Darton College

Attendance Policy
May 2015

At Darton College we strive for the highest level of attendance from all our learners
so they are able to achieve their full potential.
Research shows that learners who have less than 90% attendance (20 or more days
missed in a year) achieve, on average a grade lower than expected in
examinations.
Duties and Responsibilities
Safeguarding and Pastoral Lead

Oversee and monitor overall college attendance and punctuality, initiating

whole college policies as required. This will be achieved by liaison with the
Senior Leadership Team and other relevant members of the Pastoral and
Learning Support Team.
Support the Student Progress Leaders, Form Tutors and teaching staff in
promoting good attendance and punctuality.
Meet with parents/carers, learners and relevant staff where there are major
concerns with individual learners (including attendance at school based panel
meetings).
Liaise with the Educational Welfare Officer (EWO), and Lead Practitioner
Safeguarding and Pastoral to devise any necessary re-integration programmes
for learners who are persistent absentees (PA) or at risk of long term absence.

Progress Leaders (PL)

Oversee and monitor attendance and punctuality for their year groups
(including the monitoring of relevant sub-groups).
Liaise with form tutors and highlight problems that require action.
Liaise with the Safeguarding and Pastoral Lead where there are concerns about
individual learners or forms.
Meet regularly with the EWO to sustain good communication and identify and
intervene with individual learners who are PA or at risk of becoming PA. Refer
learners if they are a persistent problem or have reached triggers.
Act on daily information from staff concerning student absences or habitual
lateness.
Inform parents of any learners whose attendance and/or punctuality are a
cause for concern.
Intervene early to arrange and attend meetings with parents and relevant staff
where there are attendance issues (e.g. subject truancy)
Promote good attendance through assemblies

Form Tutor

Encourage all learners in their form to maintain excellent attendance and

punctuality.
Record achievement points for learners with 100% weekly attendance.
Collect all correspondence from parents/carers with regard to absences and
ensure necessary information is added before passing to the Attendance
Officer.
Keep an overview of learners attendance; follow up unexplained absences
and check patterns of absence and poor punctuality.
Liaise with Progress Leader to pass on concerns about individual learners.
Inform learners of the need to complete a holiday request form prior to a
planned absence.

Subject Teachers

Take an electronic register at the start of each lesson

Pass on any concerns about absentees from lessons to the Attendance Officer
as soon as possible

Attendance Officer

Compile all attendance data and information for relevant staff.

Be responsible for producing all letters home regarding attendance and
punctuality.
Make contact with parents/carers on the first day of absence for all learners
where the reason for absence is unknown.
Contact parents/carers should any student leave the site without permission.
Liaise closely with the SLT and PL to pass on information, concerns and all
instances of truancy.
Work closely with the EWO to monitor learners who present concerns.
Produce attendance certificates to reward 100% attendance.

Educational Welfare Officer (EWO)

Work closely with relevant staff to establish caseload and feedback information
on work in progress.
Liaise with the Attendance Officer and PL to ensure communication is up to
date.
Organise and attend meetings in college to monitor individual learners
attendance.
Organise all panel meetings where necessary.
Carry out home visits.
Monitor PA learners re-integration with the PL after long term absence.
Issue fixed term penalty notices

Registration requirements
Amendments to the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations 1996 as of June 2011
mean there are four broad classifications in attendance registers:
Present the student is on the premises at the time of registration
Approved Educational Activity the student is engaged in an approved, supervised
activity off site, for example field trip, educational visit, sporting activity or work
experience.
Authorised Absence an absence authorised by the college which includes illness,
medical appointments, bereavement or other circumstances where the college
deems attendance to be inappropriate. There is no automatic entitlement for
learners to be guaranteed leave of absence for holidays with parents/carers during
term time. A decision will be made at the Principals discretion.
Unauthorised Absence an absence where the student does not have good cause
to be missing from college. Unauthorised absence can be defined in the following
ways:
Truancy this is action by learners who fail to attend college when they should,
including leaving the college premises after registration. It also includes action by
parents/carers who initiate unauthorised absence by learners or who collude with it.
Shopping trips, day trips or absence to look after someone else would all constitute
examples of unauthorised absence.
School refusal this is chronic non-attendance over a period of time, usually an
indicator of wider family, psychological or behavioural problems.
Attendance Procedures
Registration
Registration opens at 9am and closes at 9.15am.

Registers must be taken promptly at the start of each lesson and during form
time. Staff must contact the college Attendance Officer as soon as possible if
there are any concerns about absentees.
Anyone taking learners out of college for any reason must supply the
Attendance Officer with a list of names and in email the list to the appropriate
PL and teaching staff.
Staff must inform colleagues of any learners taking part in events in college that
require learners to be off timetable.

First Day Contact

The Attendance Officer will organise first day contact.
This will involve
telephoning/texting/emailing all parents/carers where the reason for absence is
unknown.
Any outstanding or unexplained absence will be followed up by the Attendance
Officer via contact with parents.
Exit/Entry to College during the Day
learners who need to leave during the college day must bring a letter from home
and/or an appointment card. learners should bring the note from home to Student
Point when it is time for them to sign out and sign back in at the Student Point on
their return.
Late arrivals
learners who arrive at college once registration has closed must report to Student
Point before going to their lesson. Lateness is recorded and monitored. Persistent
lateness may result in a subsequent consequence.
All these procedures are very important as in the event of a fire drill it is vital there is
an accurate record of who is on the college site at that time. It is equally important
that all Darton College staff sign in and out using the electronic registration system
located in reception.
Attendance Concerns
The Pastoral and Learning Support Team meet weekly to discuss attendance and
punctuality concerns.
Long term absence learners who are long term absentees for whatever reason,
often find the return to college problematical. There are both academic and social
difficulties which learners may need time to overcome. For some learners this may
involve a personalised re-integration programme. The programme will be devised
by the appropriate PL and may include use of a partial timetable and pastoral
support. Parents/carers will be involved throughout the reintegration process and
staff will be informed by the PL.
Holiday Absence although some parents may find themselves in difficult
circumstances which require them to organise holidays in term time, Darton College
believes learners should not miss school for this reason.
From September 2013 Government guidelines advise that no absence should be
authorised in advance except when due to exceptional circumstances.
Any request should be made in writing. We will consider all requests individually.

Where a parental request has been refused, and parents/carers continue to take
their child out of school, this absence will be recorded as unauthorised. The College
responds to all holiday requests with a letter to inform parents/carers of the Colleges
decision.
Rewards and Incentives
We promote good attendance and reward it wherever possible building it into our
Rewards and Consequence system.

Attendance Monitoring and Intervention Procedures

Action
A RAG rated spreadsheet will be sent weekly to Form Tutors (FT) detailing
weekly and annual attendance to date.
Attendance will be discussed by FT and learners will record their attendance
in planners.
Any attendance/punctuality trends noticed by FT should be passed
immediately to Progress Leader (PL).
Contact will be made with parents through the schools Any Comms system
on the first day of absence for any student absence not reported.
Second day N codes will be sent to a nominated member of the Pastoral
Team daily by the Attendance Officer. A member of Pastoral staff should
contact home by telephone. Any N codes not established after a week will
be recorded as unauthorised absence.
Student Attendance below 95%
A member of the Pastoral Team will speak to learners in school to discuss any
issues or problems to ascertain how school can help to improve their
attendance. A phone call home will be made if applicable
Student Attendance below 93%
A letter will be sent home raising concerns that attendance has fallen below
the school target of 95.5%. The letter will also have attached a leaflet
outlining how parents can work with school and their child to help improve
attendance.
Student Attendance below 90%
A letter will be sent home explaining that a students absence is now being
monitored. PL will contact parents by telephone to discuss the childs
attendance to offer support to address any issues.
The learners attendance will be monitored for 2 weeks. If attendance has
not risen, then parents will be required to attend a meeting in school with their
childs PL.
If parents are unwilling to co-operate, or genuinely unable to attend, the PL
needs to make a referral to the EWO who will then carry out a home visit.
If attendance has not improved within the 2 week monitoring period (likely to
be close to 85% or below), or if attendance has fallen rapidly, parents will be
invited to either:
- A school attendance meeting with the PL/Member of the Pastoral
Team/EWO if appropriate
- A medical action planning meeting with the School Nurse, SENCO, PL
and EWO (this is in the event that the medical needs protocol has not
already been initiated)
Provision will be discussed and targets will be set for raising attendance. This
will be monitored over a further two week period.
After the two week purple monitoring period, if targets are met a letter will be
sent home from the leadership team to congratulate the student and the
family. Monitoring and communication with the family will continue until
attendance stabilises
If targets are not met, the SM will make a referral to the EWO
Education Welfare protocol will be followed.
A parental contract will be drawn up and followed
4 week monitoring period
No improvements final written warning
Further 4 weeks no improvement fixed penalty notice could be issued

Person
Responsible
Attendance
Officer
Form Tutor

Attendance
Officer
Pastoral Team

Progress Leader/
Pastoral Team

Attendance
Officer/Progress
Leader

Progress
Leader/EWO

PL
EWO
School Nurse
SENCO

SLT
SM

EWO

Stage