Attendance
The importance of good attendance
Good attendance at school is essential to future academic, financial and social success. We aim for all students to achieve 100% attendance. A child with 90% attendance misses half a day per week, 8 days per term, 4 weeks in a year and a huge 20 weeks by the time they have left us in Year 11. This has a significant impact on examination results and, in turn, on potential career earnings. Additionally, pupils are less well prepared for the rigours and demands of the workplace.
Over a school year, we are due to be open for 190 days, which equates to 380 sessions with registration in the morning and after lunch in the afternoon. Attendance is affected if a pupil is not present at school for any whole session including registration. Registers are taken from 8.30am and close at 8.40am. It is important that the children are at school on time every day to prevent disruption and upset to their day and for the rest of their class.
We strongly urge you to send your child into school under all circumstances unless:
- They are vomiting and have diarrhoea, in which case they should not return to school for 48 hours after the last time this occurred.
- They have an illness that is contagious, in which case they should not return until they are no longer contagious.
- They have a serious injury or illness which would mean it would be unsafe for them to be in school (under most circumstances, we can carry out a risk assessment and make adjustments so that a child with, for example, a broken leg, can attend and participate).
Please do not keep your child at home because they have a cold or other minor illness.
What do I do if my child is ill or unable to come to school?
If your child is unwell and not able to attend school, you must email the School Office to let us know that they will not be attending school by 9.00am. The email address is pupilabsence@niton.iow.sch.uk
Please let us know the specific reason for absence (not just that they were ‘unwell’). If we have not heard from you, the school office staff will have to contact you and find out where your child is. If your child becomes ill whilst they are at school we will contact you. Please ensure we always have an up to date contact number available for you and an approved second contact.
What if I need to take my young person out of school?
Only exceptional circumstances warrant a leave of absence. However, it is up to the Headteacher to decide if a leave of absence is approved.
Requests for Leave of Absence must be made in writing to the Headteacher by using our Leave of Absence request form – this should be done as far as possible in advance before the event, detailing the exceptional reasons for absence.
Parents and carers are asked, where possible, to make routine medical and dental appointments outside of school hours, but we acknowledge that hospital and more specialist appointments that our young people need may be more difficult to achieve.
Penalty Notice Fines for School
Penalty Notice Fines for school attendance have changed. As set down by the Department for Education, penalty notices can be issued for unauthorised absence. Click here for more information about Penalty Notice Fines issued after August 2024.
