Facebook Twitter Instagram

Attendance Information

What does your child's attendance figure mean?

Good school attendance is critical for your child’s academic success as well as their personal development.
We expect all students to be in school ready for Line Up at 8:25am. This will ensure that they start the day on a positive note, and that they are in the best frame of mind for learning. If your child is feeling a little under the weather, or has a minor injury, ache or pain, please send them in into school. If you have signed the permission slip, we will be able to support them through the day with paracetamol if required. Please rest assured that we will send your child home if they are too unwell to remain in school.
If your child is too unwell to attend school, please use the link in the Class Charts app in the first instance to let us know the reason for your child’s absence.
We understand that illnesses are sometimes unavoidable, however, if your child’s attendance drops below acceptable levels, we will need to ask you for medical evidence to support absence.
The partnership between home and school is essential to ensuring child’s happiness and success at Woodlands. Please make sure that we have the right contact details so we can get in touch, including an email address that you check regularly. We would also request that you sign up to the Class Charts App, as this will give you daily updates on your child’s attendance, behaviour and achievements in school. We may ask you to attend meetings or information sessions to support your child; please make every effort to attend, so that you are fully informed of the best ways that we can work together to make your child’s time at school as successful as possible. If you or your child has any problems or concerns that are affecting their attendance at school, please make sure that you contact us as soon as possible. Most issues can  be easily resolved, particularly if they are dealt with at an early stage. Similarly, if there are any issues at home that may impact on your child’s performance in school, please do make contact with your child’s year team in confidence.

Your child’s Deputy Head of Year: 

Unfortunately, if you and your child are unwilling to engage with the pastoral provision to enable good school attendance, we will seek external support from the Local Authority. As school attendance is a legal requirement for children under 16, this may include involvement from the Educational Welfare Service, Fixed Penalty Fines (FPNs) or in extreme cases, prosecution.
Holidays in term time are only authorized in very rare exceptional circumstances. If you would like to apply for a holiday to be authorized, please complete the request form that can be collected from reception or printed here:

Click on the HOLIDAY FORM HERE.

We would advise you to complete your holiday request from BEFORE making any bookings. All unauthorized holidays where a student missed 10 or more school sessions will be subject to a Fixed Penalty Notice issued by the Local Authority.

For more information about Fixed Penalty Notices, please click here:

CLICK TO FPN INFO HERE

For more information about how we support and challenge attendance at Woodlands, please see our Attendance Policy, which can be found here:

CLICK TO GO TO POLICY PAGE HERE
Attendance Figure
Days of absence by the end of school year
Learning time missed by end of year 11
100%
0
0
95%
10
3 months
90%
20
6 months
80%
40
12 months

Impact of Attendance on GCSE Performance

Students with consistently poor school attendance will have large gaps in their learning, which in turn will have an
impact on their outcomes at the end of Y11. Students attending less than 90% of the time (1 day or more absent
each fortnight), have a very limited chance of achieving the basic qualifications required to access Level 3 courses or
Apprenticeships at College (grade 4 or above in both English and Maths, plus grade 4 or above in three other
subjects). Students who do not achieve these qualifications will be required to resit English and/or Maths at college,
and will be unlikely to progress into the areas of interest to them.

Punctuality


Punctuality is an essential life skill, that students will need in order to be successful in the workplace. It is crucial that students develop the organization and time management to be able to be on time every day.
The school day begins at 8:25 and ends at 14:55. Students are expected to be at their line up location ready to line up at 8:25. The gates will be locked after this time, and students will not be permitted access to line up.
Whilst we understand that traffic and other delays can sometimes impact the morning’s journey, it is essential that students leave enough time to get to school before their morning line up. The gates are open from 8:00, and students are welcome to use the library or dining room if they arrive early. Breakfast club is available from 8.00 with hot and cold items available to purchase.
Students arriving late will not be permitted to attend Period R; and will instead attend the late room until 8.55.
Students arriving late twice in a week will be issued with a same day 30 minute detention.
Students arriving after 8.55 will be issued with a same day 30 minute detention, unless their late arrival is the result of a medical appointment or other authorized reason. Students arriving after 9:30 will also be marked with a U code, which counts as an absence in their attendance record. Students receiving 10 or more U codes in a ten-week period will be subject to a fixed penalty notice.

For students who regularly arrive late, sanctions escalate as below:

Late arrival after 8:55am

Same Day detention

Arriving late (8:25 – 8:55) twice in the same week

Next day detention

5 late arrivals in 4 weeks

Day in IE

After two occasions in IE the next sanction for 5 late arrivals will be a respite placement at another school.

 

Timings of the School Day

The school day starts at 8:25am and finishes at 14:55pm each day. This is a total of 32.5 hours per week.

Time
                           Year 7 & 9
Year 8, 10 & 11
08:25
                  Start of Morning Line up
Start of Morning Line up
08:30
                  Period R
Period R
08:55
                  Period 1
Period 1
09:55
                  Period 2
Period 2
10:55
                  Break Time
Break Time
11:15
                  Period 3
Period 3
12:15
                  Lunch Year 7 & 9
Period 4
12:50
                  Period 4
13:20
Lunch Year 8, 10 & 11
13:55
                  Period 5
Period 5
14:55
                  Extra Curricular
Period 6 and Extra Curricular