Attendance

Reporting Child Absence

If your child is unable to attend School please report this via the Arbor App or Portal by 9am on the day of the absence. This feature can only be used for on the day absences. For any extended or future absences please email attendance@crestwood.hants.sch.uk.

Guidance on how to report your child’s absence can be found here.

Please note - this service is for reporting absence only and should not be used for other communication. Any communication relating to other matters will not be responded to. Please follow our communication procedure for all other correspondence. For any extended or future absences please email attendance@crestwood.hants.sch.uk.

It is important that parents of students leaving the premises legitimately (eg: for a medical appointment), or returning to school later in the day inform the main school office. Staff will record that the child has left the school site and will mark them back in when they return. We ask that evidence of appointment is provided. If your child needs to be off school due to an appointment can you please complete the request below.

Good Attendance

Most students have excellent - or even perfect - attendance records. We work hard to ensure that students are supported to maximise their attendance.

Term-Time Holidays

The current law does not give any entitlement to parents to take their child on holiday during term time. 1 week (5 days) of absence from school for a holiday taken during term time is recorded as an unauthorised absence. Such absences could trigger the issuing of a fixed penalty notice by the Local Authority. Any application for leave must be in exceptional circumstances and the Head Teacher must be satisfied that the circumstances warrant the granting of leave.

Parents/Carers wishing to apply for leave of absence must apply in writing on the Leave of Absence form as per the link below. It must be in advance and before making any travel arrangements.

Unauthorised absence

The school decides whether or not to authorise an absence depending upon the reason given. A student with more than five days of unauthorised absence may lead to a penalty notice being issued.

Attendance Bands

It is important to be on time at the start of the morning and afternoon school sessions and to lessons.  The start of school is used to give out instructions or organise work. If your child is late they could miss learning opportunities. It could cause disruption to the lesson for others, and can be embarrassing, leading to possible further absence. Excuses for lateness such as  missing the bus, clothes in the washing machine or lost shoes are unacceptable. If your child arrives during the registration period they will receive a “Late before registration closes”.

 

Expected Attendance - 100% to 96%

Unacceptable Attendance - 95.9% to 92%

Poor Attendance - 91.9% and below

 

 

Students who arrive after the register closes at 9:00am will be marked with an unauthorised absence code ‘U’ in line with county and Department for Education (DfE) guidance. This mark shows them to be on site, but is legally recorded as an absence for the whole session. This absence will be unauthorised unless the school is satisfied that there is a legitimate reason for the student to be late.

We have a joint attendance policy with our local cluster of schools. We all work together to ensure that all children, within our schools, are given the best educational opportunities. 

The following expectations apply to all students:

• All lateness is recorded daily. This information will be required by the courts, should a prosecution for non attendance or lateness be necessary.
• School starts at 8:30am and students should be here promptly to attend registration. Students are expected to be in school five minutes prior to this start time.
• As soon as the bell goes for the start of the day at 8.30am, any student arriving after this time and up until 9am will be registered by the SLT staff member on duty at the ‘late gate’. If they arrive after 9am they must come through the reception and register themselves on the Inventry screen. We ask that the student provides an explanation for their lateness.
• If a student arrives after 8.30am with a genuine reason, this will be taken into consideration. Each student is treated on an individual basis. If they are late twice in a week they will receive an after school reflection.
• Your child will be logged as late and negative behaviour points deducted which you will be able to see in the parent portal of Arbor. Two lates in a week will result in an after school reflection.
• For health and safety reasons it is important that the school knows who is in the building. Students arriving late should therefore report to the main school office. It is important that all students arriving late follow this procedure.
• Parents will be able to monitor their child’s attendance through the Arbor App.

Students who are consistently late are disrupting not only their own education but also that of the other students. Ongoing and repeated lateness is considered as unauthorised absence and will be subject to legal action. Where a child has unauthorised absence the school must enforce Hampshire’s Code of Conduct for issuing Penalty Notices or follow its guidance on other Legal Measures for Non-Attendance. The Code of Conduct is a statutory document that ensures that powers for legal sanctions are applied consistently and fairly across all schools and their families with the authority. 

There are Attendance Officers available to discuss concerns or issues that you may have regarding your child’s attendance. They will work closely with yourself, Year Leaders and tutors in supporting your child.