Attendance Rewards, Review & Absence Reporting Procedures

As a school, we place great importance on attendance and expect that all our students will achieve an attendance level of at least 96% each academic year. Parents have a legal responsibility to ensure their child attends school regularly and punctually.

Any student with an attendance figure below 90% is defined nationally as a persistent absentee. This equates to just over 3 days of absence per half term and applies if the absence is authorised or unauthorised. If a student were to get a score of 90% on a maths test this would be very good. If, however, a student’s attendance is 90% over their five years of compulsory school age, from Year 7 to 11, this equates to missing half a year of school, which is detrimental to any individual, regardless of their academic ability.

There is a strong statistical link between attendance and attainment. Studies show that students with the highest attainment in their GCSE exams, at the end of Year 11, have higher rates of attendance over Years 10 and 11, compared to those with the lowest attainment.

We review attendance regularly and have an attendance procedure we follow based on each student’s attendance percentage. The attendance leaflet which is attached to this email provides important information regarding our attendance procedure.

We strongly advise parents/carers to avoid booking holidays during term time. We appreciate there may be exceptional circumstances behind a request for leave. If this is the case, you should give a detailed explanation as to why it is necessary for you to take your child out of school by completing the form on the attendance page of the school website and send it to absence@kwschool.co.uk where it will be forwarded to Mr Martin for his consideration.

Rewarding Excellent Attendance

Students who attain 100% attendance every half term will receive a personalised email from the Headteacher, and if they achieve 100% in a whole term, they will have their name entered into a prize draw which takes place at the end of the year. The more terms that a student attends without absence, the more entries they have in the draw which increases their chances in the draw. In July, prizes included Amazon vouchers ranging from £50, £25, £10 & £5.

By working together, we can help students reach their full potential and make the most of the opportunities school has to offer. If you feel you would like support with your child’s attendance or well-being, please do not hesitate to contact the school.

Absence Reporting

If your child is unable to attend school due to illness, urgent appointments or other reasons please use the Arbor Parent Portal App (instructions shown below), telephone the 24hr school absence line on 01582 314800 or email absence@kwschool.co.uk by 8.30am at the latest, on the first day of absence and every subsequent day thereafter.

• Please provide your child’s name and tutor group
• Please give as much detail as possible for the reason of absence avoiding using terms such as ‘unwell’ or ‘under the weather’
• If you fail to contact the school to inform us of your child’s absence, this will be referred to our safeguarding team who may consider it is appropriate to complete a safe and well check

Reporting absences though the Arbor Parent Portal App – Our preferred choice which is quick and easy for you!

It is now possible to report absences quickly and easily using the Arbor parent portal app.

Go to the home page of the Arbor app, click on the orange Quick Actions tab, click attendance, and on the right-hand side you will see a green box, click ‘Log Absence’.

You can input a start and end time for the absence and type in the reason for the absence.

By default, the absence start and end times reflect the student’s full day, but these can be adjusted as needed. Once you have filled in this data, click ‘Log Absence’ and this will be visible to the school attendance team.

Please note that informing the school is a key responsibility of parents/carers. When staff from both the attendance and safeguarding team take time out of their day to chase families, it detracts from the support we can offer to students in school. Therefore, please ensure all reports are made by 8.30am.

Where possible, please give plenty of notice for any planned absence, for example hospital appointments by using the Arbor parent portal app or emailing absence@kwschool.co.uk.

Chrissy Dicks, Attendance Manager