Attendance
Good attendance and punctuality matter.
The correlation between good attendance at school and achievement, especially at GCSE and A-level, is well documented, alongside the positive benefits to students’ social skills and wider development. Whilst attendance at IGS is above the national average, the national average is lower than it was before the pandemic and, as a result, too many young people are missing out on their education. Therefore, the new Government have put the improvement of school attendance high on their agenda with the expectation that every student attends school every day where it is possible to do so and that schools work in partnership to remove barriers to attendance and put the right support in place.
At IGS, we set very high expectations of student attendance. We work hard with students to help them feel happy and safe whilst at school and breakdown barriers preventing young people getting into school. To help facilitate good attendance, the pastoral teams are readily available to discuss and understand any issues your child may have getting into school. In addition, we have a new member of staff, Miss Sturgess, who is a Families and Outreach Specialist who will work closely with students and their families where there are significant difficulties with attendance at school. Please do contact us and we will do everything we can to help. There are a number of adjustments we can make, to support a young person to access school more often.
Please note all doctor or dental appointments should be made for after school or in holiday time. School holidays account for 14 weeks of the year and parents are expected to arrange all family holidays during these times.
Application for Unavoidable Student Leave Of Absence During Term-Time (Holiday Or Other) Guidelines
DfE Guidance and the Pupil Registration Regulations state that headteachers may not grant leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. We therefore have a discretionary power to grant a student leave of absence during term time but only in 'exceptional circumstances' . Parents must not assume there is an automatic right.
The DfE's position is that "poor attendance at school can have a hugely damaging effect, and children who attend school regularly are nearly four times more likely to achieve five or more good GCSEs than those who are regularly absent." A child who takes a week's extra holiday each year at school will have missed at least 70 days - or the equivalent of more than three months of teaching - by the end of their time at school.
Our Governing Board aims to minimise the amount of student learning time lost through a policy which actively discourages parents from arranging family holidays or other events during term time and supports the headteacher in authorising absence only in very exceptional circumstances.
Penalty Notices:
Please note, within the new Government guidance there are statutory expectations that the school must follow, and these are outlined below as well as on the Department for Education website HERE:
Should you wish to request a leave of absence for your child then please use the Leave of Absence form below but please read the guidelines on this webpage carefully as any holidays in term time will now result in the school contacting Bradford MDC to issue a fixed penalty notice of £80. (which rises to £160 if not paid within 21 days). This fixed penalty notice is issued per child and per parent.
If a child is off for unauthorised reasons for more than 10 sessions (5 days) in a rolling ten week period then the school must consider referring the parent of the child to Bradford MDC for a fine to be issued. At IGS we want to support parents to get children into school and see this as a last resort when we have exhausted all our offers of support and any reasonable adjustments.
Schools must also inform Bradford MDC if it is believed that a child will be off ill for more than 15 days (consecutively or cumulatively) and this is to ensure the school, the LA and the parents work together to support the young person and where possible continue their education.
Unavoidable or exceptional term time absence requests should be made via the Leave of Absence Form link below. prior to any arrangements being made. The application should be, wherever possible, submitted at least 3 months before the planned absence, and absences cannot be authorised retrospectively.
It will only be in extremely exceptional circumstances that any leave of absence will be granted.
In all cases of student absence, it is the responsibility of the student to catch up on any work they miss during an absence.
If your request is not authorised:
- This will be coded as an unauthorised absence on your child's register record.
- The school will not provide work during the period of absence.
- Where family holidays or leave of absence are taken without the permission of the school, parents can be given a Penalty Notice (fine) for periods of unauthorised absence. Please refer to the Penalty Notice - Code of Conduct on Bradford Children's Services webpage for further details: Bradford.gov.uk
