Attendance

Give your child the best start in life.

Excellent attendance is extremely important to us at Greenfield. There is a direct link between children’s attendance in school and what they achieve. Children get one chance at school, and their chance of a successful future may be affected by not attending school regularly. Regular attendance and being punctual will help students in their adult lives by preparing them to enter the world of work. Good attendance at school will also help students to develop social skills, make friends, and help them to communicate well with others. 96% attendance is the minimum that we would expect. If attendance falls to 90% or below, students are classed by the government as being a persistent absentee.

Please see the ‘School Day’ page for specific timings of the school day.

Click here to access our Parent information flyer.

Every school day counts

Persistent Absence

Children are identified as persistent absentees if they miss 10% or more of school sessions available.

Implications for your child:

Studies have shown any student are likely to experience the following effects due to poor attendance:

• Academic underachievement
• Difficulty making friends
• Loss of confidence and self-esteem
• Engagement in premature sexual activity [and other issues that lead to concern for a child’s safety]
• Impaired socialisation for work

From “Absence from School: A study of its causes and effects” (DfE )

If your child must be absent:

• Telephone the school before 08.30am to tell us why your child is absent.
• Keep in regular contact with us if they are likely to be absent for a period of time.
• Sign your child in and out of the school for any authorised appointments they need to attend.
• Your child cannot leave school site during school hours without an authorised adult accompanying them.
• Return your child to school as soon as an appointment has ended, unless they are unwell.

The school will not authorise any leave of absence due to family holidays unless there are exceptional circumstances. Any parents/carers taking children out of school during term-time without authorisation by the Headteacher may be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice

90% may seem like an acceptable level of attendance, but the reality is that 90% attendance means your child will miss half a day of learning each week or 19 days of school during the year – that’s nearly 4 school weeks!

If your child has 90% attendance in each year they are at our school, they will miss a total of 28 weeks – which is half a school year lost! 

Your responsibility

As a parent you have the legal responsibility for making sure your school-registered child attends

• Parents/carers are responsible for ensuring that children attend school both regularly and on time
• The school is legally responsible for reporting poor attendance to the Local Authority
• The Local Authority has a duty to make sure that all parents/carers fulfil their responsibilities
• Parents/carers are committing an offence if they fail to make sure that their children attend school regularly, even if they are missing school without their knowledge
• Parents/carers can be fined up to £2,500 or imprisoned for failing to ensure that children attend school regularly. Magistrates can also impose a Parenting Order, which means the parent has to attend a parenting class
• Parents/carers should ensure that school is updated with new contact details for themselves and their children including addresses, phone numbers (particularly mobile numbers) and email address changes

You can help your child by:

• Making sure your child understands the importance of good attendance and getting to school on time with correct uniform and equipment
• Taking an interest in your child’s education. Ask about school work and encourage them to get involved in school activities.
• Listening to your child when they tell you about a problem in school. Inform their tutor or Progress and Guidance Leader about anything serious
• Not allowing your child to take time off school for minor ailments, particularly those which would not prevent yourself from going to work
• As much as possible, arranging appointments for GP/Dentist etc. after school hours, at weekends or during the holidays.
• Ensuring your child meets the school’s target of 96% attendance.

Punctuality

It is important for your child to arrive at school on time.

Arriving late to school:

• Can cause embarrassment for your child.
• Can cause disruption to the rest of the class.
• Can make it harder for your child to settle.
• Impacts on your child’s learning, progress and achievement.

Being 15 minutes late each day during an entire school year is the same as missing two whole weeks of school!

Students need to arrive on school site by 08:20am each day, with the gates closing at 08:28am. If they arrive late for school, between 8.28am-9.00am, they will be issued with a late mark and will receive a break time detention. Any students who arrive in school after 9:00am are classed as unauthorised, which will have a negative impact on their attendance. 

Why we want Excellent Attendance

Being Safe in school – Any child receiving an education at school needs to attend regularly (above 96%). We need to ensure children are safe in full time education. The only way we know that your child is safe during school hours is when they are in school and are where they need to be.

Access to the full curriculum – At Greenfield we offer an extensive and engaging curriculum. Students are expected to participate in and are entitled to access the full curriculum.

Sense of belonging – School is not just about learning; we work hard to ensure all our students really feel part of a community. From the Year 7 Outward Bound residential to the Year 11 Prom, there is something for everyone that gives every child the opportunity to develop and thrive.

Life skills – Having good attendance and punctuality is a life skill and it is one that we promote, preparing your child for their future in every way. We will often talk to students about what an employer would want in terms of commitment, hard work and reliability.

Friends – Undoubtedly friendship groups are strengthened the more children school. Children that miss school more than their peers often find it more difficult to maintain positive friendships. Friendships are so important for school aged children and that is never truer than when their brain is developing.

Wider school participation – There are a wide variety of clubs taking place every week. There really is something for everyone from time in the fitness suite, dance, netball, rugby, drama, football, guitar club, music lessons, student council, STEM club, field visits, ski residential and annual school productions.

Support

Some children find it harder than others to attend school. We want to work with you to remove any barriers to attendance by building strong relationships and working together.

We might need the support of other organisations such as MHST Piece of Mind Team who work with young people with low mood, anxiety and poor sleeping habits, or perhaps there is another issue we should know about.

 Talk to us and we will work with you to support your child to come into school

Key contacts

contact@greenfieldacademy.uk

Attendance Manager: Miss R Bennett

Leadership Team: Mrs A Dixon

Attendance Improvement plan

In May 2022, the Department for Education published a paper entitled “Working Together to Improve School Attendance” ready for implementation in September 2022. The plan below addresses the recommendations set out within the paper to improve the attendance of all students, key groups and individual students.

Good attendance at Greenfield Academy is defined as being above 96%. Every day counts towards that percentage and whilst we acknowledge that students can be ill and unable to come into school, any day lost to absence can impact on student confidence as they may feel they have fallen behind or have missed work and can struggle to re-engage with learning and even with their friends. Good attendance always leads to better progress and outcomes and overall opportunities for students.

However, as we have seen through COVID-19 lockdowns and periods of self-isolation everyone has experienced since March 2020, good attendance also impacts positively on well-being. The importance of structure, routine and social contact cannot be underestimated and attending school every day is key to developing positive relationships, improving confidence, resilience and well-being, especially for young people.

This plan is designed to set out how Greenfield supports a culture of good attendance and acknowledges how school can offer to support if any child is struggling to access school.

Every Day Counts and to illustrate this there are some figures below which illustrate the difference “Only a Day” makes.

1 day of absence in a year = 99.48%

1 day of absence each term = 98.4%

1 day of absence each half term = 96.8%

1 day of absence each month = 94.3%

1 day of absence each week = 80%

The following are the key areas we see as priority to improving attendance at Greenfield:

• Culture
• Communication
• Data Analysis
• Identifying Barriers and Intervening
• Implementing Support
• Formalising Support
• Enforcing

The over-riding key priority is to reduce persistent absence and improve attendance to pre-pandemic levels across all year groups.  

Objectives and Performance Indicators

This improvement plan operates in conjunction with the Attendance Policy