Attendance & Punctuality

Attendance and punctuality are two of the most sought-after qualities as far as an employer is concerned. Promoting regular attendance is part of our commitment to raising high levels of achievement.

At Golborne High, we believe that high attendance rates are a significant factor in maintaining the quality of education that we provide. If we are to maintain the continuity of education for our students, maximise their potential and prepare them for the world of work, we must ensure that absenteeism is kept to an absolute minimum.

We acknowledge the importance of rewarding our students who recognise that excellent attendance and punctuality have an important part to play in their education, progress and personal development.

Golborne High recognises their achievements through various reward schemes. 

  • £ 10.00 Gift Vouchers                                       
  • Kindle HD Fire                                                   
  • Ipad

What is good attendance?

There is sometimes a perception that an attendance rate of 90% is good.  This is because an examination score of 90% means excellence.  However, as an attendance rate, 90% is unsatisfactory, it equates to missing 20 days per year.  The whole school attendance target this year is 97%.

What might be the impact of poor attendance on your child?

Government research shows that students who have less than 90% attendance (20 or more days missed in a year) achieve, on average, a whole grade lower than expected in examinations. 

There is a link between the number of days a child is absent and their average earnings in later life. A child is not in school 175 days a year – plenty of time to go shopping, take holidays, visit family or attend routine appointments.

Having good attendance is not all about attainment; your child is also developing essential social skills which will benefit them in their future endeavours. Research has shown that children who are not in school are most vulnerable and are easily drawn into crime. Those children who play truant are more likely to offend those who do not.

A parent/carer has a legal responsibility to ensure that his/her child attends school regularly.

Why is good attendance important?

Every lesson really does count for your child, children can quickly fall behind if even one day is missed and catching up even a little lost time from school can be really difficult. Good attendance is linked to achievement, better relationships with other children and better overall behaviour in school.

Good attendance is not just about what happens in school, absences, when your child is young, can limit their future opportunities and set up bad habits for work and life, as parents we need to support our children in maximizing their achievements. Good attendance helps reduce the risk of your child becoming a victim of crime or abuse and reduces the risk of your child being drawn into anti-social behaviour

How can you as parents encourage excellent attendance and punctuality?

  • Ensure your child is fully prepared for school each day, organize your child’s school uniform and encourage your child to check they have the correct equipment, homework and PE kit the night before
  • Ensure your child attends school every day and arrives on time, in order to keep up with schoolwork
  • Show your child that you think school is very important
  • Praise your child's achievements
  • Get them into good habits early on
  • Recognise that children can get into bad habits from an early age and that these are hard to break later
  • Attend any meetings in school to which you are invited
  • Let the school know as soon as there are any problems or changes
  • Do not keep your child at home if your child is worried or has a problem, eg bullying. The best way to support your child is to ask for a meeting in school to explain any difficulties and address problems. The more time your child is absent from school, the harder it will be for them to return
  • Make sure your child has a good night’s sleep and wakes up in good time for the school day, arriving no later than 8.25am.
  • Organise non-urgent medical appointments outside of school time.
  • Take time to talk to your child about what they have done in school.
  • Contact the school at the first opportunity if your child is genuinely ill or is unable to attend.
  • Talk to someone at the school if there is a problem or reason why your child finds it difficult to attend regularly

What are the benefits of excellent attendance?

  • To make new friends
  • To learn and enjoy new experiences
  • To develop skills that you will need in later life
  • To take part in a wide range of activities in and outside of Golborne
  • To learn how to look after themselves and encourage independence
  • To feel safe and listened to
  • To improve their chances of having a good career or life chances
  • To make a positive contribution to the Golborne community

Whilst overall our pupils arrive at school on time, we can still have a small number of pupils who can arrive late to school. Parents may not be aware of the difficulties experienced by children even when they are only a few minutes late each day.

A few important points to remember

  • Being late to school reduces learning time
  • 10 minutes late a day equals to almost a whole hour of lessons missed each week, over the school year this equates to 2 whole weeks
  • Your child will miss his/her teacher’s instructions for the first lesson
  • Arriving late to their lesson causes disruption to the whole class as well as to your child
  • Children are often very embarrassed and upset at coming into class late
  • Your child will receive a SLT detention on Friday if they are late more than once in a given week.

Contact Pupil Services to report the absence and keep the school informed if more than one day’s absence is necessary. Avoid medical appointments during school time, but if necessary please bring your child to school first and return after the appointment.

Only keep your child away from school if really necessary. Please consider sending them in, and if necessary - we can send them home.

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Dental & Medical treatments

Whilst the school will grant requests for absence for dental and medical treatments, parents/carers are encouraged, whenever possible, to book medical and dental appointments outside of the school day.

When appointments during school hours are unavoidable, Pupil Services should be notified in advance in writing, of the date and time of the appointment and when the child will be collected. It is expected that the child will return to school after any appointment if before 2.20pm. Evidence of the appointment will be requested

Holidays

Taking students out of school for holidays is not acceptable. Whilst we understand the difficulties parents/carers may have in organising holidays during the school holidays and the benefits to be had from cheaper term-time holidays, this type of absence is detrimental to a child’s education.

In September 2013, government guidelines advise that no absence should be authorised in advance except when due to ‘exceptional circumstances’.

If you take your child out of school for a holiday, this will be unauthorised and you may be issued with an Education Penalty Notice which could result in a £60 fine for all parents and carers involved including, in some cases, Grandparents and Step Parents.

Any holidays taken during school time will result in your child not being eligible for reward trips for the following 365 days from the date of the holiday.

What happens if your child does not attend school regularly?

  • You will be contacted by the Attendance/Pastoral Support Officer
  • You may be invited to attend a meeting in school to discuss how we can work together to improve your child’s attendance.
  • If your child’s attendance does not improve, the school will initiate a Wigan Early Help Framework which could lead to the school referring to the Local Authority.
  • As a school, we are responsible by law for reporting poor attendance to the LA.
  • As a parent, you are committing an offence if you fail to make sure that your child attends school regularly.
  • You run the risk of being issued with a penalty notice or being taken to court.
  • A child who has an attendance figure of 90% or below is now classed by the government as "a child with persistent absence".

What is 'Persistent Absence'?

A pupil is defined as a ‘Persistent Absentee’ if they miss approximately 10% or more of all possible school sessions, regardless of whether the absence is authorised or unauthorised.

Educational penalty notice warning for non-school attendance

Educational Penalty Notice Warning for Non-school attendance

The school is responsible for issuing an Educational Penalty Notice Warning letter to each parent at the beginning of the academic year and then subsequently each term. For any mid-year admissions to the school, all parents will receive the Educational Penalty Notice warning letter as part of their mid-term admission pack.

Under the Education Act 1996, parents and carers have a duty to make sure their children regularly attend school. If parents or carers fail to do this, they can be prosecuted.

Working within a Code of Conduct the Local Authority can issue a penalty notice to parents or carers if a child has missed a number of sessions without permission from the school.

If your child falls within one or more of these categories within a 12-week period

  • 10 sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence with under 90% attendance
  • 20 sessions (10 days) of unauthorised absence
  • persistently arrives late for school after the close of registration

you could receive a Penalty Notice of £60 which will increase to £120 if not paid within 21 days.

The Penalty Notice will need to be paid in full before 28 days of the notice being served. Failure to pay a penalty notice may result in prosecution (a separate penalty notice may be issued to each parent, and in some cases, grandparents and step-parents, if they are responsible for any part of the child’s care - for each child).

For any further information please refer to the Wigan Council Education Penalty Notice Code of Conduct on our policies page on the website.