Reporting Student Absence

If your child is absent, please telephone the school office before 8:30am on 0208 698 8911 (press option 1 to leave a voicemail message) Or email studentabsence@sedgehillacademy.org.uk

Attendance is a key factor in school success and therefore all students should aim for 100% attendance in school. Missing days at the school is costly, five lessons a day equates to five hours of your child’s learning being missed. The lower your child’s attendance the greater the chance they will fail to achieve their potential. For these reasons Sedgehill Academy places a great emphasis on full attendance.

On the day that a student returns to school, a note must be brought in to explain the absence. Any unexplained absence is recorded as an unauthorised absence. The school is bound by DfE regulations and the DfE now regards all unauthorised absence as truancy, aided and abetted by parents/carers.

Absence is classified as unauthorised in the following cases:-

• If the reason for absence is unacceptable to the school.
• If the student does not bring a written explanation of absence from a parent/carer.
• If the student misses a lesson without the permission of the teacher.
• If the student leaves the school site without the written permission of a parent and a member of staff.

Students who have a low attendance rate will be referred to the Education Welfare Service and their parents may be prosecuted.

If for any reason your child misses morning or afternoon registration they must sign in at reception on arrival at school to ensure we can account for their whereabouts.

Leave of Absence

If you need to request a planned absence for your child this must be done in writing to the Principal. Each request will be considered individually taking into account all the circumstances, particularly your child’s current attendance figure. Sedgehill Academy strongly discourages parents from planning holidays or other absence during term-time and we are unlikely to authorise this. Your child’s learning and achievement are our priority and absence from school negatively impacts on attainment and therefore their future life chances. 

Registers

Sedgehill Academy places a high priority on the safety of all students. As such we take steps to ensure that all students are accounted for throughout the day. All of our staff have access to computers in lessons that are linked to our network, enabling us to conduct individual registers for all subject lessons throughout the day. This means that in addition to the main morning registration period, there are five other times throughout the day when your child will be registered. We will regularly monitor and track student’s patterns of attendance and punctuality via this system. We will notify you if we have any concerns regarding your child’s record of attendance or punctuality to lessons.

Punctuality

All students should be in school by 8:20am for Roll Call. Lateness to school is unacceptable as it disrupts the learning of the late child and their classmates. Later than 8:25am on any one day means they will have detention. If your child arrives to lesson after the late bell they will receive a demerit. Any student who has four or more demerits in a week will have an SLT detention on Friday evening for 2 hours. 

First Day of Absence Calling

In order to fulfil our obligations in this area, if your child is absent at morning registration and you have not called before 8.30am on the day to explain the absence, we will contact you that morning to investigate the matter. This will ensure that the reason for the absence is known as soon as possible and alert you if your child is not in school when they should be. As always, your child’s safety is our main concern.