Whole School Attendance

ATTENDANCE

It is the law that parents or carers must make sure their child of compulsory school age receives a full-time education. As a parent or carer, you are responsible for making sure your child attends school on time, every day.

At Netherwood Academy, we are committed to ensuring that all our students are ready, not just for school but for further studies, work and life.

All students need to attend school. We strongly believe that high attendance plays an important part in the safeguarding of our children and is strongly linked to success.

We closely monitor the attendance of our pupils and identify any attendance concerns.  Early intervention strategies are in place to resolve attendance issues as soon as they arise.  We are aware that absences may indicate a problem at school, home or both and act promptly to minimise the impact on learning.

Attendance is directly linked to progress with learning. Students are required to attend school for 190 days each year. If students do not attend school every day, they are compromising their education and potential achievement.

Our goal is for every student at Netherwood Academy to achieve at least 97% attendance.

Illness

Attendance is compulsory. If your child is not in school then you must have a justifiable reason for absence. Parents/Carers should inform the school absence line on the first day of absence via telephone and every day thereafter.

Call 01226 272000 then Option 1 for the Attendance Office

Alternatively, you can send a message through the MCAS App

Failure to inform the academy of an absence will result in a home visit by a member of the Attendance Team who will expect to see your child in person and confirm the reason for absence. If there is no answer you will receive an Attendance Leaflet and a card with the contact number on through the letterbox.

Medical Appointments

If your child is going to be absent for an appointment, we would ask that proof of the appointment is brought into school in advance (whenever possible). However, we would prefer that all appointments are made outside of the child’s timetable.

Student Punctuality:

Punctuality is an important part of self-discipline and is essential to good time management.

Unfortunately, we have a small number of students who arrive late and we are working on reducing this figure as every minute counts.

If a student arrives late to the Academy (after 08.30), they will complete the late gate duty and will have a 10-minute detention at lunch that day.

If a student arrives after 09.00, this will be recorded as a U code and affects your attendance as an unauthorised absence. Single incidents of U code lateness in a week will result in a 45minute same day detention. Multiple occurrences of lateness in the same week will incur a 90-minute same day detention.

Students with persistent U codes are at risk of penalty fines. Please ensure that your child is on time and they arrive at the academy before the gate closes at 08.30

Holidays

Parents are requested not to arrange family holidays during term time. Requests for leave of absence should be submitted on a leave of absence form that is available within school on request and should be completed well in advance. It is not normal practice to grant a holiday to be taken in term time which would result in

If you need to request a leave of absence, please fill in the form and e-mail to Kay.Greaves@astreanetherwood.org

How can you support outstanding attendance?

Make any appointments outside school hours or during school holidays wherever possible
Figure out the reasons for absence as this can help you understand where your child needs support in overcoming barriers to attending school
Establish a good routine so that your child gets into good habits e.g. getting plenty of sleep, setting the alarm to allow plenty of time to get ready, prepare uniform and school bag the night before.
Offer support with homework and take an interest in their learning
Attend scholar review evening to discuss your child’s progress
Take trips during school holidays not in term time
Don’t allow days off for minor illness or ailments
Ensure your child has a good understanding of why attendance is important
Keep in regular contact with the Academy and discuss any issues as soon as possible