Attendance
"The school works tenaciously to promote high expectations for behaviour and attendance."
- Ofsted, November 2023
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FFT Award - Autumn Term & Spring Term 2023/24
FFT collects daily attendance data from over 10,000 schools. This data helps schools to track, monitor and compare their attendance every week.
The awards have been given to schools with attendance in the Top 10% and Top 25% of all FFT schools nationally for the 2023/24 Autumn term and subsequent Spring Term.
We are really proud to receive acknowledgement of the hard work and dedication of staff, pupils, parents and carers in achieving excellent attendance during the autumn and spring terms.
Attendance matters and it is everyone's responsibility. We want all our parents and carers, staff and students to work together to support our students to attend as regularly as possible, ensuring they achieve the qualifications and grades that they truly deserve.
Attendance Expectations
The Nottingham Girls' Academy (in line with government directives) expects pupils to attend school for at least 97% of the time. This equates to half a day's absence every two weeks. If a pupil is absent for a whole day their attendance for that week drops to 80%.
Where possible, family holidays should not be taken during term time. The Academy is not obliged to authorise any absences due to family holidays. Ten school days absence taken as a holiday in a year will reduce a pupil's attendance to 95% immediately. Any further absence due to illness will bring the attendance down below the Academy target.
Parents have a responsibility for ensuring their child attends the Academy regularly and punctually. The Academy expects that all parents communicate with them, either in writing or by telephone, giving a reason:
- In advance of any planned absence.
- Immediately following any unplanned absence.
- During any absence expected to last more than three days.
Failure to comply with this requirement will mean that your child will have unauthorised absences on their attendance record and this could lead to a referral to the Education Welfare Service.
We will support parents in their legal responsibility to ensure their child attends school regularly and punctually.
At Nottingham Girls' Academy, we believe family holidays should not be taken during term time. We will not authorise requests for holidays during term time and will consider issuing parents Penalty Notices if holidays or other unauthorised leave of absence is taken. Leave of absence requests will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances.
Parents should contact us by telephone on the first day and each subsequent day of their child’s absence.
Pupils should inform a member of staff of any problem or reason that may prevent them from attending the Academy.
Parents should contact the Nottingham Girls' Academy, in confidence, whenever a problem occurs that may affect their child's attendance. Regular attendance means arriving on time for the start of the Academy day. It is the parent's responsibility to ensure their child gets to the Academy on time.
Parents of pupils who are regularly late will be contacted so we can work together to rectify the situation. Where no improvement is made, the Education Welfare Service will be informed.
POOR ATTENDANCE = POOR ATTAINMENT!
Some absences which are considered avoidable will be left unauthorised by the Nottingham Girls' Academy. These include:
- Trivial illness
- Looking after a sick relative
- Minding the house or waiting for workmen/deliveries etc
- Packing or getting ready for a holiday or trip or collecting relatives from the airport/station
- Being on holiday
- Looking after brothers and sisters, including dropping them off at the Academy or nursery
- Helping with housework or family business
- Being unhappy or not getting on with others at the Academy
We work diligently to support all pupils to ensure excellent attendance. We will communicate regularly with parents and provide support to overcome barriers to good attendance.
We will also involve our attendance team to work with families when attendance falls to unacceptable levels. Any pupil whose attendance falls below 90% and meets interim thresholds, throughout the year, is likely to be classified as a Persistent Absentee (PA). In these cases, further absence due to illness or medical reasons will not be authorised unless supported by additional medical evidence such as a GP appointment card or letter. Pupils in this attendance category will be monitored closely by our Education Welfare Officer and the pastoral teams, who will conduct regular home visits and hold meetings with parents. Should there be no improvement in attendance, in these cases, we will seek intervention from the Local Authority Education Welfare Service to consider issuing a Penalty Notice in accordance with The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) Regulations 2012 or ultimately pursue court action under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996.
Please read our Attendance Policy by clicking the link here.
Education Welfare and Parental Liaison Officer
Our Education Welfare and Parental Liaison Officer is Mrs J Steeples.
Other Links
- Children Missing Education (CME) - Statutory Guidance
- Children Missing from Education - Nottingham City
- Working Together to Improve School Attendance
- A Short School Attendance Guide for Parents
- School behaviour and attendance: parental responsibility measures - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
- Is my child too ill for school? - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
- Mental health resources for children, students, parents, carers and school/college staff - The Education Hub (blog.gov.uk)