Attendance

BE PRESENT TO REALISE FULL POTENTIAL

Attendance is important for the development of students. We believe strongly in enabling all students to achieve.  We aim to inspire the girls of today to become leaders of tomorrow and expect all parents and carers to support us in achieving this goal by ensuring their daughter attends school on time. Read our booklet for more information about why attendance is important and how we deal with absences.

PUPILS SHOULD:

• arrive at school at 8.25am
• arrive promptly at their tutor room to be registered at 8.30am (gates close promptly at 8.30am)
• Advise the school of an absence in writing in advance
• obtain permission from the Head of Learning if they have to leave the premises during the school day
• pupils in years 7 to 11 are not allowed off-site during break or lunch times.
• appointments for doctors, opticians or dentists treatments should not be made during the school day
• produce an appointment card for exceptional medical or other treatment accompanied by a written request from their parent/carer which should be presented to the Head of Learning for approval prior to the day of the appointment. 

PARENTS/CARERS SHOULD ENCOURAGE GOOD ATTENDANCE BY:

• Talking regularly with your child about school and how they feel about it.
• Do not take holidays during term time (these will not be authorised)
• Do not allow your child to take time off unless it is really necessary.
• ensure your child is in school during exams weeks and for controlled assessments
• Discuss with the school, at the earliest opportunity, any problems or worries that might be affecting your child's attendance.
• Praise and reward good attendance
• Produce an appointment card for exceptional medical or other treatment accompanied by a written request from yourself which should be presented to the Head of Learning for approval in advance of the appointment.

REPORTING PUPIL ABSENCE

• Parents should make contact on the first day of absence. If a pupil is likely to be absent for more than THREE days, the school should be notified as to the likely return date. Parents/Carers are asked to telephone or email the school as soon as possible before 8.20am to let us know why your child is away from school. If we fail to hear from you, we will contact a member of your family. If we do not obtain a reason for the absence it will be marked as unauthorised.
• On the day of return, all pupils must bring a note, signed and dated by their parents, explaining their absence to the form tutors.
• The High Court has ruled that it is up to the Principal to grant leave in 'exceptional circumstances' and has declared that parents who remove their children against the wishes of the school can face a criminal conviction. Any request for 'exceptional circumstance' leave should, in the first instance, be directed to your daughter’s Head of Learning who will liaise with the Principal.
• Many subjects now operate modular GCSE examination which occur throughout the academic year in Years 10 & 11. Linear GCSE examinations occupy the whole of May and June and some practical examinations take place in April. Many GCSE examinations require the completion and submission of a number of compulsory assignments throughout the two-year course.

Holidays During Term Time

There is no entitlement for you to take your child on holiday during term time. You can be fined for taking your child on holiday during term time without consent from the school. Please complete the form at the bottom of this page to request leave of absence from school. Copies are also available in reception.

Medical Appointments

School attendance figures show a continuing increase in the numbers of pupils missing part of the school day due to medical appointments. 

Whilst some appointments may have to take place during the school day, e.g. specific scheduled hospital appointments, there are other appointments that could take place outside of school hours and at weekends or in school holidays. If it is not possible to arrange such appointments to take place out of school hours, it is expected that students are only out of school for the actual appointment and are therefore able to attend before and/or after in order to allow minimum disruption to their lessons and attendance.

Where appointments are necessary within school hours, please ensure your daughter’s absence is reported at least 24 hours beforehand to their Head of Learning and is supported with the appropriate documents e.g. an appointment card/letter or show the office the text message.

If you are unable to provide these details 24 hours prior to the appointment could you please make sure that:-

• If your daughter is arriving late following a medical appointment, a copy of the supporting document is given to the office or text shown;
• If they are leaving school early to attend a medical appointment, similarly a copy of the supporting document is given to office. Your daughter will need to have the document signed by her Head of Learning before she is allowed to leave school.
• If you have booked an emergency appointment and need to take your daughter out of school on the same day, call in and inform reception so that Head of Learning permission can be sought and a message passed to your daughter.  Otherwise, you will need to wait while this process is followed.

You can also email the school at bayliscourt@bayliscourt.slough.sch.uk to confirm the details of the medical appointment.

All leave of absence is recorded on your daughter's school record in accordance with national retention guidelines.

Attendance

Code I: Illness (not medical or dental appointments)

Schools should advise parents to notify them on the first day the child is unable to attend due to illness. Schools should authorise absences due to illness unless they have genuine cause for concern about the veracity of an illness. If the authenticity of illness is in doubt, schools can request parents to provide medical evidence to support illness. Schools can record the absence as unauthorised if not satisfied of the authenticity of the illness but should advise parents of their intention. Schools are advised not to request medical evidence unnecessarily. Medical evidence can take the form of prescriptions, appointment cards, etc. rather than doctors’ notes.

If a student is a Persistent Absentee (PA with attendance of 90% or below) medical evidence will be requested. Medical evidence aids parents/carers not being fined £120 each by the local authority and provides support for extenuating circumstances.

The local authority states if your child misses 5 days in any 12 week period you could receive a fine or if you take time out of school for leave without the head teacher’s permission or the leave is longer than agreed.

Persistent Absentee Example

Pupil A’s total number of possible sessions is 380. Over the course of the year, she misses 38 of these sessions.

(38 ÷ 380) x 100 = 10

The DfE guidance explains that if a pupil's individual overall absence rate is greater than or equal to 10.0%, she will be classified as a persistent absentee. Therefore, in our worked example above, pupil A is classed as a persistent absentee.