Attendance & Punctuality

The key to academic success and general wellbeing at school is by having excellent attendance.  We expect all our students to maintain an excellent record, so that they can “Be The Best They Can  Be.”  Students should be attending school every day and on time.  Please try to avoid appointments for your son/daughter during the school day; this will impact their attendance percentage.  Holidays should not be taken during term time. 

We ask families to perform their legal duty by ensuring their children of compulsory school age who are registered at school, attend regularly and are punctual to their lessons. The school aims for an environment which enables and encourages all members of the school community to reach for excellence. For students to gain the greatest benefit from their education it is vital that they attend regularly and should attend school, on time, every day the school is open unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable.

Student Absence Line 020 8892 7607

The Importance of Good Attendance

School is the best place for children and young people’s education and wellbeing. We are delighted that our attendance in 2023-2024 was the best in the borough for secondary schools and remained in the top 10% of secondary schools in England last year, including being in the top 10% for similar schools to ours. It is evident that our families clearly understand how important it is for their children to attend school regularly.

We expect that students’ attendance and punctuality should be as close to 100% as possible. The minimum expected level of attendance for Orleans Park is 96% attendance.

Regular absence will seriously affect a student’s learning. For example, attendance of 90% over an academic year is nearly one month’s absence from school. Any student’s absence disrupts teaching routines and in turn may affect the learning of others in the same class.

At KS4, pupils not achieving grade 9 to 4 in English and Maths had an overall absence rate of 8.8%, compared to 5.2% among those achieving grade 4. The overall absence rate of pupils not achieving grade 9 to 4 was over twice as high as those achieving grade 9 to 5 (8.8% compared to 3.7%). (pp. 8-9 Working together to improve school attendance).

There is a clear link between poor attendance at school and lower academic achievement at GCSE level, with poor attenders much less likely to achieve five good passes at GCSE, including English and Maths. Similarly, research clearly demonstrates a strong correlation between high absenteeism and poor student attainment when studying A Level subjects.

The Government has published statutory guidance on attendance for schools: Working together to improve school attendance

We understand and appreciate that, for a small number of young people, there may be a variety of reasons that make attending school more challenging. We will always seek to work with families to support the young person and their family and prioritise at all times their emotional health and wellbeing. It is important though for all families to understand that there is this legislation in place that we are obliged to follow. A key message in the guidance is the prioritisation of face-to-face education. While the DfE recognises the value of remote learning particularly for students with medical needs or those who face other barriers to in-person attendance, the emphasis remains on physical attendance whenever possible.

In accordance with Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024, we recognise that Children who are absent from education are at significant risk of underachieving, being victims of harm, exploitation or radicalisation, and becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) later in life. We will always treat children being absent from school or college, particularly repeatedly and/or for prolonged periods within that safeguarding context. (p.152 Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024).

Any problems with regular attendance should be discussed with the school as soon as possible so that a shared plan can be agreed that maintains their attendance and enables them to achieve. If you have any concerns please contact either your child’s Tutor, Head of Year or Attendance Officer.

Punctuality

Poor punctuality is not acceptable; students arriving late are disruptive to other students’ learning.

For Key Stage 3 and 4 students, the school day starts at 8.30 am and students are expected to be in their tutor room by that time. A bell will ring at 8.25am indicating that students must make their way to their tutor room. If a student arrives at tutor time after 8.30am, they will be marked as late and will serve a 15 minute detention after school on the allotted day for their Year group.

If a student arrives late to school three times within the same week they will attend a 1 hour detention after school on Friday. For the purposes of this sanction, the school week will be considered as running from Friday-Thursday to enable students and families to be given 24 hours notice before receiving this sanction.

For Key Stage 5 students, the school day starts at 8.45am unless they have an individual meeting with their tutor.

At 9.30am the registers will be closed. If a student arrives after this time they will receive a mark that shows them to be on site. This will not count as a present mark and it may also result in an unauthorised absence.

Authorised and Unauthorised Absence

An authorised absence may be approved for a morning or afternoon away from school for an appropriate reason, which unavoidably fall in school time, emergencies or other unavoidable cause. Please note that any authorised absence will still reflect on a student's percentage attendance. 

Unauthorised absences are where the school does not consider the absence to be reasonable and for which no “leave of absence" has been approved. Reducing unauthorised absence from school is a key priority nationally and locally because missing school damages a student’s attainment levels, disrupts school routines and the learning of others. This type of absence may result in school sanctions and/or legal proceedings. This can include:

• Families keeping children off school unnecessarily
• Truancy
• Unexplained absences
• Children who arrive at school too late to get a mark
• Shopping, looking after other children or birthdays
• Day trips and holidays in term time

The statutory guidance is clear that all state funded schools must consider whether a penalty notice for absence is appropriate in each individual case where one of their pupils reaches the national threshold for considering a penalty notice. Schools should not have a blanket position of issuing/not issuing penalty notices, and should make judgements on each individual case to ensure fairness and consistency across the country. The threshold is 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a rolling period of 10 school weeks. A school week means any week in which there is at least one school session. This can be met with any combination of unauthorised absence (e.g. 4 sessions of holiday taken in term time plus 6 sessions of arriving late after the register closes all within 10 school weeks). These sessions can be consecutive (e.g. 10 sessions of holiday in one week) or not (e.g. 6 sessions of unauthorised absence taken in 1 week and 1 per week for the next 4 weeks). The period of 10 school weeks can also span different terms or school years (e.g. 2 sessions of unauthorised absence in the Summer Term and a further 8 within the Autumn Term).

Medical & Dental Appointments

Families should avoid scheduling medical appointments for students during the school day.  

If your child has an unavoidable medical appointment and they miss registration in the morning or afternoon, they will lose an attendance mark for half a day and their attendance that week will fall to 90%.  Many of the appointment times mean that students can attend school first and return afterwards. This means they minimise missed lessons as well as keeping their attendance levels as high as possible. Therefore, we ask that families send their child into school for morning registration, even if they have a medical appointment in the middle of the morning. 

We encourage students to return to school after their appointment wherever possible, or to schedule appointments for as late as possible in the afternoon.

Leave of Absence in Term Time

There is no entitlement in law for non essential absences during term time. A leave of absence is granted at the Headteacher’s discretion. The Headteacher will only authorise leave of absence in exceptional circumstances and will determine the length of time the student can be away from school. Family holidays taken during term time will not be authorised. The school considers each application for term-time absence individually, taking into account the specific facts, circumstances and relevant context behind the request.

All applications for Leave of Absence including external exams, sport fixtures, music or sports competitions or funerals should be made in writing to the Headteacher who will consider the application. It is important that families understand when Leave of Absence will not be agreed by the school, for example:

• Immediately before and during assessment periods, GCSEs, A Levels or any other public examinations
• When a student’s attendance record already includes some unauthorised absence
• Where a student’s attendance rate is already below (96%) or will fall to or below that level as a result of taking leave
• Any period of leave taken without the agreement of the school, or in excess of that agreed, will be classed as unauthorised.

We would particularly draw your attention to paragraphs 37-38 of the statutory guidance which deals with granting leaves of absence. For ease of reference, it is reproduced below:

Granting Leaves of Absence:

37. All schools can grant a leave of absence when a pupil needs to be absent from school with permission. All schools are expected to restrict leaves of absence to the specific circumstances set out in regulation 11 of the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 and schools maintained by a local authority and special schools not maintained by a local authority must do so. These circumstances are:

• Taking part in a regulated performance or employment abroad: in line with a licence issued by a local authority or Justice of the Peace or a body of persons approval (BOPA). (For full details please see Code C1)

• Attending an interview: for entry into another educational institution or for future employment where requested in advance by a parent the pupil normally lives with.

• Study leave: for public examinations, as agreed in advance with a parent the pupil normally lives with. Please note this does not include any internal examinations such as mocks as study leave should not be granted in such cases.

• A temporary, time-limited part-time timetable: where the pupil is of compulsory school age, both the parent who the pupil normally lives with and school agree the pupil should temporarily be educated on a part-time basis for exceptional reasons and have agreed the times and dates when the pupil will be expected to attend school as part of that timetable. (For full details please see part-time timetable)

• Exceptional circumstances: All schools can grant a leave of absence for other exceptional circumstances at their discretion. In the case of schools maintained by local authorities and special schools not maintained by local authorities, it must be requested in advance by a parent who the pupil normally lives with. Schools are then expected to consider each application individually taking into account the specific facts and circumstances and relevant background context behind the request. If a leave of absence is granted, it is for the school to determine the length of the time the pupil can be away from school. 

38. Generally, the DfE does not consider a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance. Leave of absence should not be granted for a pupil to take part in protest activity during school hours.

Orleans Park Attendance Policy 

Attendance Policy