Attendance

An excellent record of attendance at school has a major impact on your child’s academic progress. Research shows that there is a direct link between poor attendance and poor examination results.

Every student in Calderstones has an absolute minimum attendance target of 97%

Not attending school for only one day a week equates to only 80% attendance. This means that your child will miss out on a whole school year of learning during their first five crucial years in secondary education.

Days off school soon add up

100%	0 days	0 lessons missed	No risk to achievement
99%	1 day	5 lessons missed	Slight risk to achievement
98%	3 days	15 lessons missed	Low risk to achievement
97%	1 week	25 lessons missed	Some risk to achievement
96%	1.5 weeks	35 lessons missed	Risk to achievement
94%	2 weeks	50 lessons missed	Risk to achievement
93%	2.5 weeks	65 lessons missed	Serious risk to achievement
92%	3 weeks	75 lessons missed	Severe risk to achievement
90%	3.5 weeks	90 lessons missed	Extreme risk to achievement

Students attendance	Chance of achieving 5 good pass grades at GCSE
100% - 96%	73% of Students achieve 5 good pass grades.
96% - 94%	64% of Students achieve 5 good pass grades.
93% - 90%	55% of Students achieve 5 good pass grades
80% to 70%	Only 20% chance of achieving 5 good pass grades
50% and below	Only 6% of Students achieve 5 good pass grades

What must I do as a parent/carer?

As a parent/carer you are legally responsible for ensuring that your child attends school regularly and is punctual. We will work closely with you to help support you with this. Sometimes this will be support from the Assistant Head of Year or another member of our Pastoral Team. Sometimes this will involve us working with the Local Authority and our Education Welfare Officer.

Parents/carers should ensure that their children attend school every day and arrive on time.

If your child is going to be absent you must phone the school by 9:00am on the first day of absence on 0151 724 2087. Please contact your child’s Assistant Head of Year, as well, if further more detailed information needs to be shared.

Remember to update us every day on the situation.

Remember to provide a note on the first day that your child returns to school. This should be given to their Form Tutor.

A telephone call or letter does not in itself authorise an absence. Only the school can authorise an absence after considering the information you have provided.

Authorised Absences still affect your child’s attendance record. They may include:

Sickness which means that your child is too ill to attend
Unavoidable hospital, medical/dental appointments (please give the school prior notice)
Days of religious observance (agreed with the Head Teacher beforehand)
Exceptional family circumstances (e.g. bereavement)
Going to other providers such as a secondary school visit, interview or examination.

Unauthorised Absences may include:

Shopping for shoes, uniform or other items or hair cuts
Looking after family members who are unwell (unless there is an unavoidable emergency when no more than two sessions may be authorised)
Minding the house/ waiting for deliveries
Birthdays, including parties or treats
Day trips/ Holidays
Medical appointments which could have been made outside of school hours. Please ask for appointments outside of school hours, rather than accept the appointment you may be first allocated.

Punctuality matters

All students are expected to be in school by 8:35 and in their tutor rooms ready to be registered at 8.40am. Students arriving after 8:45 will be marked late.

Any students arriving after 8.45am should sign in at the resource centre office.

Persistent lateness may lead to discussions with the Education Welfare Officer in order to address the concerns.

However, remember, it is always better to be late rather than not in at all!

Holidays

Calderstones School does not condone students taking holidays in school time because of the impact it has on learning, progress and ultimately examination performance.

School will, therefore, not authorise a holiday in term time except in the most extreme and very exceptional circumstances. In such circumstances, a written application must be made to the Headteacher at least one month prior to the expected date of the holiday. An appropriate response will then be sent to you in writing.

Weddings and family events are not classed as exceptional circumstances and cannot, therefore, be authorised.

Parents / Carers MUST take holidays in the school holidays NOT during term time.

Rewards

At Calderstones students are rewarded for achieving excellent attendance and punctuality. Please see our rewards page for further information on this.