Policy Consultation & Review

This policy is available on our school website and is available on request from the school office. We also inform parents about this policy when their children join our school and regularly thereafter through our school newsletter and other relevant opportunities.

We recognise the expertise our staff build by managing school attendance daily and we therefore invite staff to contribute to and shape this policy and associated attendance and safeguarding arrangements.

This policy will be reviewed in full by the Governing Body/Trustees on at least an annual basis. This policy was last reviewed and agreed by the Governing Body on 22 September 2025. It is due for review in October 2026.

1. Introduction/Aim

At Swanmore College we believe that regular school attendance is essential if children are to achieve their full potential. We value the attendance of all pupils.

Missing out on lessons leaves children vulnerable to falling behind and can put them at risk of wider harm. There is a wide range of evidence as to the health and wellbeing benefits of school-age education. Research commissioned by the Department for Education shows missing school for even a day can mean a child is less likely to achieve good grades, which can have a damaging effect on their life chances. As set out in this policy, we will work with families to identify the reasons for poor attendance and try to resolve any difficulties at the earliest opportunity.

Our attendance policy aims to give clear guidance to staff, parents, pupils, and governors/trustees to:

• Promote good attendance, enabling pupil’s achievement by establishing the highest possible levels of attendance and punctuality.
• Recognise the key role of all staff in promoting good attendance.
• Provide a clear framework for monitoring and responding to pupil absences, acting early to address patterns of absence.
• Building strong relationships with families to ensure pupils have the support in place to attend school.
• Promote positive support systems and advocate multi-agency approaches to improve attendance.
• Make parents aware of their legal responsibilities and ensure their children have access to the education to which they are entitled.

We recognise that attendance is a matter for the whole school community. Our Attendance Policy should not be viewed in isolation; it is a strand that runs through all aspects of school improvement, supported by our policies on safeguarding, prevention of bullying, behaviour, and inclusive learning. This policy also considers the Human Rights Act 1998, the Equality Act 2010, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and other relevant legislation.

2. Legal Framework

This policy meets the requirements of the Working together to improve school attendance from the Department for Education (DfE), and refers to the DfE’s statutory guidance on school attendance parental responsibility measures.

Section 7 of the 1996 Education Act states that parents must ensure that children of compulsory school age receive efficient full-time education suitable to their age, ability, and aptitude to any special educational needs they may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. A child is of compulsory school age at the beginning of the term following their 5th birthday. A child ceases to be of compulsory school age on the last Friday in June of the school year in which they reach the age of 16.

The government expects all schools and local authorities to:

• Promote good attendance and reduce absence, including persistent and severe absence.
• Ensure every pupil has access to full-time education to which they are entitled.
• Act early to address patterns of absence.

Parents are expected to perform their legal duty by ensuring their children of compulsory school age who are registered at school attend regularly.

In accordance with the Education Act 1996, we will work with parents and carers and the Local Authority to ensure that parents and carers are supported to secure education for children of compulsory school age. Where required, we will formalise support and where necessary, work with the LA to use legal measures.

A “Parent” is defined as:

• Any natural parent, whether married or not.
• Any parent who, although not a natural parent, has parental responsibility as defined in the Children Act (1989) for a child or young person.
• Any person who, although not a natural parent, has care of a child or young person.

3. Roles and Responsibilities

At Swanmore College we believe that improving school attendance is everyone’s business. It is a shared responsibility by governors/trustees, all school staff, parents, pupils, the wider school community and multi-agency partners. We aim to always work in partnership with our parents.

Role	Name	Contact details
SLT responsible for Attendance	Miss G Brown	01489 892256
Attendance Officer	Mrs K Meiklejohn	01489 892256 attendance@swanmore-sec.hants.sch.uk
Named Governor/Trustee for Attendance	Link Governor for Attendance & Behaviour

The Governors of Swanmore College recognises the importance of school attendance and promotes it through the school’s ethos and across its policies. They may take an active role in attendance improvement by:

• Setting high expectations of all leaders, staff, pupils, and parents so that children attend school every day and are safeguarded.
• Identifying a member of the governing body/trustee to lead on attendance matters and ensuring that there is a named senior manager to lead on attendance.
• Prioritising attendance in strategies, such as raising attainment, behaviour and combatting bullying, special educational needs and disabilities, wellbeing, and safeguarding.
• Ensuring school leaders fulfil expectations and statutory duties by rigorously evaluating the effectiveness of the school’s attendance procedures so that consistent attendance support is provided for all pupils.
• Ensuring the schools’ attendance management processes are delivered effectively, and that consistent attendance support is provided for pupils who require it most by prioritising the staff and resources needed. This includes ensuring schools engage and work effectively with the local authority School Attendance Support Team and wider local partners and services.
• Regularly reviewing attendance data, discussing, challenging trends, and helping school leaders focus improvement efforts on the individual pupils or cohorts who need it most.
• Ensuring high aspirations are maintained for all pupils and processes for support are adapted to the individual needs of pupils including those with long term illnesses, special educational needs and disabilities, pupils with a social worker, those pupils under the Virtual School and pupils from cohorts with historically lower attendance such as those eligible for free school meals.
• Ensuring all school staff receive adequate training on attendance and that relevant staff have access to opportunities to share and learn from good practice in other schools.
• Ensuring that attendance data is shared with the Local Authority or Department for Education in line with statutory reporting deadlines.
• Reviewing the school’s Attendance Policy on at least an annual basis, ensuring that the required resources are available to fully implement the policy, which is published and publicised regularly so that it is easily accessible to pupils, parents and staff.

The Senior Management Team at Swanmore College will:

• Actively promote the importance and value of good attendance to pupils and their parents.
• Form and maintain positive relationships with pupils and parents.
• Ensure that there is a whole school approach which reinforces good school attendance, with good teaching and learning experiences, with a whole school culture that encourage all pupils to attend and to achieve.
• Make sure all teaching and non-teaching staff know the importance of good attendance, are consistent in their communication with pupils and parents, and receive the training and professional development they need.
• Have a clear school attendance policy which all staff, pupils and parents understand. Monitor the implementation and effectiveness of the Attendance Policy and ensure that the policy is reviewed annually.
• Ensure the school have accurate, complete admission and attendance registers and have effective day to day processes in place to follow-up absence.
• Regularly monitor and analyse attendance and absence data to identify pupils or cohorts that require support with their attendance and put effective strategies in place.
• Share information and work collaboratively with other schools in the area, local authorities, and other partners where a pupil’s absence is at risk of becoming persistent or severe.
• Ensure that there is a named Senior Attendance Champion to lead on attendance and allocate sufficient time and resource.
• Attend the termly school attendance supporting meetings with the local authority, focusing on those pupils with severe absence, making sure a regularly reviewed plan is in place.

All staff at Swanmore College will:

• Actively promote the importance and value of good attendance to pupils and their parents.
• Form positive relationships with pupils and parents.
• Contribute to a whole school approach which reinforces good school attendance; with good teaching and learning experiences that encourage all pupils to attend and to achieve.
• Know the importance of good attendance, are consistent in their communication with pupils and parents, and receive the training and professional development they need.

The member of staff responsible for attendance will work to further develop relationships with families to bring about improved attendance. This may involve seeking multi-agency support.

Swanmore College requests that parents:

• Take a positive interest in their child’s work and educational progress.
• Ensure their child has regular attendance at school.
• Instill the value of education and regular school attendance within the home environment.
• Contact the school via ClassCharts before 8am if their child is absent to let them know the reason. Medical evidence attached where applicable
• Avoid unnecessary absences; for example, by making medical and dental appointments for outside of school hours.
• Ask the school for help if their child is experiencing difficulties with any aspect of their schoolwork or home and family life.
• Inform the school of any change in circumstances that may impact on their child’s attendance.
• Support the school by becoming involved in their child’s education, forming a positive relationship with school, and acknowledging the importance of children receiving the same messages from both school and home.
• Maintain effective routines at home to support good attendance.
• Attend all meetings requested to discuss attendance issues.

Further information can be found at: Attendance guidance for parents | Hampshire County Council (hants.gov.uk)

Pupils will:

• Be aware of the school’s attendance policy and when and where they are required to attend. This will be communicated to them by school staff, parents and through the school timetable.
• Speak to their Form Tutor/class teacher or another member of staff if they are experiencing difficulties at school or at home which may impact on their attendance.
• Attend all lessons ready to learn, with the appropriate learning tools requested and on time for the class.
• Sign in at pupil reception if they arrive late. This will help the school to monitor attendance and keep accurate records for the child’s individual attendance. This is also vital for safeguarding and health and safety in the event of a school evacuation.

4. Categorising Absence and Attendance

When marking our registers, we will apply the national codes as outlined and regulated by the Department for Education guidance to accurately record and report attendance.

4.1 Leave of Absence

Since September 2013, changes to Government regulations and guidance mean that Headteachers can no longer authorise leave of absence unless there are exceptional circumstances. Generally, the DfE does not consider a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance. Leave of absence should not be granted for a pupil to take part in protest activity during school hours. All absences associated with a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation during term time will be marked as unauthorised within the register. Any parents known to have removed their child from school for the sole purpose of a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation may be referred to the Local Authority and be issued with a penalty notice fine or referred to the Local Authority to consider prosecution.

We believe that children need to be in school for all sessions so that they can make the most progress possible. However, we do understand that there are times where a parent may legitimately request leave of absence for a child due to ‘exceptional circumstances'. At Swanmore College leave of absence is only granted at the discretion of the Headteacher and shall not be granted unless there are ‘exceptional circumstances’. Swanmore College will respond to all applications for leave of absence in writing.

Parents wishing to apply for leave of absence during term time must apply in writing to the Headteacher at least a month before the planned leave (see Appendix 2). If a written request for leave of absence is not completed and the leave is taken without a request being submitted, the leave will not be considered by the Headteacher, and it will be marked as unauthorised. Swanmore College will treat each application individually and discuss with you the circumstances of the application before a decision is made. Retrospective requests will not be considered and therefore will result in the absence being categorised as unauthorised.

A penalty notice request or a referral for prosecution may be submitted to the Local Authority should: -

• • • The parent fails to submit a leave of absence request in advance of taking the leave.
    • An application for a leave of absence is not agreed by the Headteacher but is still taken.
    • A longer period is taken more than the agreed number of days.

When absence is granted by the Headteacher, the parents will need to agree a date of return. If a pupil fails to return on the expected date and contact is not received from, or made with the parents, school will seek advice from the Local Authority. This could result in possible children missing from education procedures being instigated.

The 1996 Education Act also sets out the circumstances in which a pupil has not failed to attend school regularly and therefore the parent has not committed an offence.

4.2, 4.3, 4.4 are examples of these. The full list is in the Appendix 6.

4.2 Medical Appointments and absence due to illness

Parents should try to make appointments outside of school hours wherever possible. Where appointments during school time are unavoidable, we ask that parent notifies the school in advance of the appointment. The pupil should only be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary for the appointment. In most circumstances, a child should not miss a whole day at school for an appointment. If a pupil must attend a medical appointment during the school day, they must sign out at pupil reception who will be alerted by main reception when parents/carers arrive. No pupil will be allowed to leave the school site without parental confirmation.

In line with Department for Education guidance, if we do have a genuine concern about the authenticity of the illness, we may ask the parent to provide medical evidence, such as a prescription, appointment card, or other appropriate form of evidence. If the school is not satisfied about the authenticity of the illness, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised.

Where a child has an emerging a pattern of non-attendance, we will discuss the reasons for absence with the child’s parent. We will invite parents to attend a support meeting as an appropriate early intervention strategy. As part of this support, we may seek consent from parents and the pupil as appropriate to make a referral to the School Nursing Team and/or to liaise with the child’s healthcare professional.

Where a pupil has a verified and chronic health condition, we will aim to work with parents to ensure children have access to education and provide appropriate support in line with Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school and Hampshire policies regarding supporting children with health issues, Behaviour and attendance resources for schools | Hampshire County Council (hants.gov.uk). We will also consider whether an Individual Healthcare Plan is required.

4.3 Pupil Absence for the purposes of Religious Observance

Swanmore College acknowledges the multi-faith nature of British society and recognises that, on some occasions, religious festivals may fall outside school holiday periods or weekends and is recognised as such by a relevant religious authority. Where this occurs, the school will consider either authorising the pupil absence or making special leave for religious observance. Parents are requested to give advance notice to the school.

Working together to improve school attendance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) page 86.

4.4 Parent travelling for occupational purposes

The pupil is a mobile child and their parent(s) is travelling in the course of their trade or business and the pupil is travelling with them. A mobile child is a child of compulsory school age who has no fixed abode and whose parent(s) is engaged in a trade or business of such a nature as to require them to travel from place to place.

To ensure we can effectively support all our pupils, we ask that parents:

• • • Advise the school of their forthcoming travelling patterns as soon as these are known and before they happen; and
    • Inform the school regarding proposed return dates.

4.5 Unauthorised Absence

Absence will not be authorised unless parents have provided a satisfactory explanation and it is accepted as such by the school. The decision to authorise absences is at the discretion of the Headteacher. Examples of unsatisfactory explanations include but are not limited to:

• • • A pupil’s/family member’s birthday.
    • Shopping for uniforms.
    • Arrangements or appointments for cutting the pupil’s hair.
    • Closure of a sibling’s school for INSET (or other) purposes.
    • An unwillingness to attend school, or inability to attend owing to inadequate personal/family organisation.
    • A refusal to attend school on health grounds but where the pupil is considered well enough to attend.
    • Absences taken without the authorisation of the school.

5. Our Procedures

5.1 Register Keeping and Recording

The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006, as amended by 2016 regulations, require schools to take an attendance register twice a day, once at the start of the morning session and then again during the afternoon session.

For the purpose of this policy, the school defines:

“Absence” as:

• • • Arrival at school after the register has closed.
    • Not attending school for any reason. “Regular” attendance as:
    • Attendance at every session the school is open to pupils unless their absence has been authorised.

Pupils must arrive in school and be in tutor by 08:25 on each school day.

The register for the first session will be taken at 08:30 and will be kept open until 09:00. The register for the second session will be taken at 11:50 and will be kept open until 12:20.

Registers are legal records and all schools must preserve every entry in the attendance or admission register for 6 years from the date the data was entered. As the attendance register is a record of the pupils present at the time it was taken, the register should only routinely be amended where the reason for absence cannot be established at the time it is taken and it is subsequently necessary to correct the entry. Where amendments are made, all schools must ensure the register shows the original entry, the amended entry, the reason for the amendment, the date on which the amendment was made, and the name of the person who made the amendment On each occasion the register is taken the appropriate national attendance and absence code must be entered for every pupil (of both compulsory and non- compulsory school age) whose name is listed in the admission register at the time.

The codes enable schools to record and monitor attendance and absence in a consistent way and are used to collect statistics. The data helps schools, local authorities, and the government gain a greater understanding of the delivery of education and the level of, and reason for, absence.

Reporting to parents

The school uses ClassCharts to show daily attendance and will regularly inform parents about their child’s attendance and absence levels via termly written reports.

5.2 Late Arrival at School

At Swanmore College all pupils are expected to arrive on time for every day of the school year. The school day begins at 08:25. We advise all parents to ensure their child is on site prior to this. The school register will be taken at 08:30. All pupils arriving after this time are required to report to pupil reception, and will be expected to sign in late and provide a reason for their absence. If their arrival is before 09:00 it will be recorded as late - L code (Late before the close of register).

The school register will officially close at 09:00. All pupils arriving on or after this time will be marked as having an unauthorised absence for the session - U code (Late after the close of register). This is categorised as an unauthorised absence for the session. Parents will be contacted to discuss any patterns of late arrival. Repeated arrival after the close of registration will result in appropriate interventions being instigated and may also result in a penalty notice being issued or prosecution.

Registers are legal records, and all schools must preserve every entry in the attendance or admission register for 6 years from the date the data was entered. As the attendance register is a record of the pupils present at the time it was taken, the register should only routinely be amended where the reason for absence cannot be established at the time it is taken and it is subsequently necessary to correct the entry. Where amendments are made, all schools must ensure the register shows the original entry, the amended entry, the reason for the amendment, the date on which the amendment was made, and the name of the person who made the amendment.

5.3 Expected absence procedure for parents

A parent has a legal responsibility to ensure that their child attends school regularly. If a child is unavoidably absent from school parents are expected to contact school on ClassCharts using the report absence tab before 8am on the morning of the first day of absence and on each subsequent day, identifying the reason for absence. If no contact is received, then absence protocols will be instigated.

If a child is absent, the following actions will be initiated by the school:

• • • The first day absence procedures will be activated for all pupils who are not in school after close of register at 09:00 and where no reason for absence is known. A text will be sent to parents/ carer.
    • If there is still no contact made from the pupil’s parents/ carer, a telephone call home will be made that morning. If no response can be gained, the child’s named emergency contact will be telephoned.
    • If school cannot contact a parent/ carer the absence will be recorded as unauthorised.
    • School will telephone home if a pupil leaves the school without permission. If we are unable to get in contact we will report the child as missing to the police.

In certain circumstances the School may also:

• • • Visit the home of the pupil.
    • Write to the parents of a pupil to highlight attendance or punctuality issues.
    • Invite parents to discuss how school can support the family to make improvement.
    • Refer to Inclusion Support Service for support, guidance, and advice.
    • Refer to the Local Authority for joint enquiries to be made to establish the whereabouts of the child through Inclusion Support Service (ISS) | Hampshire County Council (hants.gov.uk) and Behaviour and attendance resources for schools | Hampshire County Council (hants.gov.uk)
    • Refer to the Local Authority to consider issuing a penalty notice or to consider prosecution when all other interventions have failed, or an unauthorised leave of absence has been taken.
    • Refer the matter to an appropriate external agency for multi-agency support, such as implementing a Family Support Plan or consulting with the Children’s Social Care or the police, where there are safeguarding concerns.

5.4 Attendance Rewards & Interventions

Monitor and Analyse attendance

The Attendance Officer will:

• • • Monitor and analyse weekly attendance patterns and trends and deliver intervention and support in a targeted way to pupils and families. This should go beyond headline attendance percentages and should look at individual pupils, cohorts and year groups (including their punctuality) across the school.
    • Use this analysis to provide regular attendance reports to class teachers or tutors to facilitate discussions with pupils and to leaders (including any special educational needs coordinators, designated safeguarding leads and pupil premium leads).
    • Undertake frequent individual level analysis to identify the pupils who need support and focus staff efforts on developing targeted actions for those cases.
    • Conduct thorough analysis of half-termly, termly, and full year data to identify patterns and trends. This should include analysis of pupils and cohorts and identifying patterns in uses of certain codes, days of poor attendance and where appropriate, subjects which have low lesson attendance.
    • Benchmark attendance data (at whole school, year group and cohort level) against local, regional, and national levels to identify areas of focus for improvement.
    • Devise specific strategies to address areas of poor attendance identified through data.
    • Monitor in the data the impact of school wide attendance efforts, including any specific strategies implemented. The findings should then be used to evaluate approaches or inform future strategies.
    • Provide data and reports to support the work of the board or governing body and local authority when appropriate.

At Swanmore College we will investigate any pupils who are on track to be persistently absent (PA) and will not wait until attendance is below 90%.

“Persistent absenteeism” (PA) as:

• • • Missing 10% or more of schooling across the year for any reason.

“Severe absence” (SA) as:

• • • Missing 50% or more of schooling across the year for any reason.

5.5 Support Systems

At Swanmore College we recognise that poor attendance can be an indication of difficulties in a family’s life. This may be related to problems at home and or in school. Parents are encouraged to inform school of any difficulties or changes in circumstances that may affect their child’s attendance and/or behaviour in school, for example: bereavement, divorce/separation, emerging health concerns. This will help the school identify any additional support that may be required.

We also recognise that some pupils are more likely to require additional support to attain good attendance. The school will implement a range of strategies to support improved attendance based on the individual needs and circumstances of the child.

Strategies we may use to support you include:

• Pupil checkins
• Pastoral Support
• Mentoring
• Parental meetings
• Early Help
• Local authority attendance support team

To plan the correct support, we will always invite parents and pupils to attend a meeting to discuss the concerns and devise a plan to support the child’s regular attendance. Support offered to families will be child-centred and planned in discussion and agreement with both parents and pupils.

5.6 Persistent Absence, Severe Absence and the use of legal interventions

A pupil becomes a ‘persistent absentee’ (PA) when their attendance drops to 90% and below for any reason. Over a full academic year this would be 38 sessions (19 days). Absence at this level could cause considerable damage to a child’s educational outcomes.

A pupil becomes a ‘severe absentee’ (SA) when their attendance drops to 50% and below for any reason. Over a full academic year this would be 90 sessions (45 days). Absence at this level is causing considerable damage to a child’s educational outcomes.

The attendance of all pupils at our school are monitored to identify children who are PA, or are on track to becoming PA. Where emerging concerns are identified we will instigate appropriate and timely interventions as outlined in the section above.

Referrals may also be made to external agencies for targeted support. Inclusion Support Service (ISS) | Hampshire County Council (hants.gov.uk)

If parents fail to engage with support and their child continues to have unsatisfactory attendance/ punctuality, a request may be made to the Local Authority to pursue legal proceedings either through a penalty notice, consideration of an Education Supervision Order or prosecution via the Magistrates’ Court.

Parents found guilty of failing to secure their child’s regular attendance at school under the provisions of the Education Act 1996, will receive a criminal record and a maximum penalty of a £1000 fine under a Section 444 (1) offence or a £2500 fine or up to a 3-month prison sentence, under a Section 444 (1a) offence.

In line with Hampshire County Council guidance, we will notify the Inclusion Support Service of all reduced timetables as soon as a plan has been agreed.

6. Related Policies

To underpin the values and ethos of our school and our intent to ensure that pupils at our school attend school regularly and reach their full potential, the following policies are integral to this approach:

• Safeguarding including child protection.
• Medical needs.
• Admissions.
• Anti-bullying.
• Suspension and Permanent Exclusion.
• Special educational needs.
• Teaching and learning.
• Behaviour and rewards.

7. Statutory Framework

This policy has been devised in accordance with the following legislation and guidance:

• Working together to improve school attendance, DfE, (August 2024)
• School attendance parental responsibility measures, DfE (January 2015)
• Children missing education, DfE (September 2016)
• Keeping children safe in education, DfE (September 2024)
• Working together to safeguard children, DfE (July 2023)

8. Appendices

See below the following Appendices

Appendix 1 - Fixed Penalty Notice whole school warning letter

Appendix 2 - Example Leave of Absence request form

Appendix 3 - Example reply to leave of absence request

Appendix 4 - Attendance Policy Quick Guide for Parents

Appendix 5 - Attendance Policy Quick Guide for Students

Appendix 6 - Attendance Codes and Attendance Support Structure