Attendance

Principles of Attendance 

At the Beacon of Light School, we believe that good attendance and punctuality are important in helping students achieve the best that they can be. Education is important. Students should be at school, on time and ready to learn, every day the school is open, unless the reason for absence is unavoidable. All research shows that students who attend well achieve well.

The government has laid down guidelines which they expect students at secondary school to achieve in terms of attendance. The guidelines are set at 95% attendance.

A student will fall below 95% if they miss as little as half a day over a 2-week period.

During 6 weeks at the Beacon of Light School, 90% means if the student misses just 3 days.

It is the expectation of the school that all students will achieve at least 95% attendance. There are a variety of reasons for students missing school. Some are unavoidable but we would ask that parents support us in ensuring that their child’s attendance meets both the school and the government’s expectations. Any problems with regular attendance, especially any concerns about bullying or learning difficulties are best sorted out by the school, the parents, and the student at an early stage. We will closely monitor student’s attendance and alert parents if we feel there is an issue. The school undertakes a wide range of measures to support students where attendance at school is an issue. This includes working with and making referrals to other agencies.

Legal Context

The 1996 Education Act (section 444) states that parents (including non-related adult carers in the child’s household) have a legal responsibility to ensure that those of compulsory school age are educated, either by ‘regular’ attendance at school or ‘otherwise’.

The 2008 Education and Skills Act (section 155) specifies the same requirement regarding regular attendance at alternative provision.

The duty on parents is to ensure that their children are educated, either a school or ‘otherwise.’ Education is therefore compulsory. In terms of ‘otherwise’ children may be educated by their parents at home, by a private tutor or in establishments other than schools, i.e. – FE (Further Education) colleges from the age of 14, special units, hospitals or in alternative educational programmes or work experience.

The law allows parents to choose the alternative options, provided they can demonstrate to the Local Authority that the education is full-time and ‘suitable’ to the child’s education needs, up until the relevant leaving-date for all young people.

The child’s mainstream school will have entered them onto their admission register and attendance register from the beginning of the first day on which they started to attend the school. For most students, the expected first day of attendance would be the first day of the school year. In the case of the Beacon of Light School, the student remains on the roll of the commissioner (school/academy/organisation) which refers the student, thus giving the student dual roll status.

It is the role of the commissioner to ensure every amendment made to the admission register and the attendance register must include: the original entry; the amended entry; the reason for the amendment; the date on which the amendment was made; and the name and position of the person who made the amendment. The commissioner must ensure all registration information and updates are passed to the Beacon of Light School while the student is referred and under the Beacon of Light School duty of care.