Co-op Academy Friarswood is committed to providing a full education to all pupils that embraces the concept of equal opportunities for all. We provide a welcoming and caring environment where every pupil feels safe and valued. Regular attendance and excellent punctuality are essential in ensuring pupils make sustained academic progress and social development.

The academy works in partnership with pupils and their parents or carers to promote the importance of regular and punctual attendance. Regular and punctual attendance is vital in ensuring that all children have full access to the curriculum, as valuable learning time is lost when pupils are absent or late.

The purpose of this policy is to ensure excellent attendance for all, that maximises pupil potential. As an academy, we recognise that regular attendance has a positive impact on the motivation and attainment of pupils. As such, this policy serves to give clear guidance to all stakeholders on their roles and responsibilities; provide advice and information on statutory duties of parents / carers and the Academy and demonstrate how the Academy will work in partnership with families, the local authority and other organisations to support the best possible attendance of all pupils.

The Importance of School Attendance

Regular attendance at school is vital to support pupils to achieve and help them get the best possible start in life. Good attendance is central to pupils’ academic achievement and personal development.

Research shows that going to school is directly linked to improved exam performance which should in turn lead to further learning opportunities and better job prospects.

As well as this, going to school helps to develop:

friendships
social skills
team values
life skills
cultural awareness
career pathways

We know that 90% of persistent non-attenders do not achieve expected levels of development at KS1 and KS2 and do not gain five or more good GCSEs. Around one third achieve no GCSEs at all.

Young people who regularly miss school without good reason are also more likely to become isolated from their friends, to underachieve in examinations and/or become involved in anti-social behaviour. In addition, Keeping Children Safe in Education, 2023 makes clear the fact that Children Missing Education are at significant risk of being victims of harm, exploitation or radicalisation, and becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) later in life.

Attendance and Punctuality - Lost Learning Hours

Attendance	Impact	Hours Lost per year	Minutes Late Each Day	Impact per year
100%	0 Days Lost	0 Hours Lost	5 minutes	3.5 Days Lost
95%	9 Days Lost	45 Hours Lost	10 minutes	7 Days Lost
90%	19 Days Lost	95 Hours Lost	15 minutes	10.5 Days Lost
85%	28 Days Lost	140 Hours Lost	20 minutes	14 Days Lost
80%	38 Days Lost	190 Hours Lost	25 minutes	17.5 Days Lost
70%	46 Days Lost	230 Hours Lost	30 minutes	21 Days Lost

Legislation and Guidance

This policy meets the requirements of Working Together to Improve School Attendance from the Department for Education (DfE), and refers to the DfE’s statutory guidance on School Attendance Parental Responsibility Measures. These documents are drawn from the following legislation setting out the legal powers and duties that govern school attendance:

- Part 6 of The Education Act 1996

- Part 3 of The Education Act 2002

- Part 7 of The Education and Inspections Act 2006

- The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 (2010, 2011, 2013, 2016 amendments)

- The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013

It also refers to:

School census guidance

Keeping Children Safe in Education, 2023

Mental health issues affecting a pupil's attendance: guidance for schools

Roles and Responsibilities

AGC (Academy Governing Council)

The AGC is responsible for:

Promoting the importance of school attendance across the academy
Making sure school leaders fulfil expectations and statutory duties
Regularly reviewing and challenging attendance data
Monitoring attendance figures for the whole school
Making sure staff receive adequate training on attendance
Holding the headteacher to account for the implementation of this policy

The Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team

The Headteacher and SLT will offer a clear vision for attendance, underpinned by high expectations and core values, which are communicated to and understood by staff, pupils and families. SLT will make sure staff, pupils and families understand that absence from school is a potential safeguarding risk and understand their role in keeping children safe in education. SLT will actively promote great attendance at all levels of the organisation to build up a culture of great attendance.

To do this, SLT will be responsible for:

Implementation of this policy at the school
Monitoring school-level absence data and reporting it to governors
Supporting staff with monitoring the attendance of individual pupils
Monitoring the impact of any implemented attendance strategies
Issuing fixed-penalty notices, where necessary

Strategic Lead for Attendance - Mrs L Wilmer (Headteacher)

The strategic lead for attendance is responsible for leading attendance across the school including:

Offering a clear vision for attendance improvement
Evaluating and monitoring expectations and processes
Having an oversight of data analysis
Devising specific strategies to address areas of poor attendance identified through data
Building relationships with parents/carers to discuss and tackle attendance issues
Creating intervention reintegration plans in partnership with pupils and their parents/carers
Delivering targeted intervention and support to pupils and families

Attendance Officer- Mrs A Dean

The school attendance officer is responsible for:

Ensuring absence procedures are followed in line with this policy
Entering codes accurately and keeping the attendance register in line with legislation
Monitoring and analysing attendance data (see section 7)
Benchmarking attendance data to identify areas of focus for improvement
Providing regular attendance reports to school staff and reporting concerns about attendance to the designated senior leader responsible for attendance and the headteacher
Working with education welfare officers to tackle persistent absence
Working as part of the safeguarding team to report and follow up concerns
Advising the Headteacher when to issue fixed-penalty notices

Class Teachers

Class teachers are responsible for

Recording attendance on a daily basis, using the correct codes
Recording all attendance, accurately, on ARBOR (MIS)
Recording registers in a timely manner
Giving attendance a high profile and emphasising the importance of school attendance
Making pupils feel welcome and supporting them after an absence or when late to school
Helping pupils catch up on missed subject content after absences

The Attendance Officer

The Attendance Officer is responsible for taking calls from parents/carers and pupils about absence on a day-to-day basis and recording it accurately. They will provide them with more detailed support on attendance. They will input codes accurately and ensure that late students and students leaving during the day are accounted for. The Attendance Officer works closely with the Headteacher and safeguarding team.

Parents/carers

Parents/carers are expected to:

Make sure their child attends every [day/timetabled session] on time
Call the school to report their child’s absence before 9am on the day of the absence and each subsequent day of absence, and advise when they are expected to return
Provide the school with more than 1 emergency contact number for their child
Ensure that, where possible, appointments for their child are made outside of the school day

Pupils

Pupils are expected to:

Attend school every day on time
Attend every timetabled session on time
Call the school to report their absence before (insert time) on the day of the absence

Reporting Absence

Parents/Carers will be expected to provide an acceptable reason for every absence and will be able to report an absence on the day by contacting:

01782 470401 (leave a message if necessary)

Parents/carers are requested to make contact on each day of absence even where pupils are absent for consecutive days, unless otherwise agreed with one of the Attendance Officers.

If absence reasons are medical, evidence will need to be provided such as a stamped medical card, hospital letter or prescription in order for the absence to be authorised. We will mark absence for physical or mental illness as authorised unless we have a concern about the authenticity of the illness.

Where communication is not made with the Academy about the reason for pupil absence this will be deemed as ‘unauthorised absence’. The parent/carer will receive contact from the Academy to ascertain reasons for absence. Calls will be made from the beginning of the school day and will be completed by 11 am on the same day. Follow up will be based on the following timescales:

If a pupil is absent without communication, Mrs Dean will attempt to contact parents. You will receive a phone call from Mrs Dean. If Mrs Dean is unable to contact you, you will receive an email. If we still haven’t had any communication, we will contact emergency contacts on the list.
When a pupil is absent for two or more days without the school being provided with a reason, the Headteacher will conduct a home visit. The home visits are supportive and intended to establish if any actions need to be put in place in order to support a child’s return to school.
For extended periods of absence without reason, we may also contact the Child Missing Education Team at the Council and/or sibling schools to support with enquiries about the whereabouts of the child.
If a child is absent from the Academy for 20 days (or 10 days after an authorised holiday) and their whereabouts are unknown or they are reported to have left Staffordshire, a referral to the Child Missing Education Team will be made and the child will be removed from roll.
Where pupils are identified as vulnerable, or we have a safeguarding concern, if communication is not made on day one of absence, procedures will be followed through more swiftly with welfare checks requested on day one if deemed necessary.

Reporting and Requesting Planned Absences

Attending a medical or dental appointment will be counted as authorised as long as the pupil’s parent/carer notifies the school in advance of the appointment by contacting the school office or emailing angela.dean@coopacademies.co.uk You will need to show your appointment text or letter to verify your appointment. However, we encourage parents/carers to make medical and dental appointments out of school hours where possible. Where this is not possible, the pupil should be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary by returning promptly to school following their appointment and also attend prior to appointment if not first thing in the morning. The appointment should be made at the start/end of the academy day to minimise disruption to learning.

The pupil’s parent/carer must also apply for other types of term-time absence as far in advance as possible of the requested absence. Go to section 7 to find out which term-time absences are authorised.

Recording Absence

Attendance register

By law, all schools are required to keep an attendance register. The academy uses an electronic system (ARBOR) to accurately record attendance and punctuality to every lesson on a daily basis.

The attendance register marks whether every pupils is:

Present
Attending an approved off-site educational activity
Absent
Unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances

Each day, pupils can access the building from 8:40am. They must be in class by 8:50 where they receive their morning mark. Academy registration closes at 9:00am and any pupil arriving after this time will lose half a day of attendance and marked with a U (see appendix 1 for attendance register codes).

Any amendment to the attendance register will include:

The original entry
The amended entry
The reason for the amendment
The date on which the amendment was made
The name and position of the person who made the amendment

We will also record:

Whether the absence is authorised or not
The nature of the activity if a pupil is attending an approved educational activity
The nature of circumstances where a pupil is unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances

Lateness and punctuality

The statutory register of the academy closes at 8:50am daily. After this point, a pupil arriving late without prior notice or a reasonable explanation, will receive an unauthorised absence mark.

A pupil who arrives late:

Before the register has closed will be marked as late, using the appropriate code (L)
After the register has closed will be marked as absent, using the appropriate code (U)

If a pupil arrives:

Between 8:50am and 9:15am, after the entrance gates have closed, they will enter school through the main reception where they will need an adult to sign in.

If a pupil arrives at the academy late, after the register has closed, parents will have to complete the late register for their child.

Persistent lateness

It is not acceptable for pupils to persistently arrive late to school (whether before or after the register has closed) as this not only hinders their progress but also disrupts the learning of others. The Attendance Officer will monitor late arrivals and follow this up through with a letter:

Pupils need to arrive at the academy on time in order to be ready for the day ahead. If they are late numerous times across the week, we will arrange a phone call to discuss the issues and try to find suitable support. This will be monitored to ensure the pupil arrives on time.

All lates and conversations with parents will be logged centrally by the academy.

To support all pupils to attend and be punctual, Co-op Academy Friarswood runs a breakfast club (free to pupil premium students) before school, to ensure that pupils can start the day positively and be on time. If a pupil is persistently late, they may be referred to breakfast club to support punctuality.

If all the above are unsuccessful, the Academy will use legal channels in accordance with the local authority policy. This may mean that court action is taken.

Reporting to parents/carers

Overall attendance is reported to parents/carers at the end of the academic year.

If there is a concern regarding a pupil’s absence, a letter with attendance figures will be shared with the parent / carer. This will be carefully monitored by the Attendance Officer to ensure attendance improves.

Authorised and Unauthorised Absences

Medical and Illness

Children should attend school on every possible day they can. Mild illnesses such as colds and coughs should not prevent a pupil from coming to school. Guidance for school leaders on authorising absence for mild illnesses, or mild anxiety, from the chief medical officer can be found here and details when parents or carers should make sure pupils attend.

Approval for term-time absence

The Government’s amendments of the Education Regulations 2006 removed the right of Headteachers to authorise family holidays and extended leave. The academy policy, therefore, reflects this legislation.

The headteacher will only grant a leave of absence to a pupil during term time if they consider there to be 'exceptional circumstances'. A leave of absence is granted at the headteacher’s discretion, including the length of time the pupil is authorised to be absent for.

The school considers each application for term-time absence individually, taking into account the specific facts, circumstances and relevant context behind the request. Any request should be submitted as soon as it is anticipated and, where possible, at least 4 weeks before the absence. Leave of absence forms can be found in the main entrance. The headteacher may require evidence to support any request for leave of absence including plane tickets; medical evidence; letters from authorities.

Valid reasons for authorised absence include:

Illness (including mental illness) and medical/dental appointments
Religious observance – where the day is exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which the pupil’s parents/carers belong. If necessary, the school will seek advice from the religious body to confirm whether the day is set apart. The academy authorises up to two days for a religious absence per academic year and one day per religious event
Traveller pupils travelling for occupational purposes – this covers Roma, English and Welsh Gypsies, Irish and Scottish travellers, showmen (fairground people) and circus people, bargees (occupational boat dwellers) and new travellers. Absence may be authorised only when a traveller family is known to be travelling for occupational purposes and has agreed this with the school, but it is not known whether the pupil is attending educational provision

Fines and Sanctions

The school or local authority can fine parents/carers for the unauthorised absence of their child from school, where the child is of compulsory school age. The school is obligated to pass information about unauthorised absence to the local authority. This can lead to a fixed penalty notice issued from the authority. If issued with a fine, or penalty notice, each parent/carer must pay £60, per pupil within 21 days or £120 within 28 days. The payment must be made directly to the local authority. Fines are issued per pupil and per parent so in a family of four, you could receive up to four fixed penalty notices.

Penalty notices can be issued by a headteacher, local authority officer or the police.

The decision on whether or not to issue a penalty notice may take into account:

The number of unauthorised absences occurring within a rolling academic year
One-off instances of irregular attendance, such as holidays taken in term time without permission
If an excluded pupil is found in a public place during school hours without a justifiable reason

If the payment has not been made after 28 days, the local authority can decide whether to prosecute or withdraw the notice.

If a pupil fails to return from a leave of absence and contact with the parents has not been made or received, school may take the pupil off the school’s role in compliance with the Education (Student Registration) (England) Regulations 2006. This means that the child will lose their school place.

The school considers each application for term-time absence individually whilst taking into

account circumstances and relevant context behind the request. A leave of absence is granted entirely at the Headteacher’s discretion.

Promoting and Supporting Attendance

At Co-op Academy Friarswood, we celebrate all successes including attendance. We recognise that our pupils don’t always have a say in their attendance so we celebrate attendance as a whole class rather than individually. Each week, the classes with the highest attendance figures are celebrated in Celebration Assembly.

Attendance Monitoring

The school will monitor attendance and absence data weekly, half-termly, termly and yearly across the school and at an individual pupil level. Through this analysis we will Identify whether or not there are particular groups of children whose absences may be a cause for concern

Pupil-level absence data will be collected each term and published at national and local authority level through the DfE's school absence national statistics releases. The underlying school-level absence data is published alongside the national statistics. The school will compare attendance data to the national average, and share this with the academy governing council and Regional Director..

Analysing attendance

The school will analyse attendance and absence data regularly to identify pupils or cohorts that need additional support with their attendance, and use this analysis to provide targeted support to these pupils and their families. We will look at historic and emerging patterns of attendance and absence, and then develop strategies to address these patterns.

Using data to improve attendance

The school will provide regular attendance reports to form tutors and class teachers and to school leaders, to facilitate discussions with pupils and families and use data to monitor and evaluate the impact of any interventions put in place in order to modify them and inform future strategies.

Identifying and supporting Persistent and Severely Absent Pupils

Attendance Overview for Parents

Persistent absence is where a pupil misses 10% or more of school, and severe absence is where a pupil misses 50% or more of school. The academy will work with parents/carers, staff, agencies and pupils to prevent children from falling into either of these categories.

The school will use attendance data to find patterns and trends of persistent and severe absence. We will hold regular meetings with the parents/carers of pupils and all adults who are listed as holding parental responsibility, who the school (and/or local authority) considers to be vulnerable, or are persistently or severely absent, to discuss attendance and engagement at school. We will provide access to wider support services to remove the barriers to attendance.

Pupils with attendance of less than 90% will be identified by the Attendance Officer and referred to the Headteacher for more intensive casework. Preventative intervention work will be done to avoid pupils reaching PA status.

In order to prevent pupils from falling into Persistent Absence category, the following strategy will ensue:

Communication with Mrs Dean

Letter sent home

Support plan in place

Communication with Headteacher

If pupil attendance falls between 71 and 90%, Mrs Dean will and the Headteacher will contact the Education Welfare Officer for official support.

We always aim to work with families to improve attendance and through all of the interventions in place. Where families are not engaging with the support we will have to take more punitive actions including:

Fast Track Initiative
Formal Casework
Referral to educational welfare officers
Referral to Staffordshire Safeguarding Childrens’ Advice Service for legal work

Reintegration after significant absences

Every effort will be made to re-integrate pupils successfully back into the Academy following long periods of absence. This might include:

Phased returns and reduced timetables, in exceptional circumstances
Mentoring from the pastoral team
An attendance support plan agreed with pupils and Parents

Identifying and supporting Children Missing in Education

We recognise that a child going missing from education is a potential indicator of abuse or neglect. A pupil is counted to be ‘Missing in Education’ if they have been absent for 20 consecutive days from the academy (with no reason for absence given) or if they have not returned for 10 consecutive school days after returning from an authorised absence. Where a child is identified as missing education we will comply with our statutory duty to inform the local authority of any pupil who falls within the reporting notification requirements outlined in Children Missing Education – Statutory guidance for local authorities (DfE September 2016) and follow the Staffordshire County Council route.

Children who are absent, abscond or go missing during the school day are vulnerable and at potential risk of abuse, neglect, CSE or CCE including involvement in county lines. Academy staff members must follow the academy’s procedures for dealing with pupils who are absent/go missing (flow chart of actions can be seen in the appendices), particularly on repeat occasions, to help identify the risk of abuse and neglect including sexual abuse or exploitation and to help prevent the risks of going missing in future.

Links with other Policies

This policy links to the following policies:

Academy Safeguarding Policy
Behaviour policy
Exclusions Policy

All people will be treated equally including those within the nine protected characteristics.

Co-op Academy Friarswood is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people / vulnerable adults. We expect all staff, visitors and volunteers to share this commitment.

Appendix 1 - Coding

The following codes are taken from the DfE’s guidance on school attendance.

Present Codes

Code	Definition	Scenario
/	Present (am)	Pupil is present at morning registration
\	Present (pm)	Pupil is present at afternoon registration
L	Late arrival	Pupil arrives late before register has closed
B	Off-site educational activity	Pupil is at a supervised off-site educational activity approved by the school
D	Dual registered	Pupil is attending a session at another setting where they are also registered
J	Interview	Pupil has an interview with a prospective employer/educational establishment
P	Sporting activity	Pupil is participating in a supervised sporting activity approved by the school
V	Educational trip or visit	Pupil is on an educational visit/trip organised, or approved, by the school
W	Work experience	Pupil is on a work experience placement

Absence Codes

Code	Definition	Scenario
Authorised absence
C	Authorised leave of absence	Pupil has been granted a leave of absence due to exceptional circumstances
E	Excluded	Pupil has been excluded but no alternative provision has been made
H	Authorised holiday	Pupil has been allowed to go on holiday due to exceptional circumstances
I	Illness	School has been notified that a pupil will be absent due to illness
M	Medical/dental appointment	Pupil is at a medical or dental appointment
R	Religious observance	Pupil is taking part in a day of religious observance
S	Study leave	Year 11 pupil is on study leave during their public examinations, used until the end of the exams.
T	Gypsy, Roma and traveller absence	Pupil from a traveller community is travelling, as agreed with the school
Unauthorised absence
G	Unauthorised holiday	Pupil is on a holiday that was not approved by the school
N	Reason not provided	Pupil is absent for an unknown reason (this code should be amended when the reason emerges, or replaced with code O if no reason for absence has been provided after a reasonable amount of time)
O	Unauthorised absence	School is not satisfied with reason for pupil's absence
U	Arrival after registration	Pupil arrived at school after the register closed

X	Not required to be in school	Pupil of non-compulsory school age is not required to attend
Y	Unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances	School site is closed, there is disruption to travel as a result of a local/national emergency, or pupil is in custody
Z	Pupil not on admission register	Register set up but pupil has not yet joined the school
#	Planned school closure	Whole or partial school closure due to half-term/bank holiday/INSET day.

Appendix 2 - Definitions

Fine

Your local council can give each parent a fine of £60, which rises to £120 each if you do not pay within 21 days. If you do not pay the fine after 28 days you may be prosecuted for your child’s absence from school.

Prosecution

You could get a fine of up to £2,500, a community order or a jail sentence up to 3 months. The court also gives you a Parenting Order.

Education Supervision Order

If the council thinks you need support getting your child to go to school but you’re not co-operating, they can apply to a court for an Education Supervision Order.

A supervisor will be appointed to help you get your child into education. The local council can do this instead of prosecuting you, or as well.

Parenting Order

This means you have to go to parenting classes. You’ll also have to do what the court says to improve your child’s school attendance.