Southgate School regards regular attendance as very important to ensure the best possible learning outcomes for all pupils. Most of our pupils benefit from strong, established routines and are unsettled by disruption to those routines.

There is a clear link between good attendance and high standards. For our pupils to gain the greatest benefit from their education it is vital that they attend regularly, and every pupil should be at school on time every day School is open, unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable.

The school’s ethos encourages pupils to feel that their presence is important and that they are missed when they are absent or late.

We are committed to meeting our legal obligations with regards to school attenance by:

• Promoting good attendance and reducing absence, including persistence absence
• Ensuring every pupil has access to full time education to which they are entitled
• Acting early to address patterns of absence

We will also support families to perform their legal duty to ensure their children of compulsory school age attend regularly and will promote and support punctuality in attending school.

Absence Procedures

Pupils should arrive in school by 9.15am on each school day, unless otherwise agreed with the Pastoral and Intervention Manager and SLT.

The register for the morning session will be taken at 9.15am and will be kept open until 9.45am.  The register for the afternoon sessions will be taken at 12.30pm and will be kept open until 1pm

If a pupil is absent, parent/carers should contact school as soon as possible on the first day of absence via

• Email – office@southgateschool.co.uk
• Telephone – 01484 504544

If a pupil does not arrive in school as expected we will:

• Follow up on this absence by contacting the parent/carer by calling, texting or emailing
• Ensure safeguarding action is taken where necessary.  If no contact has been made by 11am or if we are concerned, we may follow up with a home visit to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the family.
• Identify if the absence is approved or not

We will report pupils’ attendance to parents/carers at parents’ evenings, at the annual EHCP review and via the school report.  We will contact parents/carers immediately if we have any concerns throughout the year.

The headteacher will only grant a leave of absence to pupils during term time if they consider there to be ‘exceptional circumstances’.  A leave of absence is granted at the Headteachers discretion.

The school considers each application for term time absence individually, considering the specific facts, circumstances and relevant context behind the request.

Taking a pupil out of school except in agreed and authorised circumstances, will be recorded as an unauthorised absence and may attract more formal interventions such as a penalty notice. 

We aim to work collaboratively with pupils, parents and carers to resolve any difficulties with attendance or punctuality at the earliest stage possible.  Parents/carers are expected to work with the staff in resolving any attendance problems. The school, pupil, parent or carer may refer the pupil to the Attendance and Pupils Support Service for further support if needed or if they become a ‘persistence absentee’.

Persistent absenteeism pupils are closely tracked and monitored.  The parents of pupils who persistent absence

A pupil becomes a ‘persistent absentee’ when they miss 10% or more schooling across the year. We understand there are sometimes exceptional circumstances and school will work with families on an individual case basis and work to increase attendance over time.

We take a positive approach to improving attendance. We will work in collaboration with pupils, parents and carers to understand the barriers to attendance and then put in place support to improve this.

Our approach is pupil-centred, and we understand in very exceptional circumstances there may be a need for a temporary part-time timetable and a range of other strategies to meet a pupil’s individual needs. For example, some pupils come to us following a period of disengagement from schooling and need their resilience to be built up over time with a reduced-time timetable; some experience medical, health or mental health conditions and need their timetable to adjusted accordingly as part of a reintegration package. Each of these cases is reviewed on a case-by-case basis. A part-time timetable must not be treated as a long-term solution. Any support programme linked to attendance or other agreement must have a time limit by which point the pupil is expected to attend full-time or be provided with different provision