Attendance

Attendance and Reporting Absence

At Northern Saints CE Academy, we are committed to providing an education of the highest quality for all of our pupils. We know that this can only be achieved by supporting and promoting excellent attendance. Only by attending school regularly and punctually, will children and young people be able to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them.

Our attendance team, along with our Education Welfare Officer, Dionne Wilson from Clennell Education Solutions, work hard to ensure that all students benefit from the education we provide by attending school regularly. The team, led by Deputy Head Teacher (Mrs Curley) and Dionne work with pupils and their families to support parents/carers in helping them to meet their legal duty, by ensuring that children attend school regularly and on time.

We use incentives and rewards to acknowledge the efforts made by our pupils to attend regularly and for those pupils who work hard to improve their attendance and timekeeping.

Attendance related information will be sent to parents/carers on a regular basis, and parents/carers will be alerted if their child’s level of attendance falls below our whole school target of 96%.

Attendance and punctuality is monitored daily, parents/carers and pupils who give low priority to attendance and punctuality will be challenged. We strongly discourage family holidays during term time. Please check our school calendar and term times before booking holidays as holidays can not be authorised during term time. Any leave of absence must be requested by completing a leave of absence form, available upon request from the school office.

Lateness All children are expected to be punctual. Lateness is closely monitored and we welcome parental support in ensuring children get to school on time as persistent lateness disrupts learning, both of the individual child and the class as a whole.

Reporting Absences

If your child is ill and unable to attend school you must inform Main Reception as soon as possible on the first day of absence. This must be before 9.30am. If you fail to do so, we will contact you, so please ensure the school has up to date contact numbers. Without contact, all absence will be recorded as unauthorised and we may conduct a wellbeing visit to your family home.

Please let us know beforehand whenever possible, if children have dental or medical appointments during school hours. We ask that all non-urgent appointments are made outside of school hours. If this is not possible, a medical appointment card, letter or electronic message must be provided. Without medical evidence the absence will not be authorised.

To achieve excellent attendance, we know that we all have a role to play. Pupils themselves, parents and carers, teachers, support staff, the family worker and education welfare officer and our academy councillors can all help to achieve excellent attendance.

Links: Attendance – Sunderland City Council Working together to improve school attendance – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Changes to attendance legislation

New legislation comes into force regarding the criteria and the issue of penalty notices to address school attendance to commence in Sunderland from September 2024. The following changes have been made:

• the number of unauthorised absences to 10 unauthorised absences (5 days) in the most recent 10 school week period.

• the number of penalty notices that can be issued to a parent in respect of the same individual child to 2 within a 3-year period.

• It increases the amount of the penalty notice from £120 to £160 (if paid within 28 days) and £60 to £80 (if paid within 21 days) for the first penalty notice issued to a parent in respect of the same individual child in a 3-year period.

• It sets the amount of any second penalty notice issued to the same parent in respect of the same individual child within 3 years of the date the first penalty notice was issued to £160 to be paid within 28 days. No discount is offered.

• Further absences will proceed for prosecution in the Magistrate Court for the same parent in respect of the same child within 3 years of the date of the first penalty was issued.