Attendance
Why Attendance Matters
At Ashley Academy we recognise the importance of being in school, on time, every day.
The national average expected for children is 96%.
Did you know that an attendance percentage of 90% is equivalent to missing 19 school days a year?
If your child is not in school regularly they will miss out on fundamental learning in the classroom. This is extremely difficult to catch up on and affects all aspects of their future education, as well as forming bad habits.
As part of our on-going support system for children and their families you will receive regular updates on your child’s attendance with a strong focus on how it affects their learning.
Please see the document here for Guidance on Infection Control from the Public Health agency. If your child has an infectious illness you can see how long they recommend you keep them off school e.g. Chicken Pox.
If you have any questions about attendance you can pop in to the school office or give us a call, we’re here to help!
What you can do
We understand that children will need time off school when they are poorly.
However you can avoid attendance becoming a concern by engaging with school and not taking unnecessary days off e.g. holidays during term time. Trying to make appointments for your child, and other family members, out of school hours will reduce time missed in the classroom. This will make less of an impact on their school life.
You may not realise how quickly the odd day off can lead to a big dip in attendance percentage, indicating to school and other agencies that there may be problems to address.
Punctuality is just as important as attendance. If your child has 100% attendance but regularly arrives up to half an hour late they are still missing vital learning.
Most importantly we have an open door policy. If you have ANY queries or would like support on any matter we have a great welfare team who can provide referrals or advice.
If you wish to request time off during school term time there is a form you can complete. Please know that permission for holidays are only granted in exceptional circumstances.
You can view a copy of our attendance policy here
Holiday Requests
As we continue to recover from the disruption to children’s education caused by the pandemic, it is now more important than ever that children’s attendance is good or better. Every second in school counts, as missing school creates more new learning gaps which need to be addressed. The best way you can support your child to recover from the lost school time of recent years is to ensure they are in school and ready to learn every day.
Please do not take your child out of school during term time as it disrupts your child's learning. We urge parents to book holidays during the 13 weeks of annual school holidays which are available each year. Any term time leave of absence must be applied for more than 2 weeks before the date of leave and can only be authorised by the Headteacher in the case of EXCEPTIONAL circumstances. Leave request forms are available from the school office.
If leave has not been authorised and your child is out of school then you may receive a minimum fine of £80 per child, per parent. If the time out of school makes your child’s attendance drop below 90% then they are known as persistently absent under the Government's attendance definitions. This means that you may face prosecution through the courts.
Please help us to help your child catch up by ensuring they are in school and ready to learn every day.