Attendance and Punctuality

 

Wellacre's attendance is above the national average and has been for the last few years. At Wellacre we are committed to maximising the achievement of all our students. There is a clear link between attendance and educational achievement. Our aim is to promote excellent attendance and punctuality in order to ensure all of our students achieve their potential. We are extremely proud of the excellent partnership between home and school. We regularly recognise, celebrate and reward students with excellent attendance at our celebration assemblies and at our annual Awards Evening in the summer term. In House assemblies, we celebrate and recognise each House and tutor group with the best attendance and most improved attendance. 

The DfE 'Working together to improve school attendance' guidance is available on their website. This clarifies the expectations for parents/carers, schools and the Local Authority to promote the importance of regular attendance at school and to provide ideas for support and intervention when a young person is not attending school on a regular basis. The guidance includes information on attendance coding for schools to use on their attendance registers.

The regulations mean that your child's attendance data will be shared with the Department for Education and the Local Authority every day. This will be live data and will allow the DfE to provide schools with the tools to monitor and see improvement in attendance and will allow the Local Authority to provide advice, support and Early Help services. It will also allow the tracking of attendance trends across year groups and student cohorts.

Punctuality

All students must arrive on time and be ready for learning with the correct equipment. Wellacre is open from 7.45am for breakfast in the school canteen where a range of breakfast options can be purchased.  Students can also complete a pre-order for a cold lunch at this time. Their 'grab bag' can be collected at lunchtime without joining the lunch queue. All students should be on site by 8:20am, ready to meet their Achievement Tutor and line up as required in their allocated House area of the school.  Tutor time begins at 8.30am.  Any student arriving at school after 8:30am will be considered late to school. Students who arrive late to school without a valid reason, on two or more occasions in a week, will serve a consequence on the same day at lunchtime. They will still get time for their lunch. If they don't attend, the consequence will be moved to after the school the same day. Text messages are sent out informing parents/carers if their child is absent or arrive late to school.  Poor punctuality can have legal implications for parents/carers. Students who arrives after 9.10am (when the registers close) will be marked as unauthorised late. Ten sessions of unauthorised absence/late can result in a Fixed Penalty Notice (fine) being issued by Trafford Local Authority.

Leave of absence in term time

Education Regulations clearly state that Head Teachers/Principals may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless in exceptional circumstances.  Any parent wanting to take their child out of school, during term time, must inform the Principal in writing, by completing and submitting this form with plenty of notice (4 weeks).

Student Leave of Absence Application Form

Each application is looked at on an individual basis and you will be informed by letter of the outcome.  It is highly unusual to grant leave of absence during term time.  Any leave taken without permission will be classed as unauthorised absence and a Fixed Penalty Notice may be issued.

Term dates can be found on the school website and are published two years in advance.

Medical & Dental Appointments

Every effort should be made to arrange medical appointments outside of the school day.  We do recognise that this is not always possible. If your child needs to attend a medical appointment within the school day, they must bring the appointment card to the School Reception.  All students leaving or arriving at school during the day must sign in/out at reception.  Taking a full day of absence for an appointment is not normally necessary and we expect students to be in school either before or after the appointment.

Illness

Please make contact with school by 9.00am at the latest, on the first day of absence, if your child is unable to attend due to illness and on each subsequent day of absence. This should be done by telephoning the school on 0161 748 5011 and select the attendance line (Option 2), providing your name, your child's name, tutor group and reason for absence.

Please encourage your child to attend school for minor ailments like a sore throat or a headache. If your child has more than five days of consecutive absence we will require medical evidence to authorise the absence. Medical evidence can be in the form of a medical appointment card, a medical letter, a copy of your child's prescription, medication with a chemist's label showing the name and the date or an "unfit for school" declaration or letter from your GP in the case of acute or prolonged illness. A text message is sent to every parent whose child has an 'unexplained absence' each morning asking them to contact school; if there is no contact a follow-up phone call is then made.  In some cases we may do a home visit or we notify Trafford Pupil Absence Team.

If you are uncertain whether your child is well enough to attend school, please refer to this NHS page for guidance - Is My Child Too Ill For School?

Persistent absence

Persistent absence is defined as:

• Any child who has 3 days absence or 6 sessions* in a 30 day period

• Any child who has below 90% attendance

(*session equivalent of a half day in school)

If our efforts have had little or no impact on improving your son's attendance / punctuality, parents/carers will be asked to attend a meeting with their son's Head of House and/or the Vice Principal.  A Fixed Penalty Notice can be issued after 10 sessions of unauthorised absence and/or unauthorised lates. Parents/carers have both a moral and legal responsibility to ensure that their children attend school regularly and on time. Failure to do this may result in parents/carers being prosecuted under section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996.

Supporting your child, by encouraging full attendance at school, will help give them the best possible start in life. We know that irregular attendance only affects a very small percentage of Wellacre students and as a team we continue to do all we can to ensure maximum attendance at school. If you would like any further advice or guidance on attendance issues please do not hesitate to contact your child's Head of House or our Attendance Officer, Mrs George.