At Brannel School we want to do our best for all our students and believe that regular attendance is vital. We will consistently work towards a goal of 100% attendance for all children. We are committed to supporting every child to attend, achieve and thrive and the best way to do this is by working together with parents and carers. Parents and carers play a vital role in a student’s attendance at school by, ensuring students arrive on time every day, ready to learn, avoid term-time absences unless absolutely unavoidable and by contacting school early if there are concerns or difficulties affecting attendance.

Our Attendance Policy can be viewed from the School Policies page of this website but please find a summary below:

• At Brannel School, good attendance is 96% and above. If your child’s attendance falls below this, you are at risk of committing an offence under the Education Act 1996.
• The law requires children of compulsory school age to attend school regularly and punctually. Missing lessons quickly leads to gaps in learning. For example:
  • 90% attendance = 19 days missed per year (almost 4 weeks of learning).
  • 80% attendance = 38 days missed (almost 8 weeks of learning).
  • Even being late can add up. Arriving 10 minutes late each day means your child loses nearly 6 days of learning a year.
• Reporting absences requires you to make contact with the school before 8.30am on every day of absence, explaining the specific reason (not just “unwell”). You can report by telephone, email, or in person at reception. If no reason is provided, the school will follow up with phone calls, texts, or home visits and if we cannot establish a child’s whereabouts, we may contact emergency contacts, the local authority, or the police for safeguarding reasons.
• All requests for absence should be made formally to the Headteacher at least two weeks in advance using the Request for Absence form included in the Attendance Policy Appendix D on the policies section of our website.
• Only one leave of absence request will be considered per academic year. We will confer with other schools where there are siblings in more than one school.
• Absences will only be authorised for sickness (evidence may be required), religious observance, failure of school transport or where the Headteacher has given specific permission.
• Authorised absences may include, Genuine illness (medical evidence may be requested if attendance falls below 93%). medical/dental appointments that cannot be scheduled outside school hours, days set apart for religious observance and exceptional circumstances agreed in advance by the Headteacher.
• Unauthorised absences may include, holidays in term time (unless approved as exceptional), birthdays, shopping trips, family visits, oversleeping and lateness after registers closes (marked with a ‘U’ code).

Promote Good Attendance

We like to celebrate good attendance. Over the last two years we have seen our overall school attendance increase year on year which is extremely positive news. We will, however, continue to work hard to reach our target of a whole school attendance of 96%.  Some of the things we have introduced are:

• Recognition of those students that attend 100% for the week by awarding merits, and those that are making improvements with their attendance
• Weekly recognition in assemblies for tutor groups with good attendance.
• Termly attendance awards, including Amazon vouchers, cinema tickets and merits.
• Individual attendance support plans for students who need extra help with their attendance issues.
• Regular meetings with Heads of Year and Senior Leadership Team about school attendance.
• Regular update on attendance matters on our Facebook page and website

Please note that we monitor attendance regularly. If your child’s attendance falls lower than 90% or causes concern, you may be contacted by the school’s Attendance Officer.

Please contact the school’s Attendance Officer, Mrs Caroline Hunt, to discuss any issues with school attendance.