Attendance

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% attendance.

97% attendance is regarded as good and should be achieved with an average amount of illness.

Any attendance level that creates a cause for concern would initiate intervention by the school. This could be as simple as a phone call with the form teacher or may, in more severe circumstances, lead to the involvement of agencies outside of the school.

We will closely be monitoring attendance and we will inform you if your child’s attendance falls below 95%.

Attendance that falls below 90% is classed as persistent absence (PA) and if this occurs we will request a meeting to discuss the reasons why the child’s attendance continues to be below the expected minimum.

We have an Attendance Officer, Mr Smith, working alongside our Pastoral Team to  support and promote excellent school attendance.

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

• Each day children who arrive late to school will need to sign in electronically in the reception area using our Inventry system.
• Repeated lateness to school will result in a parent/staff panel meeting.
• Student late detentions will be held daily.
• Late to school = Same day social time detention (10 mins).
• 2 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 then would need written permission from your parent/carer and to have completed the signing out process in Reception.

Procedures

1. If you need to leave school to see the doctor or dentist for example you must bring a letter from your parent/carer. Ideally these appointments should try to be arranged outside of school hours.
2. To get permission you should see the Attendance Officer Mr Smith.
3. If you are leaving school during a lesson, please let the specific class teacher know at the start of the lesson.
4. As you leave the premises you must sign out electronically in the Reception area.
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, tel no: 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 G.P or an appointment card from your G.P 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 from the school 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

Why is high attendance important to my child’s education? 

As a parent/carer you want the best for your children. Having a good education is an important factor in opening up more opportunities in adult life.

• A child who is absent a day of school per week misses an equivalent of two years of their school life
• 90% of young people with absence rates below 85% fail to achieve five or more good grades of GCSE and around one third achieve no GCSEs at all
• Poor examination results limit young people’s options and poor attendance suggests to colleges and employers that these students are unreliable

GCSEs may seem a long way off for you and your child but all absence at any stage leads to gaps in your child’s learning. This in turn can:

• mean that they fall behind in work
• affect their motivation
• affect their enjoyment of learning
• lead to poor behaviour
• affect their desire to attend school regularly
• affect their confidence in school
• mean they miss out on the social life of school and extra curricular opportunities and experiences
• affect their ability to have or keep friendships