Reporting Absence
Attendance
We strive to create a safe and supportive learning environment that encourages students to aim for 100% attendance and excellent punctuality as research demonstrates a clear link between regular attendance and educational progress and attainment.
Why attending school matters
Having good attendance to school is vital: it helps students to feel safe and to achieve the best grades possible, it develops good learning habits and increases life chances and opportunities. It also helps to establish good relationships between staff, pupils, and families.
Reporting an absence
If your child is going to be absent from school, please notify us every day that they are going to be absent before 8am using the following contact details and leaving your child’s name, year and tutor group and reason for their absence:
Late to School
A student is late to school if they arrive after 8:30am. The Attendance officer will mark students present with a ‘L’ code and record the number of minutes late after 8:30am. The student will receive a lunch time detention on the same day, and parents will receive a text message informing them of their child’s late arrival to school.
Registers close at 9am. Students arriving after this time must sign in at reception and will receive a ‘U’ code. This means that their attendance for the morning is 0%. The student will also get a late detention but may also be placed on report to try and improve their punctuality. The ‘U’ code will affect the student’s attendance, which could also result in a fine if they continue to arrive late.
Exceptional leave requests, penalty fines for holiday and unauthorised absences
Exceptional leave is the term used to describe absence requests from school, whether it is for holidays, to attend a wedding/funeral, visit a sick relative or seek medical treatment abroad. Contrary to popular belief, there is no entitlement to 10 days’ absence from school per academic year and none of the reasons above would be granted exceptional leave.
In an academic year, the terms are usually planned so there are 190 teaching days in total. This leaves 13 weeks (Monday to Friday) and 52 weekends (Saturday to Sunday) where leave can be taken with no interruption to the teaching and learning for a pupil.
The 1996 Education Act states that parents are responsible for ensuring their child[ren] attend school regularly and punctually, and there should be no interruption to the teaching and learning of the pupil.
Schools keep strict records of requests for exceptional leave in term time across all year groups and log the dates and reasons for each request. Patterns of absence from previous years are carefully scrutinised. Requests for exceptional leave are kept in the pupil’s school file and passed from school to school, whether it is primary school, secondary school or academy
Ealing Council advises Headteachers not to authorise exceptional leave requests in school time. To continue to apply for exceptional leave, please click the link below and complete the online form.
Exceptional leave that was not requested by the parent or authorised by the Headteacher is recorded in the register as unauthorised absence. Each day will record two sessions of absence (A.M. and P.M.).
We are asked to warn you that, following guidance on school attendance that came into effect in September 2024, new absence fine rates and thresholds at which penalty notices can be considered are now in place. If a family takes their children out of school without authorisation for 5 or more days (which do not have to be consecutive) in a 10-week period, they will be liable to receive a penalty notice from Ealing. This can also include poor punctuality to school without an acceptable reason. Currently, the amount payable under a penalty notice is £160 per parent/carer, which reduces to £80 if paid within 21 days. If a further 5 days of absence occur, parents will be liable for a second penalty notice of £160 per parent per child with no reduction. If the penalty notice remains unpaid after 28 days, the Local Authority will consider a prosecution in the Magistrates Court. Please note that penalty notices are issued per parent/carer per family so a family of two parents and two children will receive 4 penalty notices. Further absence could also result in prosecution.
For further information, please see the Department for Education guidance for families on supporting children to attend school and getting the right support:
https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/back-into-school/resources-for-families/
