Attendance and Punctuality

At Moreton School we will always encourage pupils to strive for 100% attendance; however, we do understand that this is not always possible and have therefore set a school attendance target of 96% for the academic year 2024/25. There is a strong link between attendance and academic achievement and therefore it is very important that your child attends school everyday unless there are exceptional circumstances. Excellent attendance is rewarded weekly and termly in the form of: pizza parties, Amazon vouchers, Paris Saint-Germain merchandise, sports equipment, enrichments and trips.

Only with the full support of parents/carers can high attendance be achieved. Parents or carers are legally responsible for ensuring their children attend school regularly and to inform school of the reason for a child’s absence on the first day of absence and to provide further information as is required.

Student Absence

If your child is unable to attend school, parent/carer must notify school of the reason for the absence on the first day of an unplanned absence by 8:30am or as soon as practically possible, providing details of the reason for their child’s absence and expected day of return to school .

This can be done by emailing Moretonattendance@aatrust.co.uk or a phone call to school on 01902 558310. If your child has further days absence after the first day, parent/carer must continue to notify school on each day of absence. Please be aware that our Education Welfare Officers will do home visits to support if students are absent for more than 2 days or if we have not heard from you.

If your child feels unwell at school we ask that, unless this is an emergency, they stay in lessons until either break time or lunchtime and then report to our First Aid Administrator. Students are not allowed to contact parents/carers directly from their own phone, reception will contact parents. In most cases students are able to stay in school and feel better once they have had a drink, some food and where necessary a paracetamol. Therefore, to support us with this please ensure your child has breakfast or bring some food with them to school, they have a drinks bottle and if they suffer from ongoing issues they can bring their own paracetamol into school.

PUNCTUALITY MATTERS TOO!

Good punctuality to both lesson and to school leads to higher levels of achievement. When students arrive late at school, they miss out on essential teaching and learning at the beginning of the school day. This can reduce achievement, regardless of a student’s academic ability. Your child may also feel awkward arriving to the classroom where everyone is settled and students arriving late can disrupt the entire class. Being 10 minutes late every day equates to over 30 hours, (approximately 6 days) of learning lost each year. Please ensure that your child arrives at school by 8:35am, ready for line up  at 8:40am. The main school gate on Old Fallings Lane will close at 8:40am and students arriving at 8.40am or after, need to report to the late door by the main reception. Lateness will result in a break time or a lunch time detention that day, unless the school are informed of a valid reason is provided by parent/carer. In the case of persistent lateness parent/carers will be notified and students punctuality will be monitored, if no improvement is made further sanctions will be issued.

In 2023 the Children’s Commissioner authorised a report to investigate the relationship between attendance and academic achievement. The ‘Missing Child, Missing Grades’ Report (November 2023) found that poor attendance has a major impact on GCSE results:

• 78% of all children who were rarely absent (above 95%) in both years 10 and 11 passed at least 5 GCSEs including Eng & Maths
• Only 36% of children who were persistently absent (below 90%) in both years 10 and 11 passed 5 GCSEs inc. Eng & Maths
• Just 5% of children who were severely absent (below 50%) in both years passed 5 GCSEs including Eng & Maths

For further details of the ‘Missing Child, Missing Grades’ Report please use the link below: https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/resource/missing-children-missing-grades/ 

TYPES OF ABSENCE & NHS GUIDANCE ON WHEN A CHILD IS TOO ILL FOR SCHOOL

The Headteacher shall not grant any leave of absence during term time unless: An application has been made in advance, by the parent with whom the child normally resides and they consider there to be exceptional circumstances relating to the application. Unauthorised Leave of Absences will be referred to the Wolverhampton Attendance Service and this could lead to a fixed penalty fine. Where parents wish to take their child(ren) out of school during term time for purposes other than holidays, they should complete the leave of absence form.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE DURINGTERM TIME UPDATED INFORMATION FOR PARENTS 2024-25

The law relating to Penalty Notices changed with effect from 1 September 2024. Therefore, Penalty Notices issued for Leave of Absences taken after this date will be issued in accordance with the updated legislation. Penalty Notices are issued to each parent of each absent child, (for example 2 children and 2 parents, means each parent will receive 2 invoices – 4 in total). First Leave of Absence offence: The Penalty Notice amount of £160 to be paid within 28 days, this is reduced to £80 each child if paid within 21 days. Second Leave of Absence offence within a 3 year period (from the date of issue of the first penalty notice): The amount of £160 paid within 28 days. No reduced amount, Payment plans will not be offered and/or payments received outside of the 28 day period will not be accepted. Where a penalty notice expires unpaid the matter will be referred to Wolverhampton County Council’s Legal Services to consider criminal prosecution. Third Leave of Absence offence within a 3 year period (from the date of issue of the first penalty notice) A penalty notice will be not be issued and the matter will be referred to Wolverhampton County Council’s Legal Services to consider instigating criminal prosecution proceedings under S444 of Education Act 1996. Guidance on what is exceptional circumstances for Leave of Absence : The fundamental principles for defining ‘exceptional circumstances’ are that they are ‘rare, significant, unavoidable and short’.

Guiding principles:

1. Term times are for education. This is the priority. Children and families have 175 days off school to spend time together, including weekends and school holidays. The head teacher will rightly prioritise attendance. The default school policy is that absences will not be granted during term time and will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances.