Attendance

First and foremost, attendance is the key to success

To enable both parents/carers and Northampton School for Girls to effectively work together on securing excellent attendance for all it is crucial that the expectations for school attendance, and the relevant procedures, are shared with you. This can be found here in the Department for Education’s ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ document (Published August 2024) and here for the ‘Summary table of responsibilities for school attendance’ (Published August 2024). However, for ease of reference please refer to the extract taken below:

“The law entitles every child of compulsory school age to an efficient, full-time education suitable to their age, aptitude, and any special educational need they may have. It is the legal responsibility of every parent to make sure their child receives that education either by attendance at a school or by education other than at a school.” (p6, ‘Working together to improve school attendance’, Department for Education)”

The school is dedicated to working alongside parents/carers and key stakeholders to best support them in fulfilling this legal requirement via the school’s enhanced attendance procedure detailed below with the aim to achieve 97% attendance across the school year.

Student’s tutor, pastoral officer and head of academic standards will work closely with parents/carers to identify, understand and overcome any barriers to a student’s attendance to school in line with the procedure stated below as well as working together to overcome/lessen any specific barriers unique to individual students and their families.

At Northampton School for Girls we believe that attendance matters. Consistent attendance supports students in the following ways:

Establishes consistency in their learning, allowing for greater momentum in developing their confidence within their academic progress and outcomes.
Allows students to receive effective and timely support from the school to enable students to overcome barriers to learning, which in turn supports progress.
Provides a healthy routine; promoting positive mental health and well being.
Facilitates the strengthening of relationships amongst their peers as well as their social and emotional development.

What impact does attendance have in regards to my daughter’s outcomes?

It is important to note that every student, and their circumstances, are unique. However, there is significant evidence based on research and national data that identifies a clear trend between a student’s attendance and their attainment/outcomes.

At NSG, we see this same trend as demonstrated in the table below based on previous outcomes.

Expectations

Parents/Carers are expected to:

Northampton School for Girls is expected to:

Fully understand their legal requirement to ensure that their child attends school and receives a full time education suitable to their age, aptitude and any special educational need.

Ensure their child attends every day the school is open except when a statutory reason applies, such as school closure or approved absence by the school.

Notify the school each morning no later than 9:30am when their child has to be unexpectedly absent (e.g. significant sickness).

Inform the school of any wider medical concerns that may become a barrier to attendance in the present/future. This includes provided evidence of medical appointments/diagnosis if requested by the school

Only request leave of absence in exceptional circumstances and do so in advance to the headteacher.

Book any medical appointments around the school day where possible. Where this is not possible aim to return to school as soon as possible following the appointment if appropriate.

Work with the school and local authority to help them understand their child’s barriers to attendance if required.

Following concerns being raised regarding their child’s attendance proactively engage with the support offered to prevent the need for more formal support.

Following continued concerns being raised regarding their child’s attendance proactively engage with the formal support offered –including any parenting contract or voluntary early help plan to prevent the need for legal intervention.

Have a clear school attendance policy on the school website which all staff and parents/carers understand.

Work closely with students to support their academic, social, emotional and mental well being.

Proactively use data to identify students at risk of poor attendance.

Promote a whole school culture promoting the benefits of good attendance.

Have robust daily processes to follow up absence, including contacting parents/carers if no notification of absence has been received.

Ensure that any support agreed inline with a student’s SEND needs, including provisions outlined in student’s EHCP, are accessed and established.

Work with each identified student and their parents/carers to understand and address the reasons for absence with reasonable adjustments, including any in-school barriers. Where out of school barriers are identified, signpost and support access to any required services in the first instance.

If concerns regarding absence persists, take an active part in the multi-agency effort with the local authority and other partners alongside parents/carers.

Where there is a lack of engagement or support is not working, hold more formal conversations with parents/carers and be clear about the involvement of the local authority, including potential need for legal intervention if the issues persist.

Home visit to be arranged if a child has not been seen within 5 days. If this fails then school to make every attempt to contact parents/carers before discussing with the Assistant Headteacher to report child as “missing in education”

Attendance intervention ranges

Below is an outline of the support procedures used by Northampton School for Girls to address concerns regarding students attendance. In some cases, due to sudden significant absence or unique circumstances, alternative arrangements may occur inline with school and local authority procedures.

Procedure stage	Criteria	Action
Range 1 (Radar)	At least 3 separate occasions of notable* absence and/or 5 days in total across the academic year.	Tutor/PO will speak to the student to highlight the importance of positive attendance and to explore/overcome any barriers to attendance. Noted in attendance monitoring sheet. Letter (1) sent by the Head of Academic Standards to inform parents/carers of attendance concerns. If absence is due to wider medical need, parents/carers to inform the Head of Academic Standards directly. Please see notes below concerning “notable absences”
Range 2 (Concern)	At least 5 separate occasions of notable* absence and/or 7 days in total across the academic year.	Letter (2) sent by the Head of Academic Standards to inform parents/carers of attendance concerns and below actions. Head of Academic Standards to host a phone call (or meeting if preferred) to discuss barriers to attendance. School, parent/carer and student to proactively engage with agreed actions shared with all parties/updated on internal record. Students provided an attendance report, if appropriate, to record their own attendance over a 4 week period. Tutor to sign in the morning and parents after school. Aim is 97% over a 4 week period.
Range 3 (Alert)	Failure to achieve 97% attendance during the agreed attendance report period ---------------- or ------------------ Continued poor absence during monitoring period (2 days of notable* absence) ---------------- or ------------------ Repeatedly reaching the “Concern” threshold.	Letter (3) sent by the Head of Academic Standards to inform parents/carers of attendance concerns and below actions. Meeting with the Head of Academic Standards to agree a parent/student attendance contract. Including barriers to attendance, actions and review date in 4 weeks time. Additional actions considered, such as external agencies or support. Parent/carer to proactively engage with these. Contract shared with parents/carers, including review dates. Students provided an attendance report, if appropriate, to record their own attendance over a 4 week period. Tutor to sign in the morning and parents after school. Aim is 97% over a 4 week period. This is to occur consecutively over a 8 week period with a review meeting between parents/carers, students and the Head of Academic Standards at 4 and 8 weeks (if required). If successful in a sustained positive period of attendance for 4 weeks then the monitoring period is suspended. Continue monitoring of attendance moving forward and resume the process if the “Alert” threshold is met again.
Range 4 (Serious)	Continued negative attendance during the monitoring period in Stage Three	Letter (4) sent by the Head of Academic Standards to inform parents/carers of attendance concerns and below actions. Meeting with the Head of Academic Standards and Assistant Headteacher/JSN to review the parent/student attendance contract and reasoning for continued attendance issues or breach. IAP (Improving Attendance Plan) to be completed and agreed.
Range 5 (Critical)	Clear breach of IAP	If the IAP is failed, a referral is made to the School Attendance Support Team at the local authority if approved by Assistant Headteacher. Send Letter (5) to confirm. School, parent/carer and student to proactively address continued attendance concerns and barriers.

*’Notable’ absence refers to absence that is unexpected, such as illness, or unauthorised. If the absence is due to illness linked to a wider diagnosed medical or SEN need as part of an EHCP then this is considered not notable, however it is considered a barrier to attendance, therefore appropriate actions and intervention is required to lessen the impact this has on their attendance, including involvement of external agencies. The school reserves the right to request evidence of ongoing medical investigations and/or appointments.

Unauthorised holidays are considered within the calculation for notable absences. In addition they are reported to the local authority following amendments to the Education (Student Registration) (England) 2006 regulations, from 1 September 2013 the law gives no entitlement to parents to take their child on holiday during term time. Further information regarding Northampton specifically can be found here

Attendance percentage banding

Below is an outline of the schools “banding” of a students attendance throughout the academic year. This is used to allow the school to closely monitor a student's overall attendance to ensure effective monitoring and support. It is important to note that Northampton School for Girls' target for attendance is 97% overall.

It is important to note that “attendance percentage banding” and “attendance intervention ranges” can differ at times to allow the school to manage and support each case proportionally to the needs and barriers of a student attending school.

Attendance Champion

“Excellent”

Green

“Impressive”

Green

“Nearly there”

Amber-Green

“Needs to Improve”

Amber

“Danger zone”

Amber-Red

“Extreme Impact”

Red

100% attendance

97-99.99% attendance

96-96.99% attendance

95-95.99% attendance

94-94.99% attendance

90.01-93.99% attendance

Below 90% attendance

Outstanding!

Excellent

Impressive

Just below target

Cause for concern

Serious cause for concern

Critica

What can parents/carers do to support positive attendance?

A positive working relationship between parents/carers and the school is fundamental to supporting positive attendance. As such parents/carers can support their daughter’s positive attendance in the following ways.

Communicate with the school, specifically your daughter's tutor, pastoral officer and head of academic standards, whenever there is a barrier to their daughter attending school. This can include, but not limited to, medical, emotional, academic or social concerns. A list of key contacts can be found here.
Encourage positive attendance at home and communicate the benefits of attendance.
Encourage your daughter to engage with the school to share any barriers to attendance so that we can work together to overcome them.
If your daughter is unwell, but able to attend school with the support of over the counter or home remedies, encourage them to do so.
Utilising Edulink to track your daughter’s attendance, celebrating positive attendance while also highlighting worrying trends of absence.
Engage with all support and reasonable adjustments agreed with the school to promote positive attendance.

How do I request absence during term time?

We actively discourage parents/carers from requesting absence during term time, however if this is not possible then it is important to note that following amendments to the Education (Student Registration) (England) 2006 regulations, from 1 September 2013 the law gives no entitlement to parents/carers to take their child on holiday or leave during term time. Any application for leave must only be in exceptional circumstances and the Headteacher must be satisfied that the circumstances are exceptional and warrant the granting of leave. Headteachers would not be expected to class any term time holiday or leave as exceptional.

To request a leave of absence during term time please email the school as early as possible. Each case will be reviewed individually, resulting in parents/carers receiving the decision in writing.