Parents

Attendance and Punctuality

At The Hyndburn Academy, we have the highest expectations across all aspects of school life, including attendance. We place great importance on positive relationships between staff and students and strive to ensure that every student feels valued and has a strong sense of belonging within our school community.

We work closely with students and families to support excellent attendance, as we believe regular attendance is essential for students to achieve their full potential and benefit fully from the opportunities we offer. There is a clear and well-established link between attendance and academic success, and we are committed to ensuring that all students achieve strong outcomes to provide them with the best possible foundation for future success.

To support this we:

  • Regularly monitor attendance and punctuality and will contact parents/carers where concerns arise
  • Provide targeted support for students whose attendance is affected by specific challenges, working with appropriate staff or external agencies where necessary
  • Recognise and reward good attendance through our school rewards system
  • Do not authorise holidays during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances

Any exceptional circumstances must be put in writing to the Principal.

We ask that parents/carers:

  • Inform the school promptly of any absence and ensure students return to school as soon as possible
  • Arrange medical and dental appointments outside of school hours wherever possible
  • Avoid booking holidays during term time
  • Refrain from taking children out of school for shopping trips or family events, including birthdays and leisure outings

Parents and carers have a legal responsibility to ensure their child attends school regularly and punctually. We strongly encourage all families to support attendance of 95% or above.

Absence Procedure

If your child is unable to attend school, you can notify us either via telephone 01254 885378, dial option 2 for the attendance team or via the Arbor App before 8.15am. 

Where possible please also provide evidence of any appointments or medical documentation.

Please ensure that we are informed of a continuing absence as early as possible on every subsequent day of absence.

Late Procedure

The school day starts at 8.35am. Arrival after that time will mean the child is late. Lateness means that students miss valuable learning time, which can impact their progress and confidence. Late arrivals can also disrupt lessons for other students. For these reasons, we take punctuality seriously.

Lateness to School 

Poor punctuality is unacceptable as it causes students to miss essential work and disrupts lessons. Students must arrive by 8:30am ready for lesson at 8.35am. Late arrivals will complete a social time detention. 

Lateness to Lesson

Poor punctuality disrupts lessons and causes students to miss essential work. Students must move promptly to their lessons. Late arrivals will face sanctions, including social time detention, after-school detention, and for persistent lateness; time in the Reflection room.

The Importance of Good Attendance

We reward those students whose attendance is good or better, or showing signs of significant improvement.

The range of rewards we use includes prasie postcards, attendance certificates, prize draws, 100% attendance badges and invitation to celebration events. 

Regular attendance of students is closely related to their levels of achievement.

This makes the issue of regular attendance of great importance. Under education legislation, parents have a duty to ensure that their children attend school regularly and punctually. Failure to do so, without reasonable excuse, can result in referrals to the Local Authority with the prospect of fines or prosecution for those parents, should a child’s attendance not improve rapidly.

What is Good Attendance?

It is useful for you to know what attendance figures mean for your child. We encourage all parents and carers to use the Arbor app in order to monitor their child's attendance.

Our minimum expected target for all students is 97%.

All students whose attendance is below 90% are classified as Persistent Absentees and, depending upon personal circumstances, face possible referral to the Education Inclusion Partnership Team.

The image provides more detailed information about attendance over the course of a full academic year.

Parents are expected to perform their legal duty by ensuring their children of compulsory school age who are registered at HLA attend regularly and arrive to school on time. If a child of compulsory school age fails to attend regularly at a school at which they are registered the parents may be guilty of an offence and can be prosecuted by the local authority.

Our attendance team supports parents and carers, students, teaching staff and other professionals to secure the highest possible attendance for all students at the academy.

 
What happens if my child's attendance is a concern?

We will ensure that you are regularly informed of your child's attendance. If your child's attendance becomes a concern, you may receive a letter requesting that you attend a meeting with a member of staff in order to discuss the barriers to attendance. 

What if I need to make a medical or dental appointment?

We hope you will support us in maintaining good attendance by booking medical and dental appointments in the school holidays, after 3.10pm or at weekends.

The current school year has 188 days. This means that there are 167 other days that are available for appointments to be made.

Most medical and dental surgeries also offer appointments outside of school hours.  If an appointment during school hours is unavoidabl,  please try to ensure that your child comes into school before and after their appointment wherever possible, so that there is minimal disruption to their education.

How do I request a leave of absence for my child?

Should you wish to request to take your child out of school for exceptional circumstances, please contact us and request a Leave of Absence Form, also available to download, using the link below.

These forms should be returned to Reception or via your child's Form Tutor or Head of Year at least 2 weeks before the requested dates for absence.

Once received, the Principal or the Vice Principal in the Principal’s absence will consider your request. Only those requests which are considered to be due to exceptional circumstances will be authorised.

Any requests for leave of absence that are submitted with less than 10 days notice will be coded as unauthorised.

What are the rules regarding term time holidays and Penalty notices

New regulations from the Department for Education regarding term time holidays came into force on August 2024. In summary, Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term-time except for exceptional circumstances. The new regulations remove any reference to family holidays, extended leave and the statutory threshold of ten school days.

Please take the time to read the guidance on the next tab taken from the Department of Education regulations as they may have a serious impact upon parents who choose to remove their children from school during term time for holidays.

The Education (penalty notices) (england) (Amendment) regulations 2024

The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 444A(6), 444B(1), (2) and (4) and 569 of the Education Act 1996(1) and sections 105(5), 106(1), (2) and (4) and 181 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006(2).

These Regulations may be cited as the Education (Penalty Notices) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2024. These Regulations come into force on 19th August 2024.

The amount of the penalty to be paid under a penalty notice issued to a parent under section 444A(1) of the 1996 Act is as follows.

Where no penalty notice has been issued to the parent under section 444A(1) of the 1996 Act in respect of the same child in the preceding three-year period, the amount of the penalty is:

  • £80, where the amount is paid within the period of 21 days beginning with the date on which the notice is received;
  • £160, Where a penalty notice has been issued to the parent under section 444A(1) of the 1996 Act in respect of the same child in the preceding three-year period, the amount of the penalty is £160.
  • “Preceding three-year period” means the period of three years ending with the date on which the penalty notice is issued.
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