Designated Safeguard Lead
Blog
ParentPayAttendance/Absence
Parents and carers have a huge impact on student attendance and we appreciate your support. In line with DfE guidance, if a student is going to be absent for any reason, parents must call the school before 8.30am. No other method of informing us will be acceptable as part of our safeguarding procedure.
Please call 01233 634171 to report your child's absence, on every day they are absent.
In the unlikely event that a student is absent from school and the parent/ carer has not let us know, we will send a text message. However, from January, if we are not contacted in response to the text within 30 minutes, we will follow our safeguarding procedures which may result in a home welfare visit.
01233-634171
| Senior Attendance Officer (Year 10 and 11) |
Tracey Epps Ext 258 |
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| Attendance Officer (Year 7, 8 and 9) |
Claire Saxby Ext 242 |
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| Attendance Data Administration | Kelsey Marshall |
Once a pupil’s attendance reaches 90%, parents will be invited into school to have a meeting with the Vice Principal and the Attendance Officer, to discuss any arising issues or concerns.
From September 2013, the Department of Education have amended the Pupil Registrations Regulations, removing the Principal’s ability to authorise leave of absence for the purpose of a family holiday, unless there are exceptional circumstances. Request for holidays in term time will NOT be authorised for any pupils in school. Kent Local Education Authority (LA) introduced Penalty Notices for unauthorised absence from school of at least 10 sessions (5 days) in a current term.
Once a pupil achieves 10 unauthorised absences, then a Penalty Notice can be issued by the school, which will be a £120 fine per parent, and must be paid within 21 days. If paid in the first 21 days following the Notice issue date, the fine will be reduced to £60 per parent. Failure to pay could result in a court appearance. If a pupil’s attendance still makes no improvement then the school has no alternative but to refer the family to the Attendance Service, who will follow up on the non-attendance.
If you feel there are issues that may affect your child’s attendance, please contact the school as soon as possible. As a school, we are always happy to try and help with any attendance issues in the first instance.
90% attendance is equivalent to half a day of school missed every week.
If 90% attendance is maintained throughout the year, that equates to 4 whole weeks worth of lessons being missed.
90% attendance over 5 years of education is equivalent to half a school year being missed.
Click here to view the ‘Attendance Matters’ booklet
Click here to view the ‘How to avoid being late for school’
Sixth Form Attendance
Please do not make routine doctors, dental or other appointments during the school day. This includes driving lessons. For medical appointments that cannot be arranged outside of school hours we will need proof of the appointment (i.e appointment card or letter).
Sixth Form attendance – 01233 634171 ext 555 or email 6th@towers.school