Following the recent court hearing please see the letter below regarding holidays during term time.
Fixed Penalty Notice for Unauthorised Holidays Court Outcome - April 2017
There is nothing more important to a child's progress at school than good attendance and punctuality. Students cannot learn if they are not in school or miss work because they are late. For this reason all parents and carers have been given the responsibility in law to make sure that their child attends, on time and prepared to learn. All our students have the target of 100% attendance. I am sure you are all aware of the increased attention which is being given to this national problem and which has resulted in parents being jailed for their failure to ensure that their children attend the Academy regularly. We are working with the Local Authority Welfare service to bring about Fixed Penalty Notices to students who have below 93% attendance.
If your child's attendance is 90% this indicates that they are missing half a day a week. Therefore if their attendance is 80%, this indicates they are missing a day a week and missing a fifth of their education.
Unfortunately, poor attendance and punctuality patterns can become a routine for some children so parents/guardians/carers and schools need to work hard together to make sure this does not happen. We have done many things in the past to emphasise the importance of good attendance and punctuality to all students and we continue to introduce new measures. We have introduced lesson by lesson registration to identify those students who truant during the course of the day. We will also be imposing LATE DETENTIONS for those students who are consistently late within the week: by giving breaktime and a 30 minute after school detention. Every child needs to be in school every day, on time for the start of Lesson 1 at 8.40am. If you have any worries please contact our Attendance Manager, Pat Barber or any member of our Home Academy Liaison Team.
Holidays
Although there are 13 weeks of school holidays each year, far too many students are missing school because they are being taken on family holidays in term-time. Any loss of learning will have an effect on their eventual overall success. In Years 10 & 11 any time lost will almost certainly have an impact on their ability to achieve their best at GCSE.
Holiday absence is classified in exactly the same way as any other absence and for every five days missed your child’s overall attendance percentage will reduce by 2.5%. Reports on attendance are the most requested piece of information from prospective employers and training institutions when references are requested.
The Governors have agreed that the school will not authorise any absences for family holidays. Whilst we recognise the enormous financial pressures associated with family holidays, we have no option but to put your son or daughter’s education and life-chances first. The vast majority of our parents already fully support this principle and I hope you understand that our motives are in the best interests of your child.
If an unauthorised holiday is taken during term time then a Fixed Penalty Notice may be issued by the Education Welfare Service.