Attendance
The link between attendance and attainment in school is clear. The more a pupil is in school the more they increase their opportunity to fulfil their potential.
Attendance & Learning
As you know your child’s attendance at school is extremely important and is directly linked to their overall attainment. This is why we, at Castle View School, take attendance and absence very seriously.
Our school target for attendance and for each individual student is 96%. This equates to having only 7.5 days absent from school across one academic year.
We understand that there may be reasons why a child may need to be absent from school for more than this number of days and as a school we will support you and your child in every way we can. We ask that as a parent/carer that you keep us fully informed of any absences, in advance if possible, and reasons why so that we can put that support into place for you and your child. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that your child has the best possible opportunity at school and that this is not disadvantaged by absences.
Below you will find a breakdown of where your child is on our attendance ladder. This should hopefully illustrate why we are so passionate about students attending school every day because otherwise it has a direct, negative, impact on their learning and success at school.
Attendance Rewards
We run a half-termly attendance rewards programme to celebrate with students the successes they achieve when they are in school. Any student with 97% attendance each half term is entered into our prize draw where they could win a £10 voucher for themselves or a £50 voucher for their family!
Absence
- If your child is going to be absent please inform the school as soon as possible between 8.00am – 9.00am on the morning of absence, or before if possible. Please call the school’s attendance officer on 01268222671.
- All absence is recorded as unauthorised unless it is supported by medical evidence such as an appointment card, hospital letter or copy of any medication prescribed in relation to the absence.
Our Attendance Codes Explained;
Should you wish to apply for a leave of absence, please fill in a leave of absence form. (can we link it here) These are available to collect from Main Reception and Student Reception. These forms are to be returned to Miss Hoath or your child’s Student Support Officer and they will be dealt with accordingly. If you have any evidence to support your leave of absence and feel it necessary to send this in then please do so. We will inform you of the outcome of your application as soon as possible.
Late to school/Lesson
- Learning at Castle View begins at 8.30am. All children should be in school by 8.25am to ensure that they are on time to their first learning session of the day, tutor time.
- Any child arriving after 8.30am will be classed as late to school and will receive a sanction whereby they pay back the time they were late to school in a detention.
- Students who arrive after the door has closed, at 8.30am, are late and will enter via the community entrance. Here, lateness will be recorded by our attendance ambassador and sanctions will be set accordingly.
- Students who are regularly late to school will be placed on report however we ask parents/carers to ensure their children are on time and ready to begin learning at 8.30am, every day.
Lateness
Poor punctuality is not acceptable. If a child misses the start of the day they can miss work and do not spend time with their class teacher getting vital information and news for the day. Late arriving pupils also disrupt lessons, can be embarrassing for the child and can also encourage absence. Good time-keeping is a vital life skill which will help our children as they progress through their school life and out into the wider world.
How we manage lateness:
Pupils should be in school for both morning and afternoon registration. Morning registration is at 8.30 am. If a pupil arrives after this time, but before 8.50 am, they must register in Form and will be marked as late and the time of arrival recorded. They will be recorded as an L Code and receive a 15 minute detention at break time that day.
Should a pupil arrive after 8.50 am, they must register at Student Reception and will receive an unauthorised absence/ late mark. They will be recorded as an U Code and receive a 1 hour detention.
Afternoon registration is at 12.20pm
Pupils who are late on two or more occasions will be subject to late reports, increased detentions and other sanctions.
At 8.50am the registers will be closed. In accordance with the Regulations, if your child arrives after that time they will receive a mark that shows them to be on site ‘U’, but this will not count as a present mark and it will mean they have an unauthorised absence. This may mean that you could face the possibility of being issued with a Penalty Notice if the problem persists. We expect parents and staff to encourage good punctuality by being good role models to our children and celebrate good class and individual punctuality.
Aquinas Provisions
Aquinas Provisions works with us at Castle View school to support families and students with their attendance to school. A member of the Aquinas team may phone you to discuss your child’s attendance and to develop a plan to support students and families.
Penalty notices
Penalty Notices apply to students of statutory school age (which ends in Year 11). Aquinas and the Local Authority have agreed to use Penalty Notices for the following circumstances:
- Penalty Notices may be issued where there has been unauthorised absence.
- Parent/carers will receive a warning letter at least 10 days prior to the issue of a Penalty Notice.
- If the law continues to be broken around school attendance, the legal intervention process will be used.
- The penalty for each parent/carer is £60 for each child if paid within 21 days of receipt of the notice, rising to £120 if paid after 21 days but within 28 days of receipt of the Notice.
- Failure to ensure that the child attends school punctually and regularly could lead to legal action being taken against the respective parent/carer. This could result in each parent/carer receiving a fine of up to £2,500 for each time or up to 3 months’ imprisonment.
