Our Senior Attendance Champion (the senior leader responsible for the strategic approach to attendance in our school) is:
Mr J Ducker, Deputy Headteacher
jonathan.ducker@sws.cheshire.sch.uk
01270660880
At Sir William Stanier, improving school attendance is everyone’s business. There is a well-established link between attendance and academic achievement. Low or irregular attendance has a negative effect on students’ academic performance, mental wellbeing and resilience. When students miss school, they miss crucial building blocks of knowledge.
Our commitment to promoting good attendance involves continuous monitoring by staff, communication with parents, and proactive measures to prevent further absences. Our goal for all students is 100% attendance and punctuality, with a minimum expectation of 95% throughout the academic year.
Parents have a legal obligation to send their children to school, but there’s a risk that students get caught in a cycle of absence and therefore may struggle to catch up. We are diligently addressing attendance challenges arising from the pandemic. The government’s national campaign emphasises the value of each school day and encourages positive communication between parents, carers, and the school.
To empower parents, we provide accessible online resources and guidance. Our staff are always available to assist students in catching up or understanding missed material. The ‘attendance triangle’ illustrates when attendance becomes problematic and outlines the support available to students facing ongoing absences.
Please read through our Attendance Booklet for Parents:
Reporting Absence
Regular attendance and punctuality are essential to ensure your child makes the most of their education. We expect all students to attend school every day, on time, equipped and ready to learn.
The school day begins at 8:30am. Registers open at this time and students must arrive before 8:30am to be marked as present.
What Parents Are Expected To Do
Parents and carers are expected to:
- Ensure your child attends school every day and arrives on time
- Ensure the school has up‑to‑date contact details
- Inform the school on the first day of illness or absence
- Contact the school each day of absence, unless otherwise agreed
If no contact is received regarding an absence, it will be recorded as unauthorised.
Your child is expected to attend school every day unless they are medically unfit or there is an urgent and unavoidable family reason.
How to Report an Absence
Please contact the Attendance Office preferably before 8:20am on each day of absence.
Telephone: 01270 660880 (Option 1)
We require the following information:
- Your child’s name and year group
- The reason for absence
- The expected date of return
Lateness to School
Arriving Late
Students who arrive after 8:30am are considered late and this will be recorded on the register.
We expect punctuality from all students. Being “just a little bit late” every day has a significant impact on learning time over the course of a school year.
Consequences for Lateness
-
Arriving after 8:30am
→ 20‑minute lunchtime detention -
Failure to attend the lunchtime detention
→ 40‑minute after‑school detention -
Failure to attend the after‑school detention
→ Internal Suspension (IS) the following school day
These sanctions are in place to reinforce the importance of punctuality and personal responsibility.
Registers and Attendance Marks
Parents should be aware that a pupil who arrives at school after 9:30am will lose their attendance mark for that session.
The Department for Education states:
“All schools are expected to set out in their attendance policy the length of time the register will be open, after which a pupil will be marked as absent. This should be the same for every session and not longer than 30 minutes.”
This means that if your child arrives after 9:30am, they will be marked as late after the register has closed, which will negatively affect their overall attendance record.
Why Punctuality Matters
“Just a few minutes late doesn’t matter… does it?”
Being late to school on a regular basis quickly adds up to a significant loss of learning time.
|
“They only missed just…” |
That equals… |
Which is… |
And over a school career… |
|
10 minutes per day |
50 minutes per week |
Nearly 1.5 weeks per year |
Nearly 0.5 school years |
|
20 minutes per day |
1 hour 40 minutes per week |
Over 2.5 weeks per year |
Nearly 1 school year |
|
30 minutes per day |
Half a day per week |
4 weeks per year |
Nearly 1.5 school years |
|
1 hour per day |
1 day per week |
8 weeks per year |
Over 2.5 school years |
Preparing Students for the Future
We want our students to be ready for the world of work by Year 11. Good punctuality habits developed at school play a vital role in preparing students for further education, training, and employment.
Arriving on time shows:
- Commitment
- Responsibility
- Respect for learning and others
We appreciate your continued support in ensuring your child attends school every day and on time.
Persistent Absence
Persistent Absence is attendance below 90% at the end of an academic year. This equates to 19 days of school missed. As adults we know that 19 days of absence from your place of work would have implications going forward for employees. At Sir William Stanier we want all our pupils by Y11 to be workplace ready. Therefore, throughout the school year we monitor persistent absence as this is the best indicator as to which students will have absence concerns.
Government statistics have shown that since the pandemic and the prevalence of Covid-19, attendance, and parental views on absence from school have changed and is likely to have had a damaging effect on pupil attendance to school. This, in real terms, means that parents are more likely to book term time holidays and keep children off school, when previously they would have sent them in with minor bugs or illness.
In school we are aware that children become poorly and from time to time will be understandably absent from school. However, over a school year, attendance – for the vast majority of students—should not fall below 97%. This equates to around 6 days of absence. If attendances falls below 95%, a supportive process will be implemented as follows;
Attendance falls below 95% – ‘Attendance Letter 1’ is issued. This is automatic and is vital in informing parents of the drop in attendance.
If there is no positive signs of improvement following an ‘Attendance Letter 1’ being sent, ‘Attendance Letter 2’ is issued. This will ensure that the school and home agree a ‘Raising Attendance Plan’ to improve.
If Attendance continues to fall and is now below 90%. Attendance letter 3 is issued and a meeting is held at the school to discuss how improvements can be made to ensure good attendance. Should parents fail to engage with the school (and outside agencies) to improve attendance then the school will refer to their Educational Welfare Officer (EWO) to ensure that school attendance improves.
In simple terms, the diagram below outlines our approach to supporting the excellent attendance of all of our students:
Requests for absence (Holidays)
Holidays should not be taken in school time. Any Leave of Absence can only be agreed by the Headteacher and only authorised where there are exceptional circumstances.
Download a request for absence form here:
Fixed Penalty Notices for Unauthorised Holidays
As you are aware CE put on hold the issuing of Fixed Penalty Notices in May 2016 due to the case of Isle of Wight v Platt. Which was found in favour of the Isle of Wight LA.
As a result of this judgement, the policy will recommence on 1st September 2017.
As from 1st September 2017 any requests made for a holiday to be taken in the academic year 2017-18 or thereafter which is not considered by the headteacher to be exceptional in circumstances, should be recorded as unauthorised, and a Fixed Penalty Notice will be issued by the LA.
Links
If you require support for your child’s attendance, then you can access these links below, or contact our Attendance Officer (email address above) or your child’s Pastoral Manager.
DFE: Working Together to Improve School Attendance (Support for Parents)