Key Information and Documents

Our commitment

We have outlined the full roles and responsibilities in our Attendance policy which is hyperlinked at the bottom of the page. A summary is provided below.

 

BBEC will:

• Challenge Attendance that is less than good and set targets for students to improve

• Follow up on any non-Attendance with no contact from parents on the first day of absence via: text message, phone call or written letter

• Deal sympathetically with any problem a student may have which is causing Attendance / punctuality to decline and always stay in regular contact with parents / carers

• Act swiftly to reduce absence, in particular persistent absence, with a specific focus on immediate support for vulnerable learners

 

The Assistant Headteacher(s) for Attendance / Attendance Champion will:

• Lead initiatives to promote the importance of good Attendance

• Intervene when poor Attendance / punctuality becomes a problem and before it becomes a habit

• Communicate the Attendance and Punctuality strategy with all stakeholders

• With the support of the wider Attendance team, analyse data on Attendance and punctuality on a weekly, half-termly, and termly basis and prepare reports, as required, for the senior leadership team and local governing board and reactively find solutions to Attendance issues

• Ensure first day absence contact is in place where absence is not reported by parents/carers

 

The wider Attendance team will:

• Monitor registration daily and ensure any missing marks are quickly resolved to ensure students are safe

• Be the first point of contact for parents/carers and relevant school staff regarding student absence and appointments  

• Ensure home visits are in place following 3 days of unreported absence and where reported absence exceeds 5 days

 

We expect that students will:

• Aim to achieve 100% Attendance and Punctuality by arriving to school on time every day

• Always attend school unless prevented by a specified illness or unavoidable circumstances

• Always arrive to school and lessons on time

• Speak to the appropriate member of staff if there are any problems that may affect Attendance, punctuality and/or learning

 

We expect that Parents/Carers will:

• Encourage regular school Attendance and be aware of their legal responsibilities to ensure their child attends school

• Ensure that their child arrives punctually and prepared for the school day

• Contact the school immediately whenever their child is unable to attend school

• Inform the school by telephone/ email on each day of absence to discuss with the Attendance team

• Contact the school whenever any problems occur that may keep the child away from school

• Provide medical evidence when appropriate to support absence.

• Refrain from booking family holidays during school term time unless there is an exceptional circumstance

• Arrange, wherever possible, for medical appointments to be made outside school hours. If this is unavoidable, then the child should be removed from school for the minimum amount of time possible

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Absence reporting

The school day begins at 8.30am and finishes for students at 3.00pm.

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Students who arrive between 8.40am and 8.44am will be marked as being ‘Late for School’ (LS). Between 8.45am and 9.04am, students will be marked as being ‘Very Late for School’ (VLS). Students who arrive any time after 9.05am will be issued a ‘U’ code.

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If your child is ‘Late for School’ (LS) or ‘Very Late for School’ (VLS), or if you need to keep your child off school for a whole or part-day, the BBEC First Day Absence reporting procedure is outlined below:

Parent/carers should email studentattendance@bbec.bdat-academies.org

Or

telephone the Absence Line on 01274 676285, ideally before 8:00am and not later than 8:30am on the first day of absence, ensuring in any call or voicemail that they provide the following for the student:

• First name and second name;

• Form or Year Group

• Reason for absence, please ensure clarity to help with coding.

 

We expect all parents/carers to notify the Attendance team of the reasons for all absences and this includes illness. Please also call on every day of illness, otherwise your child is expected back into school. If you expect your child to be absent because of illness or they are absent for more than one day, then please ensure we are aware of this as we must inform our Principal First Aider.

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Where students are absent for more than two days, please provide any medical evidence.