At Woodbrook Vale, our overall aim is to support our students to become the very best versions of themselves. In order to do that in the most effective way, students must attend school regularly. Your child’s chances of a successful future may be affected by not attending school regularly.

If children do not attend school regularly they may:

• Struggle to keep up with school work.
• Miss out on the social side of school life.

Setting good attendance patterns will also help your child later on. Employers want to recruit people who are reliable. Children who have a poor school attendance record may have less chance of getting or maintaining a good job.

Being on time is vital. Arriving late at school can be very disruptive for your child, the teacher and the other children in the class.

Students should arrive in school before 8.30am. Students are expected to be in tutor time by 8.30am. The first bell sounds at 8.27am. Any student arriving in tutor time past 8.30am will be recorded as late. The school gates are open from 08:00am and tutor rooms are open from 8.20am.

Any three lates over a half term period will result in a stage 4 detention (30 minute after school detention) Persistent lateness could result in referral to external services and may result in the  issuing of fines.

The most important thing to do is to talk to the staff in school to seek advice and support.

There is a whole toolkit of strategies that could be implemented to support a student whose attendance may be lower, the exact package is variable on a case by case basis, however school want your child to attend just as much as you do and will work with you to achieve that end goal.

You may receive support directly through school, you may also be offered support through external agencies such as Supporting Leicestershire Families, referral to the Inclusion Service, the Loughborough Inclusion Partnership or the School Nurse service.

Of course there may be times when your child has to miss school because they are ill. This is to be expected and for this you should follow the school procedure for notifying illness.

Children may also have to attend a medical or dental appointment in school time. However, you could try to make routine appointments, such as dental check-ups, during the school holidays or after school hours.

Once a student has returned following an absence or medical appointment, we expect that they work with their class teachers to catch up on all missed work to ensure that they are able to remain up to date with their learning and not be disadvantaged as a result of an absence. This may require catch up during break and lunch time or additional work to complete at home. This would be coordinated between the student and teacher on a case by case basis.

If parents need to request a leave of absence for their child during the school term please contact the Headteacher directly.

Leave of absence permission is always given at the discretion of the Headteacher, however this will only be authorised under very exceptional circumstances. Further information is outlined on the school attendance policy that can be found here.

By law, all children of compulsory school age (between 5 and 16) must get a suitable full time education. It is the responsibility of the parents/carers to ensure that this happens.

Once your child is registered at a school you are responsible for making sure they attend regularly. It is as a consequence of this legal framework that non-attendance, low attendance or persistent lateness could result in fining and prosecution.

This is never a course of action that Woodbrook Vale are happy to take. However it is a process we will pursue when other forms of support and intervention offered have not resulted in improved attendance or punctuality.

If we make a referral for a case to be considered for legal action, it would be acted upon by the Educational Welfare Officer who then works with the legal team at County Hall.

You can find further advice on the Leicestershire county council website

https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/education-and-children/schools-colleges-and-academies/school-attendance

 

Our goal at Woodbrook Vale is to enable all of our students to enjoy, aspire and succeed.

In order to have the best chance of achieving the best outcomes, attendance should be 97% or above. Evidence has shown that lower attendance results in a student making less than expected progress, struggling more with friendships in school and has more limited opportunities in life after school.

There is a direct correlation between attainment and attendance:

The Department for Education (DfE) published research in 2016 which found that:

• The higher the overall absence rate across KS4, the lower the likely level of attainment at the end of KS4
• Pupils with no absence are 1.3 times more likely to achieve level 4 or above, and 3.1 times more likely to achieve level 5 or above, than pupils that missed 10-15% of all sessions
• Pupils with no absence are 2.2 times more likely to achieve 5+ GCSEs 9-4 or equivalent including English and mathematics than pupils that missed 15-20% of KS4 lessons

Missed days of learning has an accumulative impact on a student’s ability to achieve their full potential:

• Attending 4.5 days a week = 90% attendance = 4 weeks missed per year or half a year missed over 5 years.
• Attending 4 days a week = 80% attendance = more than half a term missed each year or 1 full year missed over 5 years.
• Attending 3.5 days a week = 70% attendance = more than a quarter of the school year missed or 1.5 years missed over 5 years
• Being late for school reduces learning time. If a child is 5 minutes late every day they will miss three days of learning each year. If a child is 15 minutes late every day they will miss 2 weeks of learning each year.

• If you suspect that your child may be missing school or is unhappy at school, you should contact your child’s form tutor or the office directly who will direct your request for support.
• Make sure your child understands that you do not approve of them missing school, but be on the alert for any particular reasons for non-attendance, such as problems with school work and discuss these with the school.
• If your child is ill or absent for any other reason, contact the school on every day of absence by 8.30 am on 01509557560
• If your child is attending a medical appointment during the school day, you can notify the school by emailing wbvattendance@wbvs.co.uk or by ringing the school on 01509557560
• Make sure that your child arrives at school on time.
• Talk to you child about their day, what went well and if they have any worries about anything. Support them to build their own resilience to address any challenges that they may face in school.

• Sue Moreton - Attendance Officer smoreton@wbvs.co.uk
• Your child’s form tutor.
• Your child’s Head of Year
• School office for general enquiries- office@wbvs.co.uk