Brooke Weston Academy

Brooke Weston Academy has high expectations of student attendance. 

We believe encouraging school attendance is one of the most powerful ways you can prepare your child for success, both in school and in life. 

Making school attendance and punctuality a priority helps your child to maximise their potential, develop important socials skills and avoid dangerous behaviour. Attendance target 97%. 

Student attendance is measured as a percentage. This refers to the proportion of days that a student attends out of the 190 possible school days per year. The poster below shows the number days and lessons that a Student will have missed were their attendance to fall below 100%.

At Brooke Weston Academy, our expectation is that students attendance does not fall below 97%. Students whose attendance remains between 97% and 100% are in the best position to achieve the top grades in their GCSEs and A-Levels. Students whose attendance drops below 94% will have missed 2 weeks of school. This has a significant impact on GCSE results: 

• Students with no absence are over twice as likely to achieve 5 or more GCSEs at grades 5-9 including English and Mathematics. 

• The students with the highest levels of attendance are almost 5 times more likely to achieve 5 GCSEs at grades 5-9 including English and Mathematics 

• Students with a rate of attendance lower than 95%, have lower 50% chance of gaining 5 or more GCSEs at grade 5-9 including Maths and English. Only 35% of Students whose attendance is lower than 90% gain 5 or more GCSEs including England and Maths. 

• Students with 100% attendance have almost 75% chance of gaining 5 or more GCSEs at grades 5-9 including English and Maths. 

If your child is having difficulties attending school, please contact your child’s form tutor or Student Care Team as soon as possible, as most issues can be dealt with very quickly. 

We wish to work in partnership with parents/carers and so are seeking your full support in ensuring that your child attends school every day and on time. We are always pleased to work together to resolve any difficulties, and we are committed to improving attendance levels.

Parents/carers should contact the Academy every day of their child's absence before 8.00 a.m. 

To report an absence please use the absence reporting function on edulink 

Alternatively, you can telephone 01536 396366, select option 2 to leave a voicemail message with the following information: 

• Student Name 

• Year Group 

• Absence Reason 

• Day of Absence 

• Parent/Carer Name 

If an explanation for an absence is not received, it will be recorded as unauthorised and an unexplained absence text message will be sent from the Academy or a telephone call will be made. A home visit may occur as a follow-up action.

If a student feels unwell, whilst they are attending the Academy site, they must report to a member staff during lesson time or by approaching their Form Tutor or a member od Student Support directly during break or lunch. 

When this occurs a student’s condition and circumstances will then be checked, with the member of staff involved then considering the situation and liaising with parents or carers if appropriate. If it is agreed that the student will be collected to go home, this will be clarified with a named adult from our student contact details list. 

Students must then be collected by an adult, who is again named on the students contact list. If this is not possible, the Academy will need written confirmation and permission stating the adult who will be acting as the person responsible for supervision and collection. 

Please note that students should not be contacting parents or carers directly during school hours via mobile phones, we need to manage safeguarding protocols and ensure that we control records of students arriving on and off site.

In the case of unavoidable medical or dental appointments and in accordance with Brooke Weston Trust policy, we will require medical evidence to authorise these absences. 

We accept the following as medical evidence that details the time and date of the appointment: 

• Appointment letter/slip 

• Text message or online booking confirmation 

Please can we be informed of planned medical or dental appointments at least 1 day prior to the appointment. This notification, along with medical evidence, can be sent via the absence reporting function on edulink 

Or 

Emailing directly to the attendance team - studentabsence@brookewestonacademy

The Government’s priority is to ensure that every child attends school regularly and where attendance is deemed to be unsatisfactory, that it is addressed promptly. There is clear evidence that any absence can and will have an impact on attainment. It is therefore important that schools maintain good attendance levels and that parents support this by ensuring their children attend school regularly.

The Brooke Weston Trust Academies and the Local Authority have been working together to issue warnings and Penalty Notices under Section 444(A) of the Education Act 1996 (amended regulations 2013).

A Penalty Notice is a fine up to £120. It is £60, if paid within the first 21 days but then £120 past the 21st day / within the 28 days. If the penalty is not paid in full by the end of the 28 day period, the Local Authority will instigate Court Proceedings and the outcome of a prosecution could be up to £1,000 per parent/adult This is an alternative to the prosecution of parents/carers/guardians for failing to ensure the regular attendance of a compulsory school age (age 5-16 years) student where they are registered or at a place where alternative provision is provided.

Whilst parents/carers/guardians can provide explanations for absences, it is at the Academy’s discretion as to whether this absence will be authorised or unauthorised. The change in legislation has meant the removal of holiday entitlement and Principals will now not authorise any holiday requests in term time, unless there are ‘exceptional circumstances’. A family holiday taken in term time will result in a warning and Penalty Notice being issued.

Other criteria for Penalty Notices include a student having a high number of unauthorised absences within an academic year and where an excluded student is found in a public place during school hours without a justifiable explanation.

The current Persistent Absence threshold is 10%. This means that students who have cumulative absence as shown below will fall into the Persistent Absence banding –

• Term 1 = 4 days
• Term 2 = 8 days
• Term 3 = 12 days
• Term 4 = 16 days
• Term 5 = 20 days.

Further advice and guidance on this matter can be located through the Department of Education website entitled “Advice on school attendance”.

• Contact School each and every day of a child’s absence
• Try to make medical appointments outside of school hours. If not possible, only remove the child from school for the minimum amount of time necessary for the appointment.
• Provide School with copies of any medical evidence such as appointment cards, prescriptions or medication packets.
• Inform school beforehand of any medical procedures.
• Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and speak to someone if you have a concern.
• Inform School of any planned holidays. Although they will be recorded as an unauthorised holiday, and may incur a fine, it is better that we know a child is safe rather than missing.
• High attendance lends itself to resilience, excellence and quality aspirations.