Attendance

We place significant importance on students' having strong attendance to support their success at school. Read on to find out more about how you can support your child to achieve excellent attendance.

What is good attendance?

We encourage students to aim for 100% attendance. The government recognises good attendance as anything over 95%.

Excellent attendance	100-98% attendance	Less than 1 week absence in an academic year
Very good attendance	97-95% attendance	Less than 2 weeks absence in an academic year

Attendance is a concern if it falls below 90%; this is classed as persistent absence. We work with parents and carers to support students whose attendance is at risk of falling below 90%.

Low attendance

90% and below

Approximately 1 month of school missed

(19 days absence)

Exceptionally low attendance

85% and below

Approximately 6 weeks of school missed

(29 days absence)

Why is good attendance important?

There are strong links between attendance to school and overall attainment at GCSE, for example:

Students who attend 100% of their lessons are more than twice as likely to achieve five 9-4 grades at GCSE (including English and Maths) than students who have 85-90% attendance.
73% of students who have over 95% attendance achieve five 9-4 grades at GCSE.
Students who do not attend school regularly may also find it difficult to make and keep friends and to manage social situations.
Students who are persistently absent from school may also be at risk of struggling to secure a job in the future or being vulnerable to crime.

Reporting an absence

We recognise that there will occasionally be legitimate reasons for students to be absent.

Unexpected absence

If your child is sick and unable to attend school, please report their absence, ideally before 8.30am, via one of the following methods:

Online via Edulink
By email to attendance@regenthighschool.org.uk
By phone: 020 7121 1630

Expected absence

Medical and dental appointments should be arranged out of school hours wherever possible. On the rare occasion that this is not possible, please report this in advance using methods above including

Date
Time
Reason for absence

Absence requests

Examples of absence likely to be authorised

Examples of unauthorised absences

Hospital, dental or orthodontist appointment (evidence required)

College or sixth form interview (evidence required)

Leave of absence not approved in advance by the school (see below)

Unexplained absence

Truancy

Leave of absence requests

Since September 2013, schools are not allowed by law to authorise any holidays in term time. In an emergency, you should contact the school at the earliest opportunity, and in exceptional circumstances we may be able to approve a request for leave. This is a government ruling which applies to all schools.

Supporting attendance

We aim to support students and their families to maintain excellent attendance and improve their attendance over time.

If you have any concerns about your child’s attendance you should contact their Head of Year or the attendance team and we will be happy to help.

However, persistent low attendance may lead to further intervention including fixed penalty notices.

Punctuality

Students are expected to be in their classroom and ready to learn by 8.45am. Students who arrive after 8.45am will be recorded as late on the register and sanctions are in place for this.

Any student arriving after 9.35am without a legitimate reason will be recorded as unauthorised. If there is a legitimate reason (for example a medical appointment) this must be communicated to Attendance in the usual way.