Regular attendance and punctuality are essential for good progress in school.

Attendance and punctuality are matters about which the school is always asked to comment by employers or colleges when giving references.

Parents have a legal duty to make sure their children attend school regularly and punctually.

 Absences are classified as “Authorised" or “Unauthorised" depending upon the circumstances. For example, a student attending a hospital appointment would be classified as an "Authorised" absence. A student kept at home to look after brothers or sisters would be classified as an "Unauthorised" absence.

The school has a legal duty to record absences as Authorised and Unauthorised depending on the circumstances of the absence as directed by the DfES.

 The school aims to resolve problems with school attendance and lateness as quickly as possible and will work in partnership with parents to achieve this.

On occasions where problems of non-attendance cannot be resolved we find the support of outside agencies such as the involvement of the Education Social Worker very helpful to both school and family.

 Parents should telephone school on the first day of absence and send a letter to the Form Tutor on return stating the reason for absence and the inclusive dates of that absence. Acceptable absence would be as a result of: illness, medical appointments, bereavement etc. These would be recorded as "Authorised" absences. Unacceptable absence would be: shopping trips, looking after other children etc. These would be recorded as "Unauthorised".

 There is no automatic entitlement to take students out of school for family holidays. Requests for annual parental holidays should be supported by the L.E.A. Holiday Form completed by parents. Parents should consider the following when making such requests:

 Holidays can only be approved for a total of no more than 10 school days in any school year. The governors have been concerned about the number of students who have taken holidays in term time especially in the Upper School. This should be avoided wherever possible for obvious reasons.

 Holidays should be avoided at times when tests or examinations are taking place. (Anytime in Year 11 should be avoided.)

 In all circumstances the student's previous attendance record will be taken into account by the school when considering requests for holiday absence.