Attendance
As you would have seen from the letter in July 2024 (above), there have been some changes in the guidance given to schools from the Department for Education regarding attendance.
This has led to Barnwood Park reviewing our attendance, monitoring and management policies, and we would therefore like you to be aware of what you can expect from the school regarding your child's attendance. There will be a focus on the attendance of all students but in particular any student that falls below 90%. We expect all students to try and achieve the school target of 96% or above.
- If we have not been contacted by you, through the attendance phone line/email address, we will contact all parents/carers if your child is not in school (01452 530389 opt 1 - attendance@barnwoodpark.co.uk)
- If a student is off for 3 or more days, for a medical reason, we may contact you and request evidence such as a GP appointment card or copy of a prescription.
- We will write to you regularly if your child's attendance is considered a concern, in particular if a student's attendance is 90% or below.
- We will write to you if your child's attendance or punctuality takes them near to the threshold for further action, such as fixed penalty notices e.g 5 or 10 days unauthorised absence, 10 lates to school (arriving after 9:15am) in a 10 week period.
- We will invite you in to discuss your child's attendance should it fail to improve and therefore remains a concern.
As a school, we will expect our students to achieve at least 96% attendance.
Attendance and Punctuality
We encourage parents/carers to ensure their child achieves a maximum attendance. However, should your child be absent for any reason please phone 01452 530389 by 8:30am on each day of absence or contact us via email at attendance@barnwoodpark.co.uk. If a message has not been received by 9:15 am our Attendance Manager will contact you via text/phone.
An excellent attendance record is essential if you are going to be able to perform to the best of your ability at school
If a student has to stay at home because of illness please follow these steps:
- Parent or carer should contact the school before 8:30am on each day of absence and leave a message on the absence line.
- State the full name of the student, students form and conditions of illness.
- Parents and carers may be asked to supply a doctors note/supporting evidence following absence due to illness.
Truancy
If a student is absent from school without permission this will be identified as truancy and appear as such on school records, students will incur a sanction for this.
Medical and dental appointments
Click here for Request for Leave for Medical Appointment form
Unless genuinely unavoidable all medical and dental appointments should be made outside school time. If there are on-going medical issues please let the school know so arrangements for extra support for your child can be made.
Family Holidays
Family holidays must not be arranged during school time because it disrupts work and progress. Family holidays during school time will not be authorised.
Special circumstances
As a school we recognise that sometimes a student may need to have time away due to special circumstances, please contact the Attendance Manager- attendance@barnwoodpark.co.uk, to discuss your needs further and put forward any arrangements to the Head Teacher.
Morning Registration
Students should arrive at morning greeting by 8:40am and a register will be taken at 8:45am. If they arrive after 8:45am they must sign in with the Attendance Officer and will receive a late mark. An unauthorised absence mark will be given if a student arrives after 9:15am. A 20 minute after school detention will be issued for any student that is late to school and this will be notified to parents via EduLink. Persistent absence will result in further sanction. If a student arrives late and fails to sign in it is likely parents and carers will receive a text message or phone call from our Attendance Manager.
Fixed term Penalties
Gloucestershire Local authority have implemented a system of fines for parents and carers of students who have 5 or more days of consecutive or cumulative absence due to term time leave. These absences can be a combination of the following codes:
G - Term Time Leave of Absence
O - Unauthorised Absence - Failure to contact the school (unexplained absence) may result in an absence being recorded as unauthorised
U - Late After the Close of Registers
Click here for more information on the Gloucestershire County Council website.
The world is run by those who turn up
- Attending school every day = 100% Attendance
- Attending 4.5 days a week = 90% Attendance = 4 Weeks missed per Year
- Attending 4 days a week = 80% Attendance = More than half a term missed per year
- Attending 3.5 days a week = 70% Attendance = More than a quarter of the school year missed.
- An average attendance of 80% or less across a childs school career adds up to missing a whole 2 years of school.
- Being late for school reduces learning time
- If your child is late 5 minutes every day = 3 days learning a year missed
- If your child is late 15 minutes every day = 2 weeks of learning a year missed