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Attendance / Absence

Reporting Attendance

Vision

At St George’s School we firmly believe good attendance and arriving on time are crucial factors in a pupils academic success, social and spiritual development and a sense of belonging to our school community. When pupils attend school regularly, they benefit from continuous learning, active participation in class discussions, and the opportunity to build positive relationships with their peers and teachers.

There is a clear link between high attendance and high academic achievement and thus, absence, for any reason, has a negative effect on learning. Attendance is the responsibility of every stakeholder at St George’s School.

Positive and consistent communication between home and school is central to improving and maintaining high levels of attendance. 

Expectations

We expect all of our pupils to attend school regularly and on time.  We set all pupils a minimum target level of 96%. The school regularly reviews each pupil’s attendance and engages with the Local Authority where attendance falls below 90%.  An attendance rate of 90% is equivalent to missing half a day of school per week or one day per fortnight.  6 out of 10 students with an attendance rate of 95% or more gain at least 5 GCSE grades 5-9.

Any absence of a pupil from school or a school activity is detrimental to their education. The diagram below illustrates clearly the impact attendance can have on academic achievement. 

Attendance2

Attendance during one school year Equal this number of days absent Which is approximately this many weeks absent Which means this number of lessons missed
95% 8 days 2 weeks 50 lessons
90% 19 days 4 weeks 100 lessons
85% 28 days 6 weeks 150 lessons
80% 38 days 8 weeks 200 lessons

 

It is our aim that all pupils should have excellent attendance with 100% attendance all of the time, although we understand this is not always possible. Ensuring regular attendance at school is a parent’s legal responsibility, but helping to maintain a regular pattern of attendance is everyone’s responsibility – parents, pupils and all members of school staff. 

We are keen to work with parents, pupils and the Local Authority to ensure attendance is as good as it can be to improve the chances of the young people in our care. As a school we have a number of interventions to support pupils who have genuine reasons for missing school. We will always look to help families overcome issues that may be affecting their child’s attendance as sadly pupils who miss school frequently can fall behind with their work and do less well in exams.

Our Senior Attendance Champion is Mrs Welsh.

For more information on attendance, absence and our procedures at St George’s School please read the Absence policy in full, by clicking here.

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5 Reasons to come to School 09th May 2024 Download