At Queen Elizabeth’s Academy, we encourage all members of our academy community to strive for excellence. For our students to gain the greatest benefit from their education it is vital that they attend regularly. All students should be at the academy, on time, every day we are open unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable. We do not accept excuses for absence except in extreme circumstances.

We expect all students to be punctual for the start of the day and for all lessons. Apart from an occasional emergency, there is no reason for students to be late for the academy day. Our academy day begins at 8.30am and we expect all students to be on site by 8.25am at the latest.

Missing out on education has a significant effect on students’ life opportunities. It is our duty to consistently strive to achieve a goal of 100% attendance for all children. Every opportunity will be used to convey to students and their parents/carers the importance of regular and punctual attendance.

The routines students develop around attendance and punctuality at school are the same as the expectations of any future employer in the world of work. High attainment, confidence with peers and staff and further aspirations depend on good attendance.

Attendance

Attendance expectations from September 2022 – Notice to parents / carers

The Department for education has issued new, revised, and stricter guidance on attendance across all schools in England. Accompanying the guidance is a table of responsibilities outlining the role of schools, trustees / governors, local authorities, and parents / carers. Below is a summary of our expectations for your child(ren) from September 2022.

  1. Ensure your child attends every day the school is open.
  2. Notify the school as soon as possible when your child is unexpectedly absent (e.g. sickness). (Not reporting absence will trigger a call home, and unreported sustained absence is a safeguarding issue)
  3. Only request leave of absence in exceptional circumstances and do so in advance. (Family holidays, in most cases, are NOT exceptional circumstances).
  4. Book any medical appointments around the school day where possible. (A routine medical / dental appointment should not mean a child misses a full day of school).

If your child is persistently (10% or over) or severely absent (50% or over) we expect you to

  1. Work with the school and local authority to help us understand your child’s barriers to attendance.
  2. Proactively engage with the support offered to prevent the need for more formal support.
  3. Proactively engage with the formal support offered – including any parenting contract or voluntary early help plan to prevent the need for legal intervention.

Our duty

  1. We will regularly update our parents on their child’s attendance.
  2. We always follow up absence that is unauthorised and / or not notified.
  3. We may use enforcement through the Local Authority if your child’s absence triggers a referral. This is triggered at 3 full days or 6 session unauthorised absences over a 6 week (30 school day period).

Reporting an absence

If a student is unable to attend the academy, parents/carers must contact us as soon as possible on the first day of absence by phone.  Please give your child’s name, the reason for absence and how long you expect the absence to last. You will then need to contact the academy absence line on each subsequent day that the student is absent and inform the academy of an expected return date. A child not attending school is considered a safeguarding matter. This is why information about the cause of any absence is always required daily.

If a student is absent, we will:

  • Contact parents on the first day of absence if we have not heard from them.
  • Make home visits if absence is prolonged and/or we are not able to contact you.
  • Provide support to students to help them improve their attendance, if needed.

The decision whether or not to authorise an absence will always rest with the attendance team.

Please note: If your child is not seen and contact has not been established with any of the named parents/carers, after three days of absence, the school is required to start child missing in education procedures. Queen Elizabeth’s Academy will make all the reasonable enquiries to establish contact with parents/carers and the child, including home visits and making enquiries to known friends and wider family.

Requests for leave of absence during term time

The Education Act (1996) requires you to ensure your child attends the academy regularly. Before booking a holiday or requesting a leave of absence for your child you should consider very seriously how the absence will affect your child’s education. If you still feel that you need to make a leave of absence request, this should be in writing and addressed to the principal.

Requests for student leave of absence during term time will be considered, however, it is extremely unlikely that requests purely for holiday purposes will be granted. Where exceptional circumstances exist, it may possible that a leave of absence will be authorised. Each request for absence will be reviewed and carefully considered on an individual basis.

For further information, please see our attendance handbook – QEA Attendance Matters Handbook

Behaviour

The academy has a praise pathway, which allows all students to receive positive points for their actions. Praise points are awarded on a lesson-by-lesson basis and the praise pathway is clearly visible to all students. The praise pathway is as follows:

  • P1 good effort, verbal contribution or presentation
  • P2 working on target, excellent effort, verbal contribution or presentation
  • P3 working above target, outstanding effort, verbal contribution or presentation

A member of staff can award a golden ticket, to one student per lesson who has who has exceeded the pathway in some form.  It may be for an exceptional piece of work, effort or manners.

Students can achieve additional praise points each week for:

  • wearing the full academy uniform correctly
  • 100% attendance
  • 100% punctuality
  • being fully equipped

If student behaviour falls below our expectations, sanctions will be issued, to signal that their behaviour is unacceptable and to encourage students to make better choices in the future. Our ‘Behaviour for Learning’ policy clearly outlines what we require from students in order to allow teaching and learning to take place smoothly.

There is a correction system in operation that is explained to all students.

The system states that:

  • C1 is a clear warning
  • C2 is a final warning and a move in class
  • C3 is removal from the lesson, contact home and a detention

If students are uncooperative or refuse to follow the rules, they may need a more serious sanction such as isolation or the pre-exclusion room. It is an expectation that parents/carers attend a meeting with the head of year or a member of the senior leadership team to discuss the matter.