
• Part or full time work, which is not part of your programme of study.
• Leisure activities.
• Birthdays or similar celebrations.
• Babysitting younger siblings.
• Shopping.
• Driving lessons - these should be arranged out of school hours.

When the school is unsure of the validity of any non-negotiated absence, the school reserves the right to investigate this further with parents/guardians.
When the absence genuinely could not be foreseen, you should nevertheless make arrangements to tell the school as soon as possible on the day in question.

top of page