Attendance

Message from Mr Finch regarding Attendance

Good attendance in school is essential for a child’s education. In the unavoidable event of your child being away from school, it is essential that the school is informed of the reasons for absence. From September 2015, the Government will now class a student with attendance below 90% as a persistent absentee (previously 85%) regardless of whether the school has authorised or unauthorised the absence. This equates to 38 sessions or 19 days of absence across the year.

Support of parent/guardians is an essential ingredient in this equation. Preventing lateness and avoiding medical/dental appointments during the school day are examples of where your support can have a direct impact on your child’s learning opportunities.

Minor ailments, such as a headache or slight cold, are not acceptable reasons for failing to attend school. Repeated absences may require the school to request that you obtain medical evidence from your doctor’s surgery or local pharmacy as recommended by the Government.

We would also remind parent/guardians that the law does not give any entitlement to parents to remove their child from school during term time for the purpose of a holiday. Headteachers may only grant leave of absence where an application has been made in advance and the Headteacher considers that there are exceptional circumstances relating to the application.

The School’s Attendance Officer maintains a log of instances of absence and lateness and shares this with Form Tutors and Heads of House. Where concerns arise and instances persist, initially a letter will be posted to alert parent/guardians of our concerns. Subsequent action will follow if the situation remains persistent. This may include school based meetings and potential involvement from the Local Authority. If there are medical or personal circumstances that parent/guardians would like to discuss with the school, then please do not hesitate to do so.

We are confident that parent/guardians will be keen to work with the school to ensure that students maintain good attendance since it is clear that this will have a positive effect on their learning and we will continue to celebrate good attendance through House points, rewards and certificates. parent/guardians help and support in this matter is much appreciated.

Mr P Finch
Headteacher

The attendance policy can be found in the School Policies section or by clicking HERE.

Methods of support

We appreciate that every family has their own individual circumstances, and sometimes these circumstances can pose a challenge to students attendance at school. Hedingham School is here to support both you and the students so that they can be in school, in lessons everyday.

Talking to us about attendance issues:

If you are finding that you are struggling with your child's attendance, please get in touch and we are always more than happy to help.

First Point of Contact - Form Tutors: Your child has a Form Tutor who they see for 30 minutes everyday. They know your child well in school and have a good overview of what your child is up to day to day. They are the best person to have that initial contact with. If you would like to speak to them, write a note in your child's planner and get them to show it to their form tutor. They will arrange to give you a call when it is appropriate.
Second Point of Contact - Student Support Centre/Head of Year: If you foresee some significant barriers which could stand in the way of your child being able to attend school, get your child to go to the SSC with a note in their planner. Someone down the SSC will either be able to talk directly to your child, or to arrange for their Head of Year to give you a call to discuss these barriers and look at practical ways of moving things forward.
Third Point of Contact - Attendance Officer: Our attendance officer in school works with the Heads of Year and lots of other internal staff to support school attendance. The Head of Year might put you in direct contact to discuss certain issues with the Attendance Officer depending on the level of need/support needed.
Senior Attendance Champion: The school has a nominated member of the Senior Leadership Team who is titled the Senior Attendance Champion. This person works with all of the other members of staff supporting attendance to "Champion" school attendance and to work with students and parents to try and ensure students are present in school as often as possible. This is currently one of our Assistant Headteachers, Mr Daniels. You may find Mr Daniels working with families depending on the level of need/support needed.

Attendance Reports:

We have recently started sending out our new "Attendance Reports". These reports are meant to provide you with a clear, but comprehensive overview of your child's school attendance. This includes information about their "Year to Date" attendance, how that has changed since the start of the academic year, comparisons to previous years attendance, information about their attendance on specific days of the week, and an overview of their punctuality to both school and lessons. This information gives you areas to discuss with your child should you notice any areas which are in need of improvement. This also aligns with the Department for Educations guidance titled "Working together to improve school attendance" (WTTISA), where they discuss the need for transparency between schools and home to ensure everyone is working collectively together to ensure the highest levels of attendance for children.

A copy of the most recent WTTISA document can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance

Attendance Mascot:

We have an Attendance Mascot at school called Timewell Spent. More information about who he is and what he does can be found here: Timewell Spent - Attendance Mascot

Attendance Vlog Series - "Attendance Matters":

We have a vlog series titled "Attendance Matters" created by the Senior Attendance Champion, Mr Daniels. In these videos he discusses a variety of issues and areas associated with Attendance and provides useful and insightful guidance on ways that both you and the school can support student attendance. The vlog videos can be found here:

"Attendance Matters" - Vlog Series

Essex County Council - Supporting Attendance

Information can be found on the Essex County Council website about supporting school attendance. This information can be accessed here:

https://www.essex.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools/school-attendance-and-absence

Essex County Council also provide a series of helpful guidance posters which give additional support regarding attendance. These can be viewed below.