Co-op Academy Woodlands is committed to providing a full education to all pupils that embraces the concept of equal opportunities for all. We provide a welcoming and caring environment where every pupil feels safe and valued. Regular attendance and excellent punctuality are essential in ensuring pupils make sustained academic progress and social development.

The academy works in partnership with pupils and their parents or carers to promote the importance of regular and punctual attendance. Regular and punctual attendance is vital in ensuring that all children have full access to the curriculum, as valuable learning time is lost when pupils are absent or late.

The purpose of this policy is to ensure excellent attendance for all, that maximises pupil potential. As an academy, we recognise that regular attendance has a positive impact on the motivation and attainment of pupils. As such, this policy serves to give clear guidance to all stakeholders on their roles and responsibilities; provide advice and information on statutory duties of parents / carers and the Academy and demonstrate how the Academy will work in partnership with families, the local authority and other organisations to support the best possible attendance of all pupils.

The Importance of School Attendance

Regular attendance at school is vital to support pupils to achieve and help them get the best possible start in life. Good attendance is central to pupils’ academic achievement and personal development.

Research shows that going to school is directly linked to improved exam performance which should in turn lead to further learning opportunities and better job prospects.

As well as this, going to school helps to develop:

friendships
social skills
team values
life skills
cultural awareness
career pathways

We know that 90% of persistent non-attenders do not achieve expected levels of development at KS1 and KS2 and do not gain five or more good GCSEs. Around one third achieve no GCSEs at all.

Young people who regularly miss school without good reason are also more likely to become isolated from their friends, to underachieve in examinations and/or become involved in anti-social behaviour. In addition, Keeping Children Safe in Education, 2023 makes clear the fact that Children Missing Education are at significant risk of being victims of harm, exploitation or radicalisation, and becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) later in life.

Attendance and Punctuality - Lost Learning Hours

Attendance	Impact	Hours Lost per year	Minutes Late Each Day	Impact per year
100%	0 Days Lost	0 Hours Lost	5 minutes	3.5 Days Lost
95%	9 Days Lost	45 Hours Lost	10 minutes	7 Days Lost
90%	19 Days Lost	95 Hours Lost	15 minutes	10.5 Days Lost
85%	28 Days Lost	140 Hours Lost	20 minutes	14 Days Lost
80%	38 Days Lost	190 Hours Lost	25 minutes	17.5 Days Lost
70%	46 Days Lost	230 Hours Lost	30 minutes	21 Days Lost

Legislation and Guidance

This policy meets the requirements of Working Together to Improve School Attendance from the Department for Education (DfE), and refers to the DfE’s statutory guidance on School Attendance Parental Responsibility Measures. These documents are drawn from the following legislation setting out the legal powers and duties that govern school attendance:

- Part 6 of The Education Act 1996

- Part 3 of The Education Act 2002

- Part 7 of The Education and Inspections Act 2006

- The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 (2010, 2011, 2013, 2016 amendments)

- The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013

It also refers to:

School census guidance

Keeping Children Safe in Education, 2023

Mental health issues affecting a pupil's attendance: guidance for schools

Roles and Responsibilities

AGC (Academy Governing Council)

The AGC is responsible for:

Promoting the importance of school attendance across the academy
Making sure school leaders fulfil expectations and statutory duties
Regularly reviewing and challenging attendance data
Monitoring attendance figures for the whole school
Making sure staff receive adequate training on attendance
Holding the headteacher to account for the implementation of this policy

The Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team

The Headteacher and SLT will offer a clear vision for attendance, underpinned by high expectations and core values, which are communicated to and understood by staff, pupils and families. SLT will make sure staff, pupils and families understand that absence from school is a potential safeguarding risk and understand their role in keeping children safe in education. SLT will actively promote great attendance at all levels of the organisation to build up a culture of great attendance.

To do this, SLT will be responsible for:

Implementation of this policy at the school
Monitoring school-level absence data and reporting it to governors
Supporting staff with monitoring the attendance of individual pupils
Monitoring the impact of any implemented attendance strategies
Issuing fixed-penalty notices, where necessary

Strategic Lead for Attendance (Vicky Wilson)

The strategic lead for attendance is responsible for leading attendance across the school including:

Offering a clear vision for attendance improvement
Evaluating and monitoring expectations and processes
Having an oversight of data analysis
Devising specific strategies to address areas of poor attendance identified through data
Building relationships with parents/carers to discuss and tackle attendance issues
Creating intervention reintegration plans in partnership with pupils and their parents/carers
Delivering targeted intervention and support to pupils and families

Attendance Officers - (Lynda Anderson, Leanne O’Carroll and Emma Tariket)

The school attendance officers are responsible for:

Ensuring absence procedures are followed in line with this policy, including first day contact and home visits.
Entering codes accurately and keeping the attendance register in line with legislation
Monitoring and analysing attendance data (see section 7)
Benchmarking attendance data to identify areas of focus for improvement
Providing regular attendance reports to school staff and reporting concerns about attendance to the designated senior leader responsible for attendance and the headteacher
Working as part of the safeguarding team to report and follow up concerns
Undertake Stage 1 and 2 attendance work, including monitoring and administering Fast Tracks and Casework.
Request (in consultation with theHeadteacher) fixed-penalty notices.
Provide weekly and half term;y attendance data to teachers and ensure classroom displays are up to date
Issue half termly newsletters
Make referrals to the local authority for CME cases
Initiate and monitor incentive programmes

Learning Mentors

Will support children in school with any issues that are impacting on school attendance, such as low self esteem and friendship conflicts.

Class Teachers

Class teachers are responsible for

Accurately recording attendance on a daily basis using Arbor
Recording registers in a timely manner
Giving attendance a high profile and emphasising the importance of school attendance
Making pupils feel welcome and supporting them after an absence or when late to school
Helping pupils catch up on missed subject content after absences

School Office Staff

School office staff are responsible for taking calls from parents/carers and pupils about absence on a day-to-day basis and recording it accurately. They will also transfer calls from parents/carers and pupils to the correct pastoral staff or SLT in order to provide them with more detailed support on attendance. They will ensure that late students and students leaving during the day are accounted for and recorded on Arbor. School office staff work closely with the wider attendance team and safeguarding team.

Parents/carers

Parents/carers are expected to:

Make sure their child attends every day on time
Call the school to report their child’s absence before 8.45am on the day of the absence and each subsequent day of absence, and advise when they are expected to return
Provide the school with more than 1 emergency contact number for their child
Ensure that, where possible, appointments for their child are made outside of the school day
Arrange holidays and overseas visits during the the school holidays
Complete an exceptional circumstances form if your child will be absent for a reason other than illness.
Medical evidence may be required if your child has low attendance.
Meet with staff to discuss your child’s attendance where necessary
Liaise with school if there are any issues that the family or child are experiencing that is impacting on attendance.

Pupils

Pupils are expected to:

Attend school every day on time
Try to share any worries or concerns they have that may be impacting on attendance.

Reporting Absence

Parents/Carers will be expected to provide an acceptable reason for every absence and will be able to report an absence on the day by contacting 0113 2407382 before 8:45am.

Parents/carers are requested to make contact on each day of absence even where pupils are absent for consecutive days, unless otherwise agreed with one of the Attendance Officers.

If absence reasons are medical, evidence will need to be provided such as a stamped medical card, hospital letter or prescription in order for the absence to be authorised. We will mark absence for physical or mental illness as authorised unless we have a concern about the authenticity of the illness.

Where communication is not made with the Academy about the reason for pupil absence this will be deemed as ‘unauthorised absence’. The parent/carer will receive contact from the Academy to ascertain reasons for absence. Calls will be made from the beginning of the school day and will be completed by 11 am on the same day. Follow up will be based on the following timescales:

If a pupil is absent without communication, the attendance team will attempt to contact parents by telephone and/ or via text.
If the attendance team is unable to contact you, you will receive a home visit - even if it is the first day of absence. Home visits from the attendance team are supportive and intended to establish if any actions need to be put in place in order to support a child’s return to school.
If your child is absent and we have an explanation we may still undertake a home visit under certain circumstances.
If, after home visits and phone calls, the attendance team is still unable to get a reason for absence within 5 days, the attendance team will request a welfare check from West Yorkshire Police.
If we suspect you are on holiday we will issue you a letter warning that a fine will be issued once the child returns to school unless evidence is provided otherwise.
For extended periods of absence without reason, we may also contact the Child Missing Education Team at the Council and/or sibling schools to support with enquiries about the whereabouts of the child.
If a child is absent from the Academy for 20 days (or 10 days after an authorised holiday) and their whereabouts are unknown or they are reported to have left Leeds, a referral to the Child Missing Education Team will be made and the child will be removed from roll.
Where pupils are identified as vulnerable, or we have a safeguarding concern, if communication is not made on day one of absence, procedures will be followed through more swiftly with welfare checks requested on day one if deemed necessary

Reporting and Requesting Planned Absences

Attending a medical or dental appointment will be counted as authorised as long as the pupil’s parent/carer provides proof of appointments and where possible notifies the school in advance of the appointment, please visit the school office to discuss this. However, we encourage parents/carers to make medical and dental appointments out of school hours where possible. Where this is not possible, the pupil should be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary by returning promptly to school following their appointment and also attend school prior to an appointment if it is not first thing in the morning. The appointment should be made at the start/end of the academy day to minimise disruption to learning.

The pupil’s parent/carer must also apply for other types of term-time absence as far in advance as possible of the requested absence. Go to section 7 to find out which term-time absences are authorised.

Recording Absence

Attendance register

By law, all schools are required to keep an attendance register. The academy uses an electronic system (ARBOR) to accurately record attendance and punctuality to every lesson on a daily basis.

Pupils receive their morning registration mark when they arrive on time (8.45am). Any pupils arriving late (after 8.45am) will need to arrive in school via the Year 2 cloakroom and provide an explanation for lateness. This will be recorded on Arbor as an ‘L’ code. Afternoon attendance is recorded after lunch time (1pm).

Academy registration closes at 9.15am, if your child arrives after this time they will receive a U code (unauthorised late) which will impact on their overall attendance and can lead to a fine.

If you have other children that have arrived in school on time i.e. you could not get to all the relevant classroom doors as they were closed, then your child will not be given a late mark.

The attendance register marks whether every pupils is:

Present
Attending an approved off-site educational activity
Absent
Unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances

Any amendment to the attendance register will include:

The original entry
The amended entry
The reason for the amendment
The date on which the amendment was made
The name and position of the person who made the amendment

We will also record:

Whether the absence is authorised or not
The nature of the activity if a pupil is attending an approved educational activity
The nature of circumstances where a pupil is unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances

Persistent lateness

This table gives an indication of how much time is lost due to persistent lateness:

Minutes late per day:	= Number of days lost in an academic year:
5 minutes	3.4 days
10 minutes	6.9 days
15 minutes	10.3 days
20 minutes	13.8 days

It is not acceptable for pupils to persistently arrive late to school (whether before or after the register has closed) as this not only hinders their progress but also disrupts the learning of others. The attendance team will monitor late arrivals and follow this up through letters and meetings.

Late Procedures: Classroom doors open at 8.40am and close at 8.45am.

Children who arrive late after 8.45am must go to Year 2 cloakroom doors.
They will be added to the late list and receive a late mark, a reason for lateness must be given. If they have a sibling that has arrived on time the children will not be marked late as we recognise for larger families there is only a small amount of time to arrive at a number of classroom doors.
Children who arrive late will be monitored; parents will be contacted by our Attendance Manager to discuss concerns.
Children who arrive after 9.15am need to go to the school office. This will be recorded as an unauthorised absence due to lateness, this will impact on their attendance percentage.
Attendance Officers will carry out unannounced ‘Late Gate’ sessions to challenge parents over reasons for poor punctuality.

Attendance Manager will strive to reduce lateness using the following protocol which will be amended and tightened as the year progresses:

A letter will be sent after 3 episodes of lateness,
After 5 episodes a meeting will take place with the Attendance Manager
After 10 episodes a meeting will take place with the Attendance Manager and Headteacher.

All lates and conversations with parents will be logged centrally by the academy.

To support all students to attend and be punctual, all Co-op Academies run a breakfast club (free to pupil premium students) before school, to ensure that pupils can start the day positively and be on time. If a pupil is persistently late, they may be referred to the breakfast club to support punctuality.

If all the above are unsuccessful, the Academy will use legal channels in accordance with the local authority policy. This may mean that court action is taken.

Recording Attendance at off site provision / dual registered pupils

Attendance at alternative provisions is monitored daily using CLM. If a child is absent Coop Academy Woodlands will follow our usual first day contact procedures.
Pupils will be given a ‘B’ code on Arbor when they have attended external alternative provision. Any absences will be recorded using the appropriate absence code.
Some provisions, as well as managed moves, are used on a dual-registration basis. In these cases pupils will be given a ‘D’ code when they are on roll with the provision for all periods where the pupil is expected to attend the other provision/school.
Pupils who are Guest Pupils at another school will remain as ‘single registration’ at Co-op Academy Woodlands. Where the pupil has attended the other school, a ‘B’ mark will be recorded. All absences will be logged with the appropriate code.
Once a placement is set up, pupils must attend. Failure to do so will carry the same consequences as non-attendance within the Academy.

Reporting to parents/carers

Half termly Attendance Reports
Partnership work with parents, preventative work through mentoring and other support
Coffee mornings and Family Support Worker drop in.
Attendance figures and winners in weekly newsletter.
Half termly Attendance Newsletter
Parent evenings to have an attendance focus to promote attendance and to attempt to reach out to all parents
Incentives for parents to ensure their children have good attendance, e.g. prize draw raffles

Authorised and Unauthorised Absences

Medical and Illness

Children should attend school on every possible day they can. Mild illnesses such as colds and coughs should not prevent a pupil from coming to school. Guidance for school leaders on authorising absence for mild illnesses, or mild anxiety, from the chief medical officer can be found here and details when parents or carers should make sure pupils attend.

Approval for term-time absence

The Government’s amendments of the Education Regulations 2006 removed the right of Headteachers to authorise family holidays and extended leave. The academy policy, therefore, reflects this legislation.

The headteacher will only grant a leave of absence to a pupil during term time if they consider there to be 'exceptional circumstances'. A leave of absence is granted at the headteacher’s discretion, including the length of time the pupil is authorised to be absent for.

The school considers each application for term-time absence individually, taking into account the specific facts, circumstances and relevant context behind the request. Any request should be submitted as soon as it is anticipated and, where possible, at least 4 weeks before the absence. Leave of absence forms can be requested from the School Office. The headteacher may require evidence to support any request for leave of absence including plane tickets; medical evidence; letters from authorities.

Other valid reasons for authorised absence include:

Illness (including mental illness) and medical/dental appointments (when accompanied by evidence if your child has low attendance)
Religious observance – where the day is exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which the pupil’s parents/carers belong. If necessary, the school will seek advice from the religious body to confirm whether the day is set apart. The academy authorises up to two days for a religious absence per academic year and one day per religious event
Traveller pupils travelling for occupational purposes – this covers Roma, English and Welsh Gypsies, Irish and Scottish travellers, showmen (fairground people) and circus people, bargees (occupational boat dwellers) and new travellers. Absence may be authorised only when a traveller family is known to be travelling for occupational purposes and has agreed this with the school, but it is not known whether the pupil is attending educational provision

Fines and Sanctions

The school or local authority can fine parents/carers for the unauthorised absence of their child from school, where the child is of compulsory school age. The school is obligated to pass information about unauthorised absence to the local authority. This can lead to a fixed penalty notice issued from the authority. If issued with a fine, or penalty notice, each parent/carer must pay £60, per pupil within 21 days or £120 within 28 days. The payment must be made directly to the local authority. Fines are issued per pupil and per parent so in a family of four, you could receive up to four fixed penalty notices.

Penalty notices can be issued by a headteacher, local authority officer or the police.

The decision on whether or not to issue a penalty notice may take into account:

The number of unauthorised absences occurring within a rolling academic year
One-off instances of irregular attendance, such as holidays taken in term time without permission
If an excluded pupil is found in a public place during school hours without a justifiable reason

If the payment has not been made after 28 days, the local authority can decide whether to prosecute or withdraw the notice.

If a pupil fails to return from a leave of absence and contact with the parents has not been made or received, school may take the pupil off the school’s role in compliance with the Education (Student Registration) (England) Regulations 2006. This means that the child will lose their school place.

Promoting and Supporting Attendance

The Academy recognises that poor attendance can be an indication of difficulties in a child’s life. This may be related to problems at home and/or in school. Parents should make school aware of any difficulties or changes in circumstances that may affect their child’s attendance and or behaviour in school, for example, bereavement, divorce/separation, incidents of domestic abuse. This will help the school identify any additional support that may be required.

Co-op Academy Woodlands also recognises that some pupils are more likely to require additional support to achieve excellent attendance, for example, those pupils with special educational needs, those with physical or mental health needs, and looked after children.

The academy implements a range of strategies to support improved attendance. Strategies

used will include:

Regular communication with home, e.g letters and postcards sent home as a positive reinforcement in order to recognise good attendance or if improvements are made
Offering incentives and rewards: prizes for individual best and most improved attendance, most improved class attendance and highest class attendance in both KS1 and KS2 is celebrated weekly in Friday’s Respect assembly, additional raffles and flash prizes, 100% class prizes, additional in-house incentives e.g. Tea Parties and VIP lunch.
Mentoring and interventions, Attendance Officers to work directly with pupils to discuss triggers, low attendance and put support plans for individual pupils together, mentoring conversations when attendance is a concern.

Recognising strong attendance is key and celebrating strong attendance is important.

Where parents fail or refuse to engage with the support offered and further unauthorised absence occurs, Co-op Academy Woodlands will consider the use of legal sanctions, including Fast track penalties and case work.

As a very last resort - and only in exceptional circumstances, the Academy may implement a part time timetable to support regular attendance. This would only be a very last resort.

Legal Intervention

The law requires parents to ensure that their child attends school regularly. The academy has a primary responsibility in dealing with the issue of attendance, in partnership with parents and pupils. The majority of attendance issues will be dealt with by the academy, however, on occasions, attendance concerns may need to be passed on to Leeds City Council Attendance Advisors.

Schools have to regularly inform the Local Authority of any pupils who are regularly absent from school, have irregular attendance, or have missed 10 school days or more without the school's permission. Schools also have a safeguarding duty, under section 175 Education Act 2002, to investigate any unexplained absences.

If a pupil is missing school without good reason and support options have been exhausted without improvement/engagement, schools can refer to the Local Authority for legal intervention. This is likely to result in the pupil case file being referred for consideration in the Magistrates Court.

Local councils and schools can use various legal powers if a child is missing school without a good reason and when other methods of support and challenge have not worked. This action can include:

a Parenting Order
an Education Supervision Order
a School Attendance Order
a fine (sometimes known as a ‘penalty notice’)

Attendance Monitoring

The school will monitor attendance and absence data weekly, half-termly, termly and yearly across the school and at an individual pupil level. Through this analysis we will Identify whether or not there are particular groups of children whose absences may be a cause for concern

Pupil-level absence data will be collected each term and published at national and local authority level through the DfE's school absence national statistics releases. The underlying school-level absence data is published alongside the national statistics. The school will compare attendance data to the national average, and share this with the academy governing council and Regional Director.

Analysing attendance

The school will analyse attendance and absence data regularly to identify pupils or cohorts that need additional support with their attendance, and use this analysis to provide targeted support to these pupils and their families. We will look at historic and emerging patterns of attendance and absence, and then develop strategies to address these patterns.

Using data to improve attendance

The school will provide regular attendance reports to form tutors and class teachers and to school leaders, to facilitate discussions with pupils and families and use data to monitor and evaluate the impact of any interventions put in place in order to modify them and inform future strategies.

Identifying and supporting Persistent and Severely Absent Pupils

Persistent absence (PA) is where a pupil misses 10% or more of school, and severe absence is where a pupil misses 50% or more of school. The academy will work with parents/carers, staff, agencies and pupils to prevent children from falling into either of these categories.

The school will use attendance data to find patterns and trends of persistent and severe absence. We will hold regular meetings with the parents/carers of pupils and all adults who are listed as holding parental responsibility, who the school (and/or local authority) considers to be vulnerable, or are persistently or severely absent, to discuss attendance and engagement at school. We will provide access to wider support services to remove the barriers to attendance.

Pupils with attendance of less than 90% will be identified by the attendance team and will be contacted by an Attendance Officer for more intensive casework. Preventative intervention work will be done to avoid pupils reaching PA status.

We always aim to work with families to improve attendance and through all of the interventions in place. Where families are not engaging with the support we will have to take more punitive actions including:

Fast Track Initiative
Formal Casework
Referral to Leeds City Council for legal work

Reintegration after significant absences

Every effort will be made to re-integrate pupils successfully back into the Academy following long periods of absence. This might include:

Phased returns and reduced timetables, in exceptional circumstances
Mentoring from the pastoral team
An attendance support plan agreed with pupils and parents

Identifying and supporting Children Missing in Education

We recognise that a child going missing from education is a potential indicator of abuse or neglect. A pupil is counted to be ‘Missing in Education’ if they have been absent for 20 consecutive days from the academy (with no reason for absence given) or if they have not returned for 10 consecutive school days after returning from an authorised absence. Where a child is identified as missing education we will comply with our statutory duty to inform the local authority of any pupil who falls within the reporting notification requirements outlined in Children Missing Education – Statutory guidance for local authorities (DfE September 2016) and follow the LSCP - Local protocols for Leeds practitioners (leedsscp.org.uk)

School and college staff members must follow the Leeds Children’s Services LA protocols

Contact: cme@leeds.gov.uk. Tel: 0113 3789686.

Children who are absent, abscond or go missing during the school day are vulnerable and at potential risk of abuse, neglect, CSE or CCE including involvement in county lines. Academy staff members must follow the academy’s procedures for dealing with pupils who are absent/go missing (flow chart of actions can be seen in the appendices), particularly on repeat occasions, to help identify the risk of abuse and neglect including sexual abuse or exploitation and to help prevent the risks of going missing in future.

Links with other Policies

This policy links to the following policies:

Academy Safeguarding Policy
Behaviour policy
Exclusions Policy

Appendix 1 - Coding

The following codes are taken from the DfE’s guidance on school attendance.

Present Codes

Code	Definition	Scenario
/	Present (am)	Pupil is present at morning registration
\	Present (pm)	Pupil is present at afternoon registration
L	Late arrival	Pupil arrives late before register has closed
B	Off-site educational activity	Pupil is at a supervised off-site educational activity approved by the school
D	Dual registered	Pupil is attending a session at another setting where they are also registered
J	Interview	Pupil has an interview with a prospective employer/educational establishment
P	Sporting activity	Pupil is participating in a supervised sporting activity approved by the school
V	Educational trip or visit	Pupil is on an educational visit/trip organised, or approved, by the school
W	Work experience	Pupil is on a work experience placement

Absence Codes

Code	Definition	Scenario
Authorised absence
C	Authorised leave of absence	Pupil has been granted a leave of absence due to exceptional circumstances
E	Excluded	Pupil has been excluded but no alternative provision has been made
H	Authorised holiday	Pupil has been allowed to go on holiday due to exceptional circumstances
I	Illness	School has been notified that a pupil will be absent due to illness
M	Medical/dental appointment	Pupil is at a medical or dental appointment
R	Religious observance	Pupil is taking part in a day of religious observance
S	Study leave	Year 11 pupil is on study leave during their public examinations, used until the end of the exams.
T	Gypsy, Roma and traveller absence	Pupil from a traveller community is travelling, as agreed with the school
Unauthorised absence
G	Unauthorised holiday	Pupil is on a holiday that was not approved by the school
N	Reason not provided	Pupil is absent for an unknown reason (this code should be amended when the reason emerges, or replaced with code O if no reason for absence has been provided after a reasonable amount of time)
O	Unauthorised absence	School is not satisfied with reason for pupil's absence
U	Arrival after registration	Pupil arrived at school after the register closed

Code	Definition	Scenario
X	Not required to be in school	Pupil of non-compulsory school age is not required to attend
Y	Unable to attend due to exceptional circumstances	School site is closed, there is disruption to travel as a result of a local/national emergency, or pupil is in custody
Z	Pupil not on admission register	Register set up but pupil has not yet joined the school
#	Planned school closure	Whole or partial school closure due to half-term/bank holiday/INSET day.

Appendix 2 - Definitions

Persistent Absence: If a pupil's overall absence rate is 10% or higher, they are classified as a persistent absentee. This means a child’s attendance is 90% or lower. These figures are collected by the Department of Education.

FastTrack: The aim of the FastTrack is to work in partnership with parents to improve school attendance. It is an incentive designed to raise individual and whole school attendance. The FastTrack programme raises parents/carers, pupils and community awareness of the importance of school attendance, the negative impact of absence and demonstrates that the Local Authority uses statutory powers to bring about change.. IF improvements are not made legal action will be taken to ensure that parents/carers fulfil their legal responsibilities. Leeds City Council are responsible for issuing fines (also known as a penalty notice) on behalf of schools in Leeds. If attendance does not improve a penalty charge will be issued which is £60 per child, per parent if paid within 21 days. If paid between 22 and 28 days, the fine is £120 per child, per parent. If the fine is not paid, parents or carers face prosecution.

Case work: Where additional needs or barriers have been identified Casework will be undertaken with families to deliver improvement in pupil attendance leading to better attainment and achievement outcomes for children and young people. We will provide support and encouragement to promote good attendance. If attendance does not improve legal proceedings could take the form of prosecution resulting in any of the following:

Fine: Your local council can give each parent a fine of £60, which rises to £120 each if you do not pay within 21 days. If you do not pay the fine after 28 days you may be prosecuted for your child’s absence from school.

Prosecution: You could get a fine of up to £2,500, a community order or a jail sentence up to 3 months. The court also gives you a Parenting Order.

Education Supervision Order: If the council thinks you need support getting your child to go to school but you’re not co-operating, they can apply to a court for an Education Supervision Order.

A supervisor will be appointed to help you get your child into education. The local council can do this instead of prosecuting you, or as well.

Parenting Order: This means you have to go to parenting classes. You’ll also have to do what the court says to improve your child’s school attendance.

Appendix 3 - Letter Templates

Whole School Pupil Attendance Report – Half Termly

Attendance Report (dates)

Pupil Name:	Class:	Attendance % to date:	Number of times late to school:

Below 90%

Inadequate

A student with 80% attendance every year at primary school will have missed a whole year of education overall.

91% to 95%

Requires Improvement

A student with 90% attendance every year at primary school will have missed half a year of

education overall.

96% to 99%

Good

Woodlands Target

100%

Outstanding

An excellent achievement, well done!

If your child is statutory school age (5+) and attendance is below 90% due to unauthorised absence, legal action could be taken:

Fast Track Penalty Notice: Each parent receives a penalty notice for each child who has met the threshold. The penalty is £60 or £120 depending on how soon payment is made.

Taking parents to court for unauthorised absence: Education Act 1996 Section 444(1) – a court can fine each parent up to £1000 per child and/or impose a Parenting Order.

Taking parents to court for persistent unauthorised absence: Education Act 1996 Section 444(1A) - a court can fine each parent up to £2,500 per child, impose a Parenting Order and/or issue a custodial sentence of up to 3 months. Being taken to court could result in a criminal record.

Attendance during one school year	Equals days absent over a year	Absence over 5 years
95%	9 days	¼ year
90%	19 days	½ year
80%	38 days	1 year
70%	57 days	1 ½ year
60%	80 days	2 years
50%	100 days	2 ½ years

Please remember that parental illness, going shopping, visiting family, not wanting to go to school, alleged bullying (speak to school immediately to resolve the issue) are not acceptable reasons to be absent. These will be recorded as unauthorised absence, including if your child arrives at school after the close of registration. Absence during term time will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances. Please provide evidence of medical appointments and/ or illness to enable us to authorise absences.

If your child’s level of absence is of concern we will contact you to discuss, after this, any further unauthorised absences may result in the Academy and the Local Authority taking legal action. We will improve attendance by making it clear within the school and local community that unauthorised absence is not acceptable. Please speak with Lynda Anderson if you have any questions about this letter.

We would like to thank those parents who make sure their child is attending school regularly and are therefore benefiting fully from their educational opportunity.

Yours cooperatively

Adele Clark (Head Teacher)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Punctuality Letter (Trigger = 3 lates in a half term)

Dear

RE: Student Name Class:

Number of lates:	Minutes Lost

We are becoming increasingly concerned that your child is arriving to school late.

All students should arrive no later than 8.45am. If a student arrives at school after the register has closed at 9.15am it is recorded as an unauthorised absence for the morning session. Ten unauthorised sessions may result in a penalty notice being issued.

The penalty notice is £120 per parent/carer, per child, if this is paid within 21 days it is reduced to £60. Failure to pay a penalty notice may result in prosecution, leading to a fine of up to £2500 or up to 3 months imprisonment.

All children of compulsory school age who are registered pupils at a school or educational establishment must attend regularly and punctually. As a parent/carer it is your legal responsibility to ensure that your child attends Coop Academy Woodlands on time.

Should your child arrive late (after 8.45am) after receiving this letter you will be invited into school or a home visit will take place, to discuss our concerns and how this impacts on your child’s academic progress and emotional well being.

We appreciate your support in ensuring that your child attends school every day and on time.

Yours sincerely

Adele Clark (Head teacher)

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Level of absence due to illness is causing concern and will no longer be authorised without medical proof

Dear Parent/Carer of

Current Attendance __________ % Class:

Due to the level of your child’s absence, we will no longer authorise any absence for medical reasons unless supported by medical evidence/ proof. We monitor all pupils with low school attendance and take appropriate action when absence is unauthorised. Unauthorised absence can lead to a penalty notice (fine).

(Delete paragraph for non-statutory aged children)

As a parent/carer of a child of statutory school age, you have a legal responsibility to ensure full time education suitable to the child’s age, ability and aptitude and any special educational needs the child may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise (Education Act 1996 Section 444).

Therefore, should your child have any further sessions of absence because of illness or medical reasons you are strongly advised to provide one of the following which may enable us to authorise your child’s absence:

• medical appointment card • letter from a professional• medication prescribed by a GP• copy of prescription• print screen of medical notes• letters concerning hospital appointments• slip with date, pupils name and surgery stamp, signed by Receptionist. Please be aware that telephone calls and handwritten notes from a parent/carer are not acceptable as medical evidence.

Good attendance will mean that your child is able to achieve the best grades for their ability and have real opportunity in further education and the world of work. Absence disrupts the education of the individual pupil and the whole class. Children who do not attend regularly do not achieve well in exams, find it difficult to maintain friendships, miss out on social events and are more likely to become involved in crime

If you feel that your child has ongoing or unresolved medical issues you are advised to approach your doctor urgently. If you wish to discuss the contents of this letter or your child’s attendance, please contact Lynda Anderson to make an appointment.

Yours cooperatively

Adele Clark (Headteacher)

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Medical Proof Follow Up Letter

Dear Parent/ Carer of

As a school, we regard good attendance as critical to pupil progress and aim for every child to attend school every day on time. We regularly monitor all children’s attendance and have previously sent you a letter stating that any further absence from school due to illness will not be authorised unless medical proof is provided.

Your child was absent on _____________and we have not been provided with evidence of their illness. Please bring this to the school office as soon as possible to enable us to authorise this absence.

If you do not provide medical proof your child’s absence will be recorded as unauthorised which could lead to a Penalty Notice (fine).

If you wish to discuss this further please contact me.

Yours faithfully,

Lynda Anderson (Attendance Manager)

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Unauthorised absence is a concern and has hit the trigger of 4 sessions in a 12-week period

Dear Parent/Carer of

UNAUTHORISED ABSENCES

I write further to the above, during a register check for xxxxxxx, it has come to our attention that xxx has 4 unauthorised absences. This is due to the fact that when your child has been absent you have failed to inform us about the absences from school, or arrived at school after 9.15 without good reason or have not provided medical proof to enable us to authorise an absence.

Should another session of unauthorised absence be recorded you will be asked to attend a meeting in school to discuss your child’s absences. Please note that if your child has more than 10 unauthorised absences in a 12-week period, this may result in a fine.

Please contact me if you feel school can support you in any way.

Yours Cooperatively

Lynda Anderson (Attendance Manager) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________Request to meet with Attendance Manager due to concerning pattern of attendance (Trigger = Further unauthorised absence)

Dear Parent/Carer of

I write further to the above and after the letter dated _________

I have been monitoring your child’s attendance and it has come to my attention that there are now ……… unauthorised absences recorded in the past 12 weeks.

This is due to the fact that you have either failed to notify school of a reason for absence, not provided medical evidence to enable us to authorise an absence and/ or your child has arrived at school after 9.15am without good reason. Please note if your child has more than 10 unauthorised absences in a 12-week period this may result in a fine.

Due to the number of unauthorised absences you are now invited to a meeting to discuss this with me on ……………………………….. If you need to change the meeting day/ time please contact me to rearrange as soon as possible.

Please take this opportunity to discuss your child’s attendance. If this meeting does not go ahead it could mean a referral is made for a FastTrack Penalty Notice or to the Attendance Casework which may lead to a fine.

Yours sincerely, Lynda Anderson (Attendance Manager)

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Exceptional circumstances absence request declined

Dear Parent/Carer of

Thank you for your recent request for leave of absence, however amendments to the Education Regulations (2013) make it clear that schools are no longer allowed to authorise any requests for children to be taken out of school for a holiday during term time. A leave of absence can only be granted in exceptional circumstances applied for prior to the absence.

Your application to school does meet criteria in our policy for exceptional leave and as such ____ days will be marked on the register as an authorised absence. If you exceed the agreed _____ days it is likely that you will receive a penalty notice i.e. a fine.

If we need to issue a fine we will request Leeds City Council to issue a Penalty Notice(s) on our behalf this will be £60 per parent per child, once the penalty notice is issued, you will have 21 days in which to pay the fine. If you fail to pay in that time period, the fine will double and you then have another seven days in which to pay, taking the total time in which to make payment to 28 days.

I must advise you that if you fail to make payment after 28 days then Leeds City Council has the power to prosecute you in the magistrate’s court for the offence of failing to ensure my child attends school regularly. A guilty verdict at court can lead to a fine of up to £1000, and a criminal record which can affect employment opportunities.

If you would like to discuss this, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Adele Clark (Headteacher)

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Exceptional leave request granted/ partially granted

Dear Parent/Carer

Please find attached your leave of absence request. Amendments to the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations in relation to term time holidays make it clear that schools are no longer allowed to authorise holidays during term time. As a result, only exceptional circumstance leave can be authorised by the Head Teacher and must be applied for prior to the leave being taken.

We have considered your application and as such (XXX) days will be authorised as we deem these days to be exceptional circumstances. (Amend as required) The remainder of this leave has not been agreed. Therefore, if you exceed the agreed (XXX) days the remainder of the absences will be recorded as unauthorised and you could receive a Penalty Notice.

Penalty Notices are issued by Leeds City Council on our behalf and are issued per parent, per child. I must advise you that failure to make payment of a penalty notice can result in prosecution in Magistrates Court.

If you feel that you have further exceptional circumstances that you have not informed us of with regards to your request, I would ask that you submit your reasons to school in writing within the next 5 (school) days from the date of this letter.

Please do not hesitate to contact Miss Anderson he school if you have any queries that you would like to discuss about this matter.

Your sincerely

Adele Clark (Headteacher)

Note: Payment of a Penalty Notice if paid within 21 days, is £60. If you do not pay within 21 days the fine is increased to £120 and you have a further 7 days to make this payment in full.

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Leave of Absence Not Applied For

Dear Parent/Carer

We understand that you have recently taken your child out of school for a holiday in term time. We believe this to be the case because ……...(enter the reason why you believe they have been on holiday from the evidence you have i.e. parent or child told the school on their return that they had been on holiday, other family contact telephone numbers were called during the absence (as we were unable to contact you) and they said the family were on holiday etc

Amendments to the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations in relation to term time holidays make it clear that schools are no longer allowed to authorise holidays during term time. As a result, only exceptional circumstance leave can be authorised by the Head Teacher and must be applied for prior to the leave being taken.

Your child’s leave of absence from school was not requested and we have had no notification of any exceptional circumstances therefore, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised and you could receive a Penalty Notice.

Penalty Notices are issued by Leeds City Council on our behalf and are issued per parent, per child. Failure to pay penalty notices can result in prosecution in the Magistrates Court which could incur a fine of up to £1,000.

If you feel that you have exceptional circumstances that you have not informed us of with regards to this holiday, I would ask that you submit your reasons to the school in writing within the next 5 (school) days from the date of this letter.

Please do not hesitate to contact school if you have any queries that you would like to discuss about this matter.

Your sincerely

Adele Clark (Headteacher)

Note: Payment of a Penalty Notice if paid within 21 days, is £60. If you do not pay within 21 days the fine is increased to £120 and you have a further 7 days to make this payment in full

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