Further information & guidance

Children who attend school regularly make better progress academically and socially. To help a child achieve full attendance, parents and carers play an important role in helping us promote good attitudes towards attendance and punctuality. Together, it is important we ensure that children are present at every opportunity, arriving on time, and not taken out of the academy without authorisation. A child’s attendance is monitored closely by the Attendance team, and we will follow up unexplained absences with parents or carers. Where a child’s attendance record reaches a concerning level or when there are unexplained absences, we will contact the child’s parents or carers to discuss ways in which we can support to help improve the child’s attendance.

There are 190 school days in an academic year. Use the calculator above to input the number of days you or your child has been absent. This will then be shown as a percentage in the Projected Attendance (%) box. Hopefully, this calculator can give you or your child an indicator of how days off can impact their personal attendance figures.

Burnley High School attendance commitment

Burnley High School is committed to a positive policy of encouraging pupils to attend school regularly. The school works in partnership with parents/carers, the Local Authority Education Welfare Officers and other relevant services to secure this aim. The happiness and educational progress of all our children are our main priorities and we believe that good attendance is a major way in which these priorities can be achieved. The pace of the curriculum is such that when your child is away from school, the learning they miss will significantly have an effect on future learning/progress and pupils often struggle to make this time back up. It is for this reason that we ask for your support in this matter.

What is acceptable attendance?

• Our school expects all pupils to aim for 100 per cent attendance.
• 97 per cent attendance is regarded as good and should be achieved with an average amount of illness.
• We will closely monitor attendance and inform you if your child’s attendance falls below 95 per cent.
• Attendance that falls below 90 per cent is classed as persistent absence (PA); if this occurs, we will request a meeting to discuss the reasons why attendance continues to be below the expected minimum.

Punctuality

• Each day we have a choice to be late or on time.
• Lateness means we lose valuable learning time and the sanction is a school detention.
• Good time-keeping means we can use every opportunity to succeed and is good practice for future careers.

Lateness to School

• Children who arrive late must sign in electronically in Reception using our Inventry system.
• Repeated lateness will result in a parent/staff panel meeting.
• Student late detentions are held daily.
• Late to school = same day social time detention (10 mins).
• Two or more late marks in the same week = 30 mins after-school detention on the Friday of that week.

Illness and Accidents Procedures

1. If you feel ill or have an accident, always tell your teacher, form tutor or any other staff member if you are not in a lesson.
2. If you have an accident, you will be looked after by a qualified First Aider.
3. If you feel unwell you will be sent to the Attendance Lead and a qualified First Aider will usually deal with the situation.
4. If you are unable to continue lessons your family will be contacted by the school before you are allowed to go home.
5. If you have been given permission to leave, remember to sign out using the Inventry system in Reception.

Health and Safety — all students will be responsible for:

• Complying with school rules and procedures.
• Taking reasonable care of themselves and others.
• Co-operating with their teachers and other school staff.
• Using equipment and substances in the manner in which they are instructed.
• Not misusing anything they believe to be hazardous or dangerous.

Leaving Site

You should be on the school site at all times during the school day unless there is a specific reason for leaving. You will need written permission from your parent/carer and must complete the signing-out process in Reception.

1. If you need to leave school to see the doctor or dentist, bring a letter from your parent/carer. Ideally, arrange these appointments outside of school hours.
2. To get permission you should see the Attendance Officer, Mr Smith.
3. If you are leaving during a lesson, let the class teacher know at the start of the lesson.
4. As you leave the premises you must sign out electronically in Reception.
5. If you return, report to Reception and sign in before going to lessons.

The importance of good attendance

Attendance at a glance for Parents and Carers

We would like all learners to attend school for more than 98%+ of the time. We know that high attendance and achieving academic potential are linked. Punctuality is also very important at the school. All learners must arrive on time and be ready for learning with the correct equipment.

All students should arrive on the school site by 8:25am – any student arriving between 8:30am and 8:45am will be marked as late. Any student arriving after 9:00am will be marked as Unauthorised Late; this is when the school closes its register.

Should your child be too ill to attend the school, please contact us on the first day of absence (wherever possible before 8:20am) on 01282 681950. Please keep us informed daily of your child’s progress. If you expect your child to be absent, please send in evidence of medication prescribed by your doctor or hospital. The school has a right to request evidence of illness or appointments to authorise the absence.

This can be the school medical card stamped by your GP or an appointment card from your GP or medical centre. Should we not receive medical evidence, absences will be noted as unauthorised. Where attendance levels are of concern and monitoring is in place, medical evidence will be required for all absences. Telephone calls are made to every parent/carer of a student who is absent every morning. If we cannot make contact, a text message will be sent. In some cases a follow-up home visit may be made by the school Attendance Officer.