Attendance Policy

iBOS Attendance Policy

Responsibility of: The Principal

Date Ratified: 02 July 2025

Review Date: 02 July 2026

Introduction

iBOS places great importance on attendance. We consider instilling behaviours such as being on time and attending school every day as a key to future success in life at school and in our students’ chosen further studies. It is to ensure students can access the full curriculum and achieve continued academic success. Our aims within the attendance policy are to:

• raise the level of attendance by students,
• ensure punctuality is kept at iBOS, and
• promote the whole school vision of excellence.

Background

Students are always at the heart of iBOS. The attendance team works closely with all students, particularly those who have poor attendance and punctuality. The Attendance Team will identify potential barriers to attendance and punctuality, and then develop a range of strategies and interventions to support students and families to overcome them. Good attendance is 96% - 100%. The school has a legal duty to report to the authorities any student whose attendance falls below 90%. All attendance data is regularly monitored, analysed and shared with appropriate stakeholders (e.g., SLT, governors) to ensure intervention thresholds are applied consistently and effectively. Patterns of absence are reviewed in line with safeguarding responsibilities.

Aims

The vision for the Attendance Team is to:

• reduce any barriers to non-attendance.
• raise the level of whole school attendance.
• raise the level of punctuality in school.
• ensure students receive the optimum support at the right time, in the right way and for the right length of time.
• see that students’ individual needs are met by a professional team who have experience and expertise.
• ensure there is a whole school vision of excellence that includes high standards of attendance and punctuality.
• provide comprehensive support for families.
• ensure all students have equal access to opportunities enjoyed by all others in the school.

Rewards

As well as achieving academic and social success by maintaining high levels of attendance and punctuality, the school also wishes to recognise the commitment of those students who do attend regularly on time. This includes:

• Students meeting and exceeding attendance targets will receive rewards.
• Tutors and Attendance Officers are responsible for ensuring that parents are notified of improved attendance by individual students e.g. congratulation postcards.
• Tutors are responsible for ensuring that students are rewarded for high levels of attendance and punctuality. Those with 100% attendance and punctuality for a year receive a special certificate at the end-of-year assembly. Termly celebrations are hosted for students with 100% attendance and punctuality. Roles and Responsibilities: Responsibilities of Students
• Students must be signed in to their MS Teams each day by 7.15 am UK time for a briefing with their form tutors or assemblies.
• Students must have all necessary equipment for the lesson i.e. notebooks, pens, any learning material.
• Students must attend the lessons with a positive attitude which is conducive to learning. Responsibilities of Parents/Carers
• When a student is absent from school due to illness the parent should contact the school on the first day, and then update the school daily. This should be done by 7 am UK time if possible; by creating an absence notice from the parent portal.
• On return from absence the parent should provide evidence of the absence (e.g. doctor’s note).
• Reason for lateness notice must be made before 7 am UK time. Relevance and consequence of reason to be decided by the Attendance Officer.
• It is unacceptable for students to be late or leave early for any reason.
• Medical, Optician, Dental and non-emergency GP appointments should be made outside of school hours or during holiday times.
• Parents must provide the school with alternate contact details of people who can be contacted if a student does not attend school.
• Parents are to check the percentage of attendance and level of punctuality on the parents' portal.
• The school advises parents not to seek a leave of absence or holiday period for their child. Where it is unavoidable, parents must obtain permission from the Principal. The Principal alone gives permission in exceptional circumstances. Parents must ensure that the student completes all missed work. Parents taking leave without permission may be fined.
• Parents will be fined by the school if their child is persistently late to lessons or absent. The degree of fine will be decided by the Principal.
• Where unauthorised absences persist, the school may initiate an Attendance Contract or refer the case to the Education Welfare Officer (EWO) or the Local Authority Attendance Support Service.
• • Persistent Absence (PA) is defined as attendance below 90%. The school may issue fixed penalty notices or initiate legal proceedings in line with DfE Parental Responsibility Measures if improvements are not made.

Responsibilities of Teachers

• Attendance will be taken at the start of every lesson.
• Students who arrive late to class will be flagged and late attendance will be added to the weekly report on the online portal or MIS.
• All absences must be noted for inclusion in the weekly report.
• Analysts will search for any emerging patterns or absence or lateness so this may be tackled before it becomes a significant issue. Responsibilities of Tutors The register is a legal document and is used in court proceedings. The tutor must complete it accurately on the online portal or MIS. There is a paper backup to use if the system fails. All students registered with an Unauthorised Absence (“O” or equivalent code) must be revisited within three weeks and the entry needs to be altered to an appropriate code reflecting the reason for the absence. It is the tutor’s responsibility to check back for Unauthorised Absence entries and amend them as appropriate.

The Law

Under Section 7 of the Education Act 1996, parents are responsible for making sure that their children of compulsory school age receive full-time education. Parents have a legal responsibility to ensure their child’s regular attendance at the school where they are registered. If a child of compulsory school age registered at a school fails to attend regularly, the parent is guilty of an offence under Section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996. Since March 2001 there has been a further offence where a parent, knowing that their child is failing to attend school regularly, fails without reasonable justification to cause him/her to attend (Education Act 1996, section 444(1A) as amended by the Criminal Justice and Court Service Act 2000). In addition, under the School Attendance Parental Responsibility Measures guidance, schools can issue:

• Fixed Penalty Notices (fines of £60 rising to £120 if unpaid within 21 days),
• Parenting Contracts or Orders,
• Prosecution under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996.

Responsibilities of Leadership Team

• Monitor attendance and punctuality data for all year groups.
• Discuss data on attendance and punctuality, including high-risk students with Tutors fortnightly at line management meetings.
• Write reports for Governors as appropriate.

• Recommend students for Governors’ Attendance/Punctuality Panel.

Governors

• Review attendance policy annually.
• Attend Governors’ Attendance and Punctuality Panels as appropriate.

Contact Details

If your child cannot attend school, please create an absence notice from the parent portal. We will inform the teaching staff of your child’s absence. Where possible please let us know the expected date of return to school. Any unexplained absences will be followed up via call, email, and message to the parent/carer. Please respond as soon as possible to the email so we may make a note on our systems of any reasons why students are not attending lessons. Table of action to be taken if non-attendance or persistent lateness Tutor Attendance team Head of Years iBOS/Authorities Level 1 Non- Speak to the Text Daily admin – to attendance student on return – include entering registers, check for absence signing late students in, note. updating information on absent students, sending 1st day absence text. Level 2 No Form tutor follows Phone call unless known Follow up phone call response to up with the for acceptable reasons. Interventions with Stage 1 Unclear individual student Letter home – Morning students/ parents. or Cause for and Parents /Carer briefing meeting with year concern message if an “O” in register teams to discuss “O” and amends on the reports, collect absence MIS. notes, etc. Level 3 – no Below 80% lists scanned Referral to Inclusion response to for each year group, meeting – referral to above/3 intervention discussed and other agencies both separate periods put in place Referral to internal & external of absence/ HOY/Attendance Officer No further absence Previous Close monitoring of without Doctor’s concerns students with proven note (if applicable) medical issues. Attendance Officer to contact parents and letter to be sent home to confirm. Communication with parents by

Attendance Officer/

HOY if no improvement.

Attendance Support

Plan agreed. If no contact is possible with home at any of

the above stages – a home visit. Level 4 – No HOY takes names to School Penalty Fine improvement inclusion and further Issued - £250 despite previous actions are intervention/ discussed. below 80% Governors'

Attendance Panel

Penalty warning letter if no improvement. Referral to additional support agencies

Extended Holiday/Leave

AGREED - Principal authorises - MIS Updated- Request Filed

First

DECLINED - Principal turns down the authorisation - warning letter – MIS updated - request filed Principal turns down the request – MIS updated - request filed - Second request for Penalty Fine sent to the Chair of Governors. Governors' attendance panel as appropriate.

Children Missing from Education

We have a statutory duty to:

• Ensure details of the pupil are on the admission register when the child first registers at the school.
• Monitor pupil attendance through daily attendance records.
• Carry out reasonable enquiries about the child’s whereabouts if the child fails to attend.
• Notify the authorities where: o a pupil’s name is added to the school roll outside of the normal transition points (notification to be sent to the Admissions team) o a pupil does not attend for 10 school days or more without permission (notification to be sent to the authorities). o the school is about to remove the pupil’s name from the roll on any of the grounds listed in the letter from the Principal.
• Notifications that a pupil’s name has been added to the school roll must be sent to the Admissions team within 5 days of adding the pupil’s name to the register and should contain all the personal information contained on the school’s admissions register.
• Notification is not required where children are moving schools during normal transition periods such as primary to secondary school. Removing the child’s name from the school roll if by Day 20 and following reasonable enquires by the school and other authorities the child’s whereabouts have not been established or there is no reason to believe the child cannot attend because of illness or other cause, the school should formally notify parents and the authorities that the child’s name will be removed from the roll under Regulation 8(1)(h) (child has not attended for more than 20 days). iBOS follows the Children Missing Education (2016) statutory guidance. A child missing

education may be at significant risk of underachievement, neglect, or harm. All concerns are escalated to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) for safeguarding assessment. The school will refer cases where a student is believed to be at risk to the Local Authority CME team and may complete a Child Missing Education Notification Form as part of safeguarding protocols. Removing the Child’s Name from the School Roll If by Day 20 and following reasonable enquires by the school and other authorities the child’s whereabouts have not been established or there is no reason to believe the child cannot attend because of illness or other cause, the school should formally notify the parents that the child’s name will be removed from the roll under Regulation 8(1)(h) (child has not attended for more than 20 days). Monitoring and Reporting The Attendance Officer will maintain accurate, real-time data through the school’s MIS. Weekly reports will be shared with Tutors, Heads of Year, and the Senior Leadership Team. Attendance concerns are flagged early and escalated to designated staff as per the Attendance Escalation Table. Attendance trends and actions taken are reported to the Governing Body each term to inform strategic improvement planning and ensure transparency.