Attendance

At John Colet School we place great value upon school attendance as it has a direct link with the achievement of students. Our staff work hard to support and promote attendance and will continue to support and assist all students who have concerns over their attendance to ensure they improve.

Research has shown that students who have high attendance rates achieve better examination results. When students attend school regularly they are also more likely to join in with extra-curricular activities such as clubs and sport, they spend more time with their friends and are able to fully participate in school life. To support this, we expect students at John Colet to have an attendance rate of at least 97%.

An attendance register is taken at the start of morning registration and each lesson. The DFE requires schools to use a morning and afternoon register to monitor pupil attendance for 2 sessions of a school day. With the recent change to lunch time the register submitted for the afternoon session has moved from the start of period 4 12.15 or 12.45 to the start of period 5 1.55pm. With this in mind if you have to schedule unavoidable appointments such as with the doctors or Orthodontist during the school day, please try to make this after your child has registered at 1.55pm. If they leave before 1.55pm it will impact their attendance figure as they will miss 1 session on the register.

A student with an attendance rate of just 90% is missing the equivalent of one half day every week or the  four school weeks over the year. If a student in Year 7 continues to have a 90% level of attendance, this is equivalent to missing one half of a school year by the time they come to sit their GCSE examinations.

In the unlikely event of there being a request for a student to be absent from school for other than medical reasons the Leave of Absence Form should be completed by the parent/carer.

The school follows the guidelines for attendance set out by the Bucks County Attendance Team. As such,  attendance is monitored on a 5-week rolling basis throughout the year and on a half-termly basis. During the course of the year we will, if necessary, contact you if your child’s percentage attendance is less than 90% or we have unexplained absences. If we do contact you, we would like to reassure you that we wish to work with you and your child to understand more about the barriers preventing them from attending, and to find ways of improving their attendance.

If your child’s attendance doesn’t improve, you will be invited to a meeting at school to discuss ways in which we can support you to ensure your child attends school more regularly. If there is no improvement the school may issue a fine. This process is designed to be a supportive measure to enable us to work together in increasing your child’s attendance, and along with it increasing their chances of success. As part of this process there may be occasions when we request to see evidence such as medical appointments.

Students should arrive at school on time and sanctions such as detentions will be applied for regular and persistent lateness. Students should be on site by 8.25am and in their form rooms ready for registration by 8.30am.

If you have any concerns about your child’s attendance, please contact your child’s form tutor, head of year or Mrs D Bull, our Attendance Officer.