Attendance Matters

Mrs E Marks Attendance Officer 01376 556320		Mrs F Grantham Attendance Administrator 01376 556301

At Notley High School & Braintree Sixth, we strongly believe that good attendance and punctuality are essential for our students’ education, helping to develop a positive working ethos in early life, and is therefore essential for all students if they are to succeed academically and socially.

We attach great importance to our work on improving attendance across the school in line with targets set by the Government. To this end, attendance is monitored very closely by our attendance team. The link between attendance and attainment in school is clear. The more a student is in school the more they increase their opportunity to fulfil their potential.

If a student has 90% attendance in an academic year, that actually means that they are away from school for half a day every week. The big surprise is that if a student has 90% attendance all through their time at high school and college they will actually miss half a year of schooling.

Absence Procedures:

• Students arriving after 8.40am must report to Student Services to receive their mark. Tutor Time starts at 8.40am;
• Parents/carers are expected to either call the appropriate absence line before 8.30am, stating their tutor group, whenever their child is unable to attend school for any reason, or inform the school by sending a message via Edulink, using the absence reporting link. This includes illness, medical appointments, college interviews, bereavements and funerals etc. Parents/carers are required to contact the school every day of the absence;
• Medical or similar appointments for a child should, wherever possible, be made outside of school hours. If this is not possible, written notification must be sent in to your child’s tutor or the attendance team;
• To enable us to authorise absences due to medical appointments (hospital, doctor, dentist, orthodontist or physiotherapist), please provide evidence in the form of an appointment card or letter, as without this the absence may be unauthorised on your child’s record.
• If at any time the school feels that attendance and/or punctuality are a concern, we will contact you either by telephone or in writing, and may invite you in to school to discuss the matter. We believe that the school and parents/carers need to work together in promoting good attendance and punctuality.
• Notley High School & Braintree Sixth Form work closely with the Local Authority to address attendance concerns and we will consider referrals to them if absence remains a concern following communication with parents/carers.

Please do not hesitate to contact the attendance team if you have any concerns or queries regarding attendance.

Contacts:

The numbers to use to report absences are as follows: