Aim

  • To ensure that pupils attend Gloucester House regularly in order to enable them to have every opportunity of achieving their full potential.
  • To ensure that effective records of attendance are kept and monitored and that occurrences of unauthorised absences are kept to a minimum and within targets set.

Responsibilities

The Head Teacher is responsible for:

  • Setting annual targets for authorised and unauthorised absences and monitoring them on an annual basis.
  • Monitoring pupil attendance for individuals and across Gloucester House.
  • Ensuring individual attendance targets are included in ICPs where necessary.
  • Liaising with transport departments over any general transport issues.

The Case Co-Ordinator is responsible for:

  • Liaising with the Head Teacher, parents/carers, parent worker and outside professionals where there are difficulties with attendance or punctuality.

Parent workers are responsible for:

  • Ensuring that parents are aware of their responsibility to inform Gloucester House of any absences, requesting permission for holiday leave, and supporting them where there are instances of pupils refusing to attend school or where there are particular transport difficulties.

Class teachers are responsible for:

  • Taking the class register at the beginning of each session.
  • Ensuring that all authorised absences are recorded.
  • Informing Admin of pupil absence before 9.30 am

Gloucester House Administrative Manager is responsible for:

  • Ensuring any messages regarding pupil absences are passed on to the class teacher as soon as possible.
  • Ensuring that instances of lateness, both arrival and departure, are recorded in the logbook.

Parents/Carers are responsible for:

  • Informing Gloucester House of any periods of absence for whatever reasons.
  • Requesting (in advance) any absence for events and holidays (particularly during term-time). This is discouraged but where unavoidable no more than 10 days may be taken in one academic school year and all requests must be requested in writing to the Headteacher.

Monitoring & Reporting

The Head Teacher will monitor the registration process, including recording of lateness, on a regular basis.

Class teachers will inform the Admin Manager of absence by 9.30 am in order that we actively pursue absences and take a proactive approach to attendance.

Where there is poor attendance the Head Teacher will discuss the difficulties with the case co-ordinator who will, in turn, discuss the issues with the parents/carers. Where this does not result in a satisfactory improvement in attendance the Head Teacher, in consultation with the case co-ordinator will alert the relevant referrers and appropriate agencies in respect of this – possibly the Educational Welfare Service of the referring borough- and in some cases Social Care.

Sharing Policy with Parents/Carers

Parents/carers will be informed of the Gloucester House policy and procedures regarding attendance during the admission process and, where necessary, in subsequent parent/carer work.