Trinity School Attendance

How is attendance linked to attainment?

Good school attendance is vital to success in school. Evidence shows that secondary school students with high levels of attendance are more likely to have good outcomes in GCSE examinations.

(Based on 2019 results published by DfE)

(Based on 2019 results published by DfE)

Why is Punctuality Important?

Research shows that attendance and punctuality are the single most important factors in school success. Students are reminded that:

 Being on time:

• Gets your day off to a good start and puts you in a positive frame of mind, so that you can make the most of your learning opportunities;
• Sets positive patterns for the future. You can’t expect to keep a job if you’re always coming in late;
• Leads to a good attendance record;
• Leads to better achievement because you attend the WHOLE of all of your classes.

If you miss 30 minutes of school a day – this could be by running five minutes late to every lesson or 15 mins late at start of day and 15 mins late after lunch – this amounts to 19 days of lost learning each year. This equates to under 90% of lessons attended, which means that you are persistently absent.

Absence

If your child is unable to attend, contact school on the first day of absence before 9.00am. Please contact us by email Absence@trinity.cumbria.sch.uk or 01228 516051 and select Option 2. You will be asked to provide a reason for your child’s absence in your message and an explanatory note on their return to school.

Please remember to contact school every day before 9.00am when your child is absent for more than one day. If your child is ill and unable to attend school for 3 or more consecutive days, we may ask that you provide medical evidence to support the absence. This could be a doctor’s letter, a copy of a prescription for medicine or the prescribed medicine packaging itself. Ultimately school is responsible for deciding if the absence is acceptable or not. Only genuine absence will be recorded as authorised.

Punctuality

At Trinity School all students are expected to be inside the building by 8.25am to report to form rooms in good time for the start of the school day. The first session of the day starts at 8.30am.

What happens if a student is late?

Students will be issued with a 10-minute “holdback”, to be completed at the end of the day. This will be logged on the student’s record using ClassCharts. Form Tutors will practise a “hold-back conversation” during the detention to discuss any barriers to future good punctuality and offer advice.

If issues persist, students may be issued with a Head of Year detention system.  This longer detention lasts for 30 minutes or more, at the Head of Year’s discretion.  Parents/carers can expect communication from school to provide advance warning of this sanction.  Attendance at the detention is important, to ensure additional sanctions are not put into place.

Persistent lateness my result in a referral to the school attendance team, for more intensive support.

There are important steps that you can take to help support your child’s attendance and punctuality to school:

• Ensure your child attends every day, on time, equipped and ready to learn. Lesson time begins at 8.30am and students should be in the building by 8.25am.
• Ensure school has up-to-date addresses and telephone numbers. We will contact you by text or telephone call if your child is absent and you have not contacted school to notify us of the absence.
• If your child is ill, contact school on the first day of absence and provide an explanatory note on their return to school.
• If you wish to check your child’s attendance please contact the attendance office or your child’s Year Group office. They will inform you if your child has been registered. Please note that we are only able to share attendance information with parents/carers listed as official contacts on our school records.
• If no contact is received regarding the absence, it is recorded as unauthorised, so please respond to all texts and telephone calls regarding attendance. Ultimately school is responsible for deciding if the absence is acceptable or not. Only genuine absence will be authorised. You will be asked to provide medical evidence if your child has been absent for more than 3 consecutive days and they have a poor attendance record. This could be a doctor’s letter, a copy of a prescription for medicine or the prescribed medicine packaging itself.
• Ensure that medical appointments are made outside of school time. In situations where this is not possible, we ask that students attend school before and after the appointment (as appropriate), ensuring that they only miss the smallest possible amount of lesson time.
• Avoid trivial absences such as, ‘buying new shoes’. This would not be accepted as a reasonable absence.
• Holidays should not be taken in school time. Any Leave of Absence can only be agreed by the Headteacher and only agreed where there are exceptional circumstances. A Leave of Absence form must be completed for such a request to be considered. Leave of Absence Form
• Respond to letters or telephone calls regarding attendance and punctuality. We may invite you into school to discuss avenues of support and establish an action plan if we are concerned about your child’s attendance. It is important that we work together to resolve any difficulties.
• Contact your child’s Form Tutor in the first instance if you are experiencing difficulty in getting your child into school.

At Trinity School we reward groups and individual students who attend regularly and whose attendance is improving. There are plenty of ways in which we celebrate and reward students who attend well:

• Every week students with 100% attendance for the previous week receive a strip of raffle tickets, which they can choose to place in the half-termly, termly or yearly draws to win an Amazon voucher or a place on our end-of-year rewards trip! Insert photo of raffle boxes on Main Reception desk and Blackpool postbox near Student Reception.
• Every half-term students with 100% attendance for the year to date are celebrated on our NBA (Never Been Absent) board and form groups who beat the staff’s attendance on a given week can win a pizza party!
• At the end of the year form/year groups with 95% attendance or above can participate in a reward trip. Our planned rewards trip for 2023-24 is to Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
• During Attendance Booster Weeks throughout the year, more rewards and competitions are available to students who attend and take part.