The importance of good attendance

Good school attendance is important for several reasons. Maintaining strong attendance ensures that students receive a consistent education and reduces the risk of them falling behind, which is fundamental for academic success and for their own personal development and progress. Regular attendance also fosters a sense of responsibility and discipline, teaching students important life skills that are essential for success in, and out of, school. Moreover a strong attendance record promotes social interaction and builds a sense of community within the school community which we are rightly proud of.

Monitoring attendance and absence

Students: Will be alerted to their attendance at least weekly. This enables them to take responsibility for monitoring their own absence patterns throughout the year. Tutors lead on this by allocating time during Tutor time each week for this self-monitoring.

Tutors: The Attendance Team provide all tutors with a weekly attendance overview for their tutor group. Tutors use this to ensure they know the attendance of each student in their Tutor Group and to monitor attendance patterns.

Pastoral Managers & Heads of Year: receive data from the Attendance Manager about attendance issues on a weekly basis. They use this to identify students whose absence rates are causing concern and intervene accordingly through 1:1 and small group conversations.

Parents: Parents and carers are notified of their child’s absence as quickly as possible by text, telephone call or letter. Follow- up absence letters are sent where no explanation from the parent/person with parental responsibility has been given. Parents can then monitor absence from school and support their child in reducing their absence levels. Parents are expected to:

  • Telephone the school at the earliest opportunity if their child is unable to attend. Parents can contact the school by calling the number and selecting the dedicated line to report absence (Church Chare : 0191 3882248 option 1) and (North Lodge : 0191 3882416 option 1).
  • Parents must contact the school on each day of absence unless a doctor’s note or other appropriate form of evidence has been provided.
  • Parents can also provide a written note to clarify further details of reasons for absence. We accept notes written in the parent/carer home language if they do not speak English. Notes are filed for future reference by the Attendance Team.