Striving for Excellent Attendance!
Our children at Hemlington Hall Academy are trying really hard to attend school everyday. Attendance is really important to us because we need to be at school to move our learning forward.
It is important that all children attend school everyday and that they are in time for the start if the day!
8:45am
If your child is going to be absent due to illness please make sure you ring and notify school office (01642 591171) before the start of the school day to ensure the teachers can be informed. Please do not notify staff about your child’s absence through Dojo message as this might not be read until later in the day.
School will not authorise holidays during school times unless the Head Teacher can be satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances. Please refer to our Attendance Policy below.
Help with Attendance:
- If in doubt, send your child in. Please update contact numbers when necessary.
- If at all possible, avoid medical appointments during the school day. If unavoidable, please send in evidence of the appointment for our records. If you do need to remove your child from class, please keep this to as short a period as possible and let us know beforehand.
- In line with Authority policy, we do not authorise any holidays during term time, except where there are truly exceptional circumstances. Please fill in a ‘Leave of Absence’ form to inform us of any plans.
- With sickness and diarrhoea, your child must be kept at home for 48 hours after their last bout.
The Attendance Strategy below outlines the steps in supporting pupils’ attendance at Hemlington Hall Academy.
Child is absent from school
1.The office staff will make a first day call if parents/carers have not contacted the school regarding their child’s absence by 9.15am.
2. If no contact has been made by 10am, the second / third contacts for the child will be contacted.
3. If no contact cannot be made with the family, the Family Liaison Officer Mrs Harrison (Head or Deputy Headteacher in her absence), must be informed. A decision will made whether a home visit is required.
4. This process will be repeated for each day of absence, until the Currently Missing Education procedures are enacted (10th day of absence). See below. Prior to this 10th day cut off, the Head Teacher will contact Middlesbrough School Admissions & CME Manager to share information and concerns regarding the child’s whereabouts. The Head Teacher will also contact Admission authorities / schools if it is believed that the child may have moved setting.
The Educational Welfare Officer may be involved at any point in attendance monitoring, at the discretion of the Head Teacher.
The school strongly advises that parents make every attempt not to arrange holidays or to take occasional days leave during school time: amendments to school regulations make it clear that headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. If you do intend making a request for an exceptional leave of absence, you need to be aware that the DfE’s statutory guidance states that even where leave can be granted, the number of days a child can be away from school should be determined by the headteacher.
Hemlington Hall Academy Attendance Policy
Lingfield Trust Attendance Policy
Working Together to Improve School Attendance: Information for Parents from DfE Guidance August 2024
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