Attendance - Bilton School

We are committed to all our students having the best possible education and positive experiences during their time with us – making positive connections with their tutor, peers, subjects, through memorable experiences in school, trips and extra-curricular opportunities. To achieve this, we expect that students achieve at least 96% attendance every academic year.

There are a variety of reasons for students missing school. Some reasons are unavoidable, but we are committed to working with you to ensure that your child fully benefits from coming to school to form strong and lasting connections.

All absences have to be coded and then become part of your child's attendance record. Where a student is not in school and we don’t receive a reason, we have to mark this absence as unauthorised.

If your child is unable to attend school, please report the absence on the first day of absence, via our ClassCharts app. Please ensure you have the app installed and notifications enabled as we will communicate with you via the app if your child is not in school without a reason.

Application for Leave

Leave of absence during term time

Attendance Policy

Attendance Ladder

Reporting Your Child Absent

Any student absence should be reported before 8.30am in one of the following ways:

ClassCharts App

ClassCharts Report an Absence Instructions

Telephone: 01788 840600

Email: bilabsence@stowevalley.com

Text: 01788 422354

You will need to provide a reason for absence.

Absences can only be approved if absence is for one of the following reasons:

Illness (Medical evidence may be required)
Medical appointment
Religious observance
Family bereavement
Evidence of an interview or approved sporting activity

If attendance falls below 95% we will request medical evidence be provided otherwise absences will be unauthorised.

Attendance and Holiday in Term Time

New Government guidance comes into effect September 2022 to ensure that children attend school regularly so they get the most out of their school experience, including their attainment, wellbeing and wider life chances. Improving pupil attendance at school is everyone's business."

At Bilton School we believe it is important that every child should be entitled to the same opportunities school offers including - educational benefits, social and emotional learning and feeling as part of the school community.

As a parent/ carer you are legally responsible for making sure your child/children attends school regularly.

It is important that you and your child/ children develop a positive attitude to school attendance and punctuality so that they do not miss out on the opportunities at school. These qualities of reliability are also important in adult life.

Poor attendance disrupts a child’s education. This causes a lack of continuity and progression in schoolwork and can establish patterns of behaviour which may lead to long-term truancy. missing school prevents children from building essential learning blocks of skills and knowledge and prevents them from making educational links leading to poor progression and anxiety.

With effect from September 2022 Bilton School in partnership with Warwickshire Attendance Service (WAS) will be adopting a strict arrangement for the authorisation of absence taken during term time. Authorisation will only be granted in exceptional circumstances for religious or unique personal reasons by the headteacher on a case by case basis. In the absence of leave being granted and absence occurring, consideration will be given by WAS to impose a fine as detailed here –

https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/pupilnonattendance

We greatly appreciate parental support to reduce the total amount of days lost due to absence. We are committed to working in partnership with you to enable your child to reach their academic targets and to support their social development and for this to happen, we need to keep individual attendance as high as possible and we all need to play our part.

If a child achieves 80% attendance, this means that they have missed approximately 40 days of education over the academic year, averaging 1 day per week. If a child's attendance equates to 80% over their time in secondary school, they will miss more than a full year of education. Excellent attendance is 100% and acceptable attendance is 97.5%.

Your child's progress

Evidence shows that children with poor attendance are unlikely to succeed academically and are more likely to be NEET (not in education, employment or training) when they leave school.

If children are taken away for a two week family holiday every year and have an average number of days off for sickness and appointments, they will have missed the equivalent of a year off school by the time they are 16.

There is a clear link between poor attendance at school and lower academic achievement. (improving attendance at school - Charlie Taylor pub. DfE 2012.)

Previous interpretations of the regulations where Headteachers could grant pupils leave of absence of up to 10 days for the purpose of a two week family holiday in term time has been interpreted by some parents as a right to an automatic two week term-time holiday. This is not acceptable and the rules have been strengthened to prevent this happening in the future. For this reason the Government brought in new guidance in 2013, tightening the time off in term-time. Headteachers are no longer permitted to authorise absence for holidays taken during term time. They are only permitted to grant leave for exceptional circumstances. If you think you have exceptional circumstances, please talk to us without delay and before arrangements are entered into or money committed. If exceptional circumstances are accepted, the Headteacher and the School Governors will determine how much absence will be authorised.

Attendance Newsletter

Attendance: Frequently Asked Questions

What do I do if my child is ill and cannot attend school?

Any student absence should be reported before 8.30am in one of the following ways:

Telephone: 01788 840600

E Mail: bilabsence@stowevalley.com

Text: 01788 422354

You will need to provide a reason for absence.

Absences can only be approved if absence is for one of the following reasons:

Illness (Medical evidence may be required)
Medical appointment
Religious observance
Family bereavement
Evidence of an interview or approved sporting activity

If attendance falls below 95% we will request medical evidence be provided

otherwise absences will be unauthorised.

Sometimes my child is late. Is this ok?

Being on time to school is a legal requirement for school students.

If students are persistently late, they may miss vital information given in the mornings and may become confused or disengaged with their learning.

Students will be recorded as late and an explanation noted on the register. This will be monitored by the school and if it is persistent, parental meetings will be arranged.

Persistent, severe or unexplained lateness can be classed as unauthorised absence and may be referred to the Local Authority.

My child has a medical/dental appointment in school time. Should I re-book it in non-school time?

My family religion means my child needs to miss some days at school. What should I do?

I would like to take my child out of school during term time for a family holiday. Is that ok?

The Headteacher can only authorise absences in exceptional circumstances.

Leave is unlikely to be granted for the purposes of a family holiday. If the Headteacher grants a leave of absence, it will be for the Headteacher to determine the length of time a child can be away from school.

If you apply for holiday leave, please do so before booking to avoid disappointment.

Absence must be recorded as unauthorised if a leave of absence is not completed before the period of absence – this cannot be authorised retrospectively.

The government have provided the school with strict criteria which they must follow – guidelines relating to this are on the back of the application form.

Leave of absences which are unauthorised should not be taken. If they are, parents are committing an offence and, in some cases, may be subject to a Fixed Penalty Notice or prosecution.

What is an unauthorised absence?

An absence that is not explained by the parent or is not agreed by the school

Where attendance of a student falls below 95% and medical evidence is not provided to explain each absence or a written note from parent/carer is not received for each absence if medical evidence is not appropriate.

Persistent or severe levels of absence will be referred to the Attendance, Compliance and Enforcement (ACE) Services – renamed to Warwickshire Attendance Service (WAS) in January 2019. Contact will be made with families by this service to find out why absence is high and will offer support to help with issues that are preventing full attendance.

If absences and/or lateness persists, WAS may enforce attendance through legal interventions (Fixed Penalty Notice and/or prosecution). In extreme circumstances, this may result in a Parenting Order or imprisonment.

What do I do if my child does not want to attend school?

Try to find out the reason they do not want to attend school.

Contact the school by emailing/calling your child’s tutor, pastoral leader or one of the attendance team to discuss any issues we may be able to help with.

Try to establish routines so a calm environment is maintained in the morning that may help to tackle anxieties your child is feeling.

Praise your child for their efforts in school.