Narrated introduction to Attendance
Information for parents and carers on the importance of attendance and the attendance process:
The Purbeck School is committed to ensuring that all families understand the importance of high attendance. Attendance in school is vital for academic success. We will work hard to provide a safe and welcoming environment for your child and will monitor attendance closely. The Purbeck School has an attendance expectation of 96% or better.
Absence
Pupils must arrive in school before 8.40am. Parents are expected to notify the school office of pupil absence. In the case of illness, parents should inform the school office on the first day of absence and then each day thereafter.
To report your child’s absence, please complete our Pupil Absence Form as early as possible.
The school will contact parents on a daily basis if they fail to inform the school of an absence. The school must be notified of the reason for a child’s absence in order to safeguard the child and protect their educational well-being.
Term-time leave of absence
You can only allow your child to miss school if:
- They are too ill to attend.
- You have advance permission from the school.
To make an absence request, you must submit a formal request to the school before you arrange for your child to have time away. Please complete our Request for Leave of Absence and email it to the headteacher via office@purbeck.dorset.sch.uk.
Is the school likely to grant absence requests?
The headteacher will consider each absence request individually and decide:
- Whether to grant the absence
- How many days your child can be away from school for (if the absence is granted)
Absence requests will only be granted in exceptional circumstances. Family holidays and doctor’s appointments are not permitted during term time. Pupils have 13 weeks’ school holiday per year and further time off on teacher training days. We kindly ask parents to make routine doctor and dental appointments during these dates in order to avoid unnecessary absence. Absence should not coincide with important school events, such as the start of term or exams.
What if I take my child on unauthorised absence?
If you take your child out of school without advance permission (except where they’re unwell), you can be fined or even prosecuted. This could involve:
- A fine of £60 within 21 days (or, if unpaid, £120 within 28 days)
- A parenting order, education supervision order or school attendance order
The importance of good attendance
Good school attendance improves your child’s chances of success in life. There is clear evidence of the link between good attendance at school and high levels of achievement. Studies have shown that pupils who attend less than 95% of the time fail to achieve 5 grade 4 and above at GCSE and therefore are denied the chance to a successful, fulfilling life.
If your child has an attendance level of 90%, they will have missed one day a fortnight in school. Over a school year, this will represent four weeks of absence. If this level of absence were maintained for a five-year period, it would mean half a school year would have been missed.
Attendance Monitoring and Support
We would really appreciate your help in ensuring that your child has good school attendance. For the reasons above, we monitor attendance patterns with vigilance and hold parents to account where necessary. If there is a concern, we will write to you and talk with you so that we can work together to identify any barriers that may be preventing your child from attending school and ensure support is put in place. It is hoped that this will be successful in improving attendance.
Where support has failed to address attendance issues, we will contact you again to invite you to an Attendance Meeting where we can identify the reasons why attendance has not improved and change or adjust the intervention where appropriate.
At The Purbeck School, we are determined to ensure that all our students have the opportunity to achieve success and have an excellent record of attendance. If following additional support attendance does not improve sufficiently, you will be invited to meet with the school and an Inclusion Lead from Dorset Council at an Inclusion Panel. Other professionals may also be invited, where appropriate. This meeting is an opportunity to meet and discuss why your child has a high absence rate and seek solutions to any problems.
The Inclusion Panel can recommend several outcomes, which can include a further period of close monitoring with specified targets for attendance; issuing a £60 Penalty Notice, a Parenting Order or seeking prosecution which could result in a fine of up to £2,500.
It is hoped that such measures will not be needed and that your child will have a good record of attendance, is happy and achieves the best possible outcomes.
Contacts If you have any questions with regards to attendance, then please do contact us at office@purbeck.dorset.sch.uk.
Alternatively, if you wish to speak to our attendance officer, then please ring Katya Woodward on 01929 550077.
Key resources