Attendance

At Cranfield Academy, we truly believe that every school day counts towards your child's future. Days off school add up to lost enjoyment, achievement and learning. We appreciate it when families use the 175 non-school days a year for time together, family visits, holidays, days out and routine appointments where possible.

Good attendance is important because:

• Statistics show a direct link between educational achievement and absence levels. Higher absence can lead to lower achievement.
• Regular attenders make better progress, both socially and academically.
• Regular attenders find school routines, school work and friendships easier to maintain.
• Regular attenders find learning more satisfying.
• Regular attenders find transition points easier to manage. 

Our 'Valuing Excellent Attendance' leaflet is an excellent source of information for parents - the leaflet is a summary of our attendance policy.

Absence:

If your child is absent from school it is very important that you let us know the reason for absence as soon as possible. We encourage parents to inform us of their child's absence through their Weduc Reach More Parents App as soon as possible on the first day of absence. Alternatively, you can call the school and leave a message on our absence answerphone. This can be reached by pressing option '3' when you call. If no message is received by closure of registration a member of the office staff will telephone to ascertain why the child has not arrived at school. Regular and punctual attendance is an important part of a child’s educational development and our high attendance figures are a result of strong parental support and rigorous procedures to ensure its monitoring.

Please see below detail on the actions we follow for attendance falling below 96% after the first half of Autumn Term each year:

• Attendance below 96% - a letter will be sent to you informing you of your child's current level of attendance. This is an initial acknowledgement that the attendance falls below our school target.
• Attendance remains below 96% - A second letter will be sent informing you that the attendance rate is not improving.
• Attendance still remains below 96% (but more than 93%) - After a further four weeks, if the attendance still remains below 96% a meeting with our Deputy Headteacher or Headteacher will take place.  The reason for continued absence will be discussed in addition to actions being agreed to support better attendance in the future.
• Attendance goes below 93% - Following continued intervention and support over a term, a referral will be made to the Educational Welfare Officer. 

If your child is unwell at school or has an accident we shall inform you as soon as possible, therefore it is important that we have two telephone numbers on which we may contact you or an agreed family member / guardian during the day. Please do ensure you are contactable. 

Whilst we discourage appointments during the school day, if your child does have an unavoidable appointment during the school day, a member of the school office team and/or the Class Teacher should be informed by letter or by a phone call in advance of the absence. The child will need to be collected from and returned to the school reception area where a note will be made of the time the child left and entered the school. This is necessary to ensure the safety of your child at all times.

If your child returns to school before completing a course of prescribed medication this can be handed in to the school office for administering. Our Office Team will discuss the purpose of the medicine, and refer where required, to guidance given by the Public Health Agency.

Holidays:

Where possible parents are encouraged to take family holidays during the scheduled school holiday periods in order to cause the least amount of disruption to their child’s education and attendance.

• 10 days absence would mean 95% attendance.
• 19 days absence would mean 90% attendance.
• 29 days absence would mean 85% attendance.
• 38 days absence would mean 80% attendance.
• 47 days absence would mean 75% attendance. 

However, we do understand that there are exceptional circumstances when this may not be possible and in such circumstances we ask that a Request for Holiday in School Time form be filled out and submitted to the school office well in advance. Our Headteacher, Mr Piatczanyn, will then consider the request.

There is no formal definition offered for exceptional circumstances, at present, by the Department for Education (DfE). From discussion with the DfE and professional associations, however, it is suggested that exceptional leave would be:

• Rare
• Significant
• Unavoidable
• Short
  
  Click here to download a Leave of Absence Request in School Time.

Click here to download the
Cranfield Church of England Academy Attendance Policy

Click here to download CBC Advice
on attendance and 'helping your child achieve their best'.

Lates:

As we similarly encourage excellent attendance, so too do we consider punctuality as significant to your child's learning, in addition to developing a necessary life skill. 

• 5 minutes of lateness every day = 3 days of school lost a year.
• 10 minutes of lateness every day = 6.5 days of school lost a year.
• 15 minutes of lateness every day = 10 days of school lost a year.
• 20 minutes of lateness every day = 13 days of school lost a year.
• 30 minutes of lateness every day = 19 days of school lost a year.

Please see below detail on the actions we follow for lateness:

• 3 lates in a half term - a letter will be sent informing you of your child's lates and requesting an improvement in punctuality.
• 4 lates in a half term  - a meeting with the child's Key Stage Leader will be requested. Reasons for lateness will be discussed, in addition to actions to support punctuality in the future agreed.
• 5 lates in a half term - a meeting with the Deputy Headteacher will be requested. Reasons for lateness will be discussed, in addition to actions to support punctuality in the future agreed.