Attendance

Attendance

Pupils can only be taught if they attend school regularly and punctually.  We want all of our pupils to have the opportunity to achieve their very best and reach their potential, and we believe that high levels of attendance are crucial to this.  Regular and continuous attendance fosters the importance of learning, but also those key life skills of self-discipline, responsibility and reliability.  The expected attendance of a pupil at Holy Cross is 97%.

There is a direct link between pupil attendance at school and achievement.  Leave of absence can only be granted by the school in exceptional circumstances, and in most cases, any family holidays that are taken during term time are unlikely to be authorised and are likely to result in a fine from the Local Authority.  Parents/carers are requested, therefore, not to arrange leave of absence (family holidays) during term time.

If your child is unwell, we ask that you contact the school via telephone, or via the attendance email: , on the first day of absence, then on each subsequent day of absence.  Where there is no contact from parents to explain an absence, a text message will sent out notifying parents/carers of the absence, and there may be further contact made by the Attendance and Pupil Support Officer.

Did you know that:

• A child who is absent one day per week misses an equivalent of two years of their school life?
• 90% of young people with attendance rates of less than 85% fail to achieve 5 or more good grades at GCSE, and around one third do not achieve any GCSEs at all?
• Poor examination results limit young people’s options and poor attendance suggests to colleges and employers that these pupils are unreliable?

Penalty Notice (Information for Parents)