Attendance & Punctuality

Is Your Child Missing Out?

Focus on Attendance and Punctuality

Research has shown that regular attendance and good punctuality are crucial factors in students achieving their full potential in education. At Waltham Toll Bar Academy we wish to work in partnership with parents and carers and so are seeking your full support in ensuring that your child attends the academy every day and on time. We are always pleased to work together with parents/carers in resolving any difficulties, but we are also committed to improving attendance levels at the academy.

The target attendance figure for all pupils is a minimum of 97% attendance. Based on current attendance figures your child will be placed in one of the following groups below.

Group 1: No Concern - Green Group The child attends for 97% - 100% of the time.

Group 2: Concern - Yellow Group The child attends for 95% - 96.9% of the time.

Group 3: Risk of Underachievement – Amber Group The child attends for 93% - 94.9% of the time.

Group 4: Severe Risk of Underachievement – Pink Group The child attends for 90% - 92.9% of the time.

Group 5: Extreme Risk of Underachievement – Red Group The child attends for 0% - 89.9% of the time.

Your child will be informed of their Attendance Group by their form tutor. Waltham Toll Bar Academy are monitoring students closely whose attendance is falling and will contact you if your child’s attendance does not improve. As a parent/carer you are committing an offence if you fail to ensure that your child attends Academy regularly and punctually, even if they are missing School without your knowledge. It is important that parents/carers monitor single day’s absence, as these days soon add up to weeks.

At Waltham Toll Bar Academy we reward pupils who attend the academy each day and whose attendance is improving. Students are also rewarded for good punctuality. Each week, students in the form with the highest percentage attendance for the week will be awarded with achievement points. At the end of each term, students in the Green Group will be rewarded with an invitation to share a meal with members of the attendance team, and at the end of the year, students in the Green Group will be rewarded with a trip.

If you are concerned about this new ‘Focus on Attendance’, there are important steps that you can take:

• Ensure your child attends every day, on time, equipped and ready to learn. Tutor time begins at 8.50am and all pupils need to be onsite by this time. Students arriving after 9.30am may be marked absent and will require an explanatory note or the absence will remain un-authorised.
• Ensure the academy has up-to-date addresses and telephone numbers. We will contact you if your child is absent and you have not contacted the academy. This ensures that the absence is quickly identified.
• If your child is ill, contact the academy on each day your child is absent and provide an explanatory note on their return to the academy.
• If you wish to check that your child has arrived at the academy, contact the academy’s Attendance Team. They will inform you if your child has been registered.
• If no contact is received regarding the absence, it is recorded as un-authorised. Ultimately the academy is responsible for deciding if the absence is acceptable or not. Only genuine absence will be authorised. You will be asked to provide medical certificates if your child has a poor attendance record.
• Ensure that medical appointments are made outside of academy time.
• Avoid trivial absences. Absence will not be authorised for reasons such as birthdays, days out or shopping trips.
• Holidays should not be taken in academy time. In the instance of a proposed holiday, it is expected that a Leave of Absence form is submitted to the academy 2 weeks before the proposed absence. A Leave of Absence can only be agreed by the Principal and only agreed where there are exceptional circumstances.
• Respond to letters or telephone calls regarding attendance and punctuality.
• Contact your child’s form tutor if you are experiencing difficulty in getting your child into the academy.

Thank you for working in partnership with us to achieve the highest possible levels of attendance and punctuality at Waltham Toll Bar Academy.