King's Academy Ringmer is committed to working with all of our families to ensure that students are able to strive for outstanding attendance. If you are aware of a circumstance impacting your child’s ability or willingness to attend school, then please make contact with their Form Tutor to discuss this as soon as possible.
Reporting your Child's Absence
It is required that contact is made with school every day that your child is absent unless otherwise arranged with the school, giving the name of the child and the reason for their absence that day. We ask please that contact is made with the school before 08:00 ideally. There are three methods of communication through which to do this.
- Option 1: Through 'Absence Reporting' on the EduLink One app.
- Option 2: Phone call to school on 01273 812220, press option 2.
- Option 3: E-mail explaining student absence to ringmer.reception@kingsacademies.uk
Authorised Absence
Authorised absences are mornings or afternoons away from the academy for a reason such as genuine illness or other unavoidable cause.
Unauthorised Absence
Unauthorised absences are those which the academy does not consider reasonable and for which no 'leave' has been given. This includes:
- Parents/carers keeping students off from the academy unnecessarily
- Truancy during the academy day
- Absences which have never been fully explained
- Students who arrive at the academy after registration has closed
- Holidays that have not been authorised
Withdrawal from Learning Requests
There is no automatic right to take your child out of school for a holiday. If you choose take your child out of school during term time then you could be issued with a fixed penalty notice.
Like all schools, we think that the key to good attendance is to build a happy and safe environment where the children enjoy their learning and home/school partnership is strong.
We trust that you will support us with our aim for all students to achieve their full potential and send your child to school every day unless they are genuinely too ill to attend.
Medical Appointments
Unfortunately, even if absent for a medical appointment, a student is still classed as absent from school. This is beyond the school’s control. Please make appointments outside school hours when possible. If this is not possible, we recommend students attend school before and/or after the appointment, even if only briefly, before being signed out. This ensures that the impact on a child’s learning is minimal, and their attendance will not be negatively impacted.
School-related Anxiety
If your child is suffering with school-related anxiety that is impacting their ability or willingness to attend, then please speak to the school. There is support we can offer to help with this. Additionally, please visit our student wellbeing page for more advice.
However, the most effective support to help understand and overcome school anxiety starts at home. There are many resources available online to support you with this – we recommend the YoungMinds parent guide as a starting point for information and guidance for supporting your child.
Advice for Improving Attendance
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Concern |
Advice |
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Does my child really need to be off? |
Use the NHS “Is my child too ill for school?” page to help with decisions over whether your child should be in school or not. Most common ailments are not a reason to be off school, just like they would not be a reason to be off work. |
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How important is good attendance? |
Help your child understand why going to school everyday matters.
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How important is school? |
Ensure your child knows that school is important to you. A few things you can do to show interest in their school attendance:
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Should I monitor attendance? |
Create attendance goals with your child and track their progress in a notebook or calendar. Also, you can try giving them small rewards for not missing school, such as a later bedtime on Saturday. |
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How do I set a healthy routine? |
Morning showers are a great way to help students wake up. Ensure that your child is having a nutritious breakfast. Fruit, toast and healthy cereals are perfect and will give your child the energy to get through to lunch. Make attendance a priority by giving your children regular bedtimes and good routines, such as no phones 30 minutes before bed, reading before bed etc. Remember, 11-16 year olds need 8-10 hours sleep a night. Also remember to pack school bags the night before, so they're not rushing around in the morning before school. |
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Is it important that my child arrives on time? |
Ensure your child gets to school on time every day. Arriving late can be embarrassing for students and disrupts their learning. They will also miss key announcements that are given out during morning form time. |
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What if I can't get them to school on time? |
Develop a backup plan for ensuring that your child gets to school if they miss a bus, a friend who usually gives them a lift can't make it that day, etc. |
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Who can I turn to for help if I'm struggling? |
Reach out to your child's school for assistance and support. Your child’s form Tutor, director of learning, pastoral team, and attendance officer are all available to help you. All you have to do is ask. |
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I need to book a medical appointment for my child, do they have to come into school? |
See above on this webpage. Make appointments for the dentist or doctor after school hours or in school holidays where possible, and make sure children return to school before and / or after an appointment if it has to be in school time. |
Frequently Asked Questions
I got in contact to tell you my child was ill, why has their attendance still gone down?
Even if an absence is categorised as authorised it is still a session of schooling missed and will negatively impact a students’ overall attendance percentage.
My child has contacted me and asked me to come and collect him/her. What do I do?
As you are probably aware, students are not allowed to contact home to ask parents to come and collect them from school. They should always, in the first instance report to Reception, who will decide whether a phone call home is the best course of action.
If, however, your child does contact you from school, we would ask that you remind them of this procedure and be rest assured that we will contact you if necessary.
However, we should remind you that if students do contact home directly and parents do come to school to collect, this absence would be classed as unauthorised and we would always try to see both the parent and student before they leave the school, so that we can discuss this with you.
What happens if my child's attendance falls below 90%?
Any student with attendance below 90% is subject to attendance procedures and is required to provide medical evidence for all absences.
What if I need to take my child on a holiday in term time?
Holidays should not be taken during term time. If holidays are taken without authorisation, then parents/carers may be issued with a penalty notice.
Attendance Matters
There is a clear link between poor attendance at school and lower academic achievement. For example, research shows that secondary level, three quarters of students who have over 95% attendance achieve five or more GCSEs at grades A* - C (9-5), which is the benchmark used by the Government. Students whose attendance is less than 50% have almost no chance of achieving those grades. Obviously, there are many other factors in the level of attainment of any particular student, but it is very clear that high attendance is usually an important contributory factor in doing well at school.
Children who are persistently late for morning register can arrive in class flustered and embarrassed, it can make for a poor start to the school day so should be avoided wherever possible.
All absences (authorised or unauthorised and for whatever reason) are taken into account in the ‘non-attendance’ rate (eg last year, the non-attendance rate included all illness and all authorised and unauthorised absences). The idea that authorised absences are not taken into account is a myth.
Where an individual child’s absence falls below 95% we monitor this carefully. Where a child misses more than 10% of any school term this is regarded as ‘persistent absence’ and will be significant concern to us – although naturally there are sometimes quite understandable reasons, such an illness. If we have concerns we will always talk to Parents/Carers first with a view to agreeing a strategy for improvement – and this is often possible. If after our intervention there is no improvement we will refer the case to ESBAS (Education Support Behaviour and Attendance Service).
Other Helpful Hints
- Please make all medical appointments outside the school day. If this is not possible, please make sure your child comes to school before the appointment and returns to school after the appointment.
- An appointment card or letter must be shown to confirm all medical appointments. students must “sign out” before leaving school and must “sign in” on their return.
- Please do not arrange “birthday treats” or other time off from college, which could equally well be arranged for weekends or school holidays.
- Students should be at school by 8.40 am.
- If a student arrives late to school, they MUST inform the Attendance Assistant on their arrival. If a student is late three times during a half term or if lateness becomes a problem, then detentions will be given. Parent/Carers will be contacted if the college has concerns regarding lateness.
Changes in circumstances at home and bullying are common reasons for children to become “ill”. These problems can become worse if they are “bottled up”. We can treat many matters in confidence and we deal with any issues appropriately.
Please help us make sure this school is one where information is shared and where Parents/Carers, students and staff work together.
Regular school attendance is important in order for students to reach their full potential. The information below is taken from the DCSF National Strategy and demonstrated the possible impact of attendance upon attainment.
You will see from the graph how drastically attendance affects attainment.
Attendance levels can sometimes be regarded in the same way as examination results. In an examination 80% would be a very positive result. In attendance terms that would mean that a student missed 40 days of education, just 1 day a week. Therefore if attendance remains at 80% for the whole of the student's secondary education they will miss more than a full year of education.
Attendance Rates
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95% + = Excellent chance of five 9-5 Grades |
| 92.5% to 94.9% = Fair chance of five 9-5 Grades |
| 91.5% = Possible chance of five 9-5 Grades |
| 90% = Less than 50% chance of five 9-5 Grades |
| 88% = Less than 35% chance of five 9-5 Grades |
| Less than 88% = Less than 30% chance of five 9-5 Grades |
In order for you to achieve the highest possible grades, stay in school
Approximate Days Absence in a School Year
| Attendance Rate | By End of School Year |
|---|---|
| 100% | 0 |
| 95% | 10 |
| 90% | 20 |
| 85% | 30 |
| 80% | 40 |
