Attendance

At Mary Astell Academy we aim to support individuals of all abilities and aspirations to fulfil their potential through learning. We are happy to help you resolve any issues there may be affecting your child’s attendance, please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss the support we can offer.

You can help prevent your child missing school by:

• making sure they understand the importance of good attendance and punctuality;
• taking an interest in their education – ask about school work and encourage them to get involved in school activities
• discussing any problems they may have at Mary Astell Academy – inform staff about anything serious
• not letting them take time off school for minor ailments, particularly those which would not prevent you from going to work and
• Arranging appointments and outings after school hours, at weekends or during school holidays will help to prevent disruption to your child’s education and to the school

As a parent/carer, you’re legally responsible for making sure that your child attends the Academy regularly unless you’re home-educating.  Parents/carers must ensure that a reason for absence is reported to school on the first day of absence before 9.30am, and every day of absence, this can be done by either:

calling Main Reception on 0191 2674447or text the Attendance Improvement Officer on 07786208450

Time lost by children and young people due to family holidays taken in term time can be disruptive to their education.

Is my child too ill for school? NHS adviceWe advise that wherever possible, absence from school should be avoided as it can have a serious effect on your child’s educational progress, and can create difficulties for them on their return to school. Many parents say that the time their child misses because of a holiday doesn’t affect their school work. However a child who has 10 days holiday each year of their school life will miss 24 weeks (nearly a full school year) of their formal education. This is in addition to absences – for instance, if your child is ill. If, after serious consideration of this, you still propose to take your child away from school for a holiday, it is important to note that in line with government guidelines, Mary Astell Academy will not agree to leave of absence unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Requests for the following reasons are not considered to be exceptional circumstances:

• Availability of cheap holidays
• Availability of desired accommodation
• Poor weather experienced in school holiday periods
• Overlapping with beginning or end of term

Where children have unauthorised absences in term time, legal action may be taken against each parent under the following legislation:

Section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996 provides that a parent commits an offence if his or her child, being of compulsory school age, fails to attend regularly the school at which he or she is a registered pupil. Section 444A allows for a penalty notice to be issued to parents who commit such an offence.

Failure to pay may result in prosecution where on conviction you would be liable to a fine of up to £1000