At Little Heath School we firmly believe good attendance and arriving on time are crucial factors in students achieving their full potential, staying safe and getting the most out of the whole school experience. 

There is a clear link between high attendance and high academic achievement and thus, absence, for any reason, has a negative effect on learning. Attendance is the responsibility of every stakeholder at Little Heath School: it is in everyone’s interests and it is everyone’s business.

Positive and consistent communication between home and school is central to improving and maintaining high levels of attendance. 

Attendance

We expect all our pupils to attend school regularly and on time.  We set all pupils a minimum target level of 96%. Pupils and parents should routinely monitor their attendance and punctuality on Satchel One. The school regularly reviews each pupil’s attendance and West Berkshire Education Welfare Service may get involved where attendance falls below 90%.  An attendance rate of 90% is equivalent to missing half a day of school per week or one day per fortnight.

The diagram below illustrates clearly the impact attendance can have on academic achievement. 

The aim should be 100% attendance all the time, although we understand this is not always possible. Ensuring regular attendance at school is a parent’s legal responsibility, but helping to maintain a regular pattern of attendance is everyone’s responsibility – parents, pupils and all members of school staff. 

We are keen to work with parents, pupils and the Local Authority to ensure attendance is as good as it can be to improve the chances of the young people in our care.  Pupils who miss school frequently can fall behind with their work and do less well in exams.

Good attendance and punctuality also show potential employers and colleges that a young person is reliable.

Punctuality

Punctuality is a very important part of time management and self-discipline. It is the responsibility of pupils and parents to ensure they arrive at school on time.

Below are the timings for the school day:

 

 

If a pupil arrives late to school regularly their learning begins to suffer. Each pupil is responsible for ensuring they are in the correct classroom at the right time. The bar chart below illustrates how being late to school every day over a school year soon adds up and this will understandably have a negative impact on learning. At Little Heath we believe that arriving to lessons punctually helps create a positive environment for learning and shows that our pupils are ‘Ready to Learn.’

Pupils can only enter school through the Sixth Form or Main Gate, and it is their responsibility to ensure they arrive in plenty of time to enter the school grounds by 8.47am at the latest and be in their tutor rooms by 8.50am. 

The Sixth Form gates are closed at 8.47am and any pupils arriving after this time will have to enter the school through the Main Gate, into reception and sign in using our Inventory electronic sign in system, which records the number of minutes late.  All pupils who arrive after 8.47am will be issued with a 25-minute lunchtime detention for that day.  Failure to attend the lunchtime detention will result in a 60-minute Same Day Sanction (SDS) that evening.  Parents will be notified via email.

Pupils who arrive after the registers have closed at 9.15am will again have to sign in at Main Reception and be issued with an automatic after-school Same Day Sanction (SDS) of 60-minutes. They will be marked on the register as ‘U’. This counts as unauthorised absence for the morning session as registers have closed. This will therefore impact on a pupil’s overall attendance. Parents and carers should inform the school as soon as possible if there are exceptional circumstances that caused their child’s late arrival.

Pupils are expected to arrive to lessons on time. If pupils are late to three or more lessons or tutor times in a week, we will give pupils a warning and notify parents. If this continues the pupil will be issued with a Same Day Sanction for 60-minutes after school. Further lateness results in a SLT detention and then if this persists Internal Exclusion for the day. Where there is a persistent problem with getting to lessons or tutor time punctually, we will discuss with parents and further consequences will be put in place.

Absence

How to report absence:

• Contact school preferably before 8.30am – it is a parental duty for you to do this and helps with safeguarding.
• The preferred method of contact is that you email attendance@littleheath.org.uk 
• Ensure the email contains your child’s name and year group / tutor group.
• You must clearly state the reason for absence –it is not enough to say ‘unwell’ or ‘not coming in.’ You must give us specific details of the illness.
• Please remember it is up to the school to authorise absence, not the parent. It is easier for us to do this if you provide evidence for the absence e.g. photo of prescribed medication, screen shot of hospital appointment etc.
• If no communication has been received, we will call parents / carers, as appropriate.
• In the case of pupils who we have identified as vulnerable, a priority phone call, directly to the pupil or parent, will be made by 10.30am.
• If you would like to speak to the Attendance Officer to further discuss absence it is better to do this after 10am, but please ensure you have already emailed in. Ring 01189 427337 and select the absence line.
• Non-urgent medical and dental appointments should be made outside of school hours and usually only a half-day will be authorised i.e. pupils are expected to attend school and leave for afternoon appointments and sign in late for morning appointments.

If there is an unexplained absence, parents / carers will receive an email by 10.00am asking them to inform us of a reason for their absence by 11am.  If no communication has been received, we will call parents / carers, as appropriate.  

Unauthorised Absence

Please note due to new government statutory guidance holidays during term time will not be authorised and are never considered exceptional circumstances. 

Absence request forms can be found below.

Appointments during the school day

Dental and medical appointments should, wherever possible, be made out of school hours. If your child has an unavoidable appointment, we request that an email copy of their appointment letter is sent in advance to our Attendance Office to authorise as a medical appointment. When the time arrives for the pupil to leave school, they should report to Main Reception to sign out and sign in when they return to school. Please be aware, that although these may be an authorised medical appointment, if your child misses a morning or afternoon registration, the appointment will affect a pupil’s overall attendance percentage. In most circumstances, pupils should not be absent from school for the whole day for medical appointments.

Sixth Form Attendance Policy

For information about the Sixth Form attendance, punctuality and absence procedures at Little Heath School, please click here.

For more information on attendance, absence and our procedures at Little Heath School, or to read the Attendance policy in full, please click here.