Attendance
Huntington School is committed to the continuous raising of achievement of all our students. Regular attendance is essential if our students are to be successful, and benefit from the opportunities offered to them in school, through their education.
Excellent attendance is fundamental to a successful and fulfilling school experience. We actively promote 100% attendance for all our students. We use a variety of weekly, termly and annual awards to promote excellent attendance and punctuality.
We recognise that parents and carers have a vital role to play and there is a need to establish strong home-school links and communication systems that can be used whenever there is concern about attendance.
Year after year, the students with excellent school attendance achieve the best results. Students attending over 95% (up to two school weeks missed) are twice as likely to achieve grade 5 in English and Maths than students attending 90% of the time (up to 4 school weeks of missed).
The law states that students can miss school if:
- They are too unwell to attend school;
- It has been authorised in advance by the Head of School (such as a religious observance including attending the wedding of a family member, funeral or competitive sporting event).
Further details on this can be found in our Attendance policy - click here to view
Attendance Process
If your child is absent from school you must report the absence via Class Charts or leave a message with the attendance team on 01904 752165. You can also email: absence@huntington-ed.org.uk.
- If we do not receive communication, you will receive a phone call or text message home from one of our team of dedicated Attendance Officers.
- A home visit may be made depending on the student’s attendance record and the nature of the absence.
- Home visits will be conducted by members of the Attendance Team if a student’s attendance is of concern. The purpose of making home visits is to have a conversation with families about their young person’s attendance, complete a safeguarding check and offer support where applicable.
- On returning to school the student must take responsibility to catch up on work missed.
Punctuality
Students are expected to be in school by 8:30am. Any student arriving after 8:35am will be marked as late. This still contributes to a student's attendance %.
Students arriving after 9:05am will receive a U code - which indicates that a student has arrived after the register has closed. This does not contribute to a student's attendance %.
Why is attendance so important?
Over a year, a child with 90% attendance will lose 19 school days. Should your child have 90% attendance throughout their time at Huntington School they will effectively lose half a year of schooling.
We actively promote 100% attendance for all our students and celebrate on a weekly basis those who have achieved this milestone. We use smaller units of time to celebrate, rather than half-termly awards, etc. to make this more achievable for our students.
We recognise that some pupils cannot achieve 100% attendance and encourage you to work with us so that we can celebrate improvement together.
I need to make a medical appointment. When is best to do this?
We ask, wherever possible, that you make any appointments outside the school day. If this is not possible, we ask that you minimise lost learning by booking appointments as close to the end of the school day as possible.
If you need to take your child out of school for a medical appointment, or they are due to arrive later/finish earlier due to an appointment, then we please ask you to provide us with medical evidence of the appointment. This can be in the form of an appointment card, text, email, or letter. Partial absence due to appointments can be reported via the ClassCharts app in the same way as a whole day of absence – please just add the details in your comment.
What to do if you are worried?
We want to work with you to support your child in their education.
Please contact us as soon as you realise your child is experiencing difficulties.
Should you be aware of a change in circumstances that may impact on your child's attendance please speak with us. It may be that your child helps with caring responsibilities or there is an issue with transport but we need to know so that we can work with you to ensure your child is able to attend school and learn.
Please contact school and ask to speak with your child's year team or the attendance team.
The Attendance Team
Mrs Dawn Prendergast is our Attendance Support Worker (Mon-Thurs). She works closely in liaison with our year group pastoral teams to work alongside those families whose children may be struggling to come to school, for many different reasons. d.prendergast@huntington-ed.org.uk.
Mrs Sian Boyd is our Attendance Support Worker (Fri). She works closely in liaison with our year group pastoral teams to work alongside those families whose children may be struggling to come to school, for many different reasons. s.boyd@huntington-ed.org.uk
Ms Katy Townsend is our Assistant Headteacher with oversight of attendance. She works with the attendance and pastoral teams to improve attendance and punctuality across the school, as well as co-ordinating with secondary schools across the city to bring our attendance policies into line with each other. k.townsend@huntington-ed.org.uk.
Mr Ben Davis is our Attendance Administrator. He monitors all registers in the school and processes regular communications with families. b.davis@huntington-ed.org.uk
For school attendance leaflet click here: School Attendance Leaflet
Leave of Absence
Students have 13 weeks of school holidays and family holidays are expected to be taken in this time. This is because good attendance is linked to attainment, strong peer relationships and social skills. Children can fall behind quickly even if one day is missed. Parents wishing to apply for leave of absence during term time must send a written request to the Headteacher before arrangements are made and, where possible, at least two weeks before the absence. Each request will be considered individually and all requests for leave of absence will be responded to in writing. Where a request has not been granted the letter should state the reasons why.
The Headteacher will only grant a leave of absence to a pupil during term time if they consider there to be ‘exceptional circumstances’. A leave of absence is granted at the headteacher’s discretion, including the length of time that the pupil is authorised to be absent for. Leave of absence will never be granted in September or when students are just starting the school. This is very important as your child needs to settle into their new environment as quickly as possible.
For a leave of absence request form please click here: Leave of absence request form
For more information from the DFE about parental responsibility regarding attendance, click here: DFE parental responsibility and attendance