Attendance

Every day counts

As a school we strive to create an inclusive, calm, safe, supportive environment where all students are keen to learn and want to attend. However, we do acknowledge and understand that some students may find it more difficult than others to attend school. Our ethos is built on developing trusting relationships with students, parents/carers and supporting student wellbeing, and so we endeavour to work with families to remove any barriers to attendance to ensure that the right support and provision is in place. Our approach to attendance is available to download via our Attendance Policy below.

Regular school attendance enables students to get the most from their education as well as develop important personal and social skills. Furthermore, students with excellent attendance, (and who are punctual), are attractive to potential employers and colleges as they have been able to demonstrate that they are reliable. 

We also know that there is a strong correlation between absence and exam results. We have analysed our own GCSE results data and were not surprised to find that students with high attendance perform exceptionally well when compared to students with poor attendance. 

We understand that students may occasionally feel unwell; however, unless they are genuinely too ill to attend or have beenadvised by a medical professional to stay at home, we encourage attendance. 

Here is a list of general tips to consider:

• Your child should attend whenever possible — even part days make a difference

• Check NHS guidance before keeping your child off - this is available to download below

• Do not keep your child off for minor illnesses (e.g. headache, cough, cold)

• Avoid medical appointments during the school day – if they don't need to attend one ensure they come into school before or after their appointment 

• Avoid booking holidays during term time 

• Ensure your child arrives on time as this can lead to poor attendance 

• Send your child in if unsure — we have a team of medical staff can who can support them

• If your child is unwell in the morning, consider a later start 

• Every session attended helps build strong attendance and develop healthy habits

• Download the Parent and Carers Tips for High Attendance below

Throughout the year, you will receive updates on your child’s attendance through termly progress checks and reports. Where students achieve excellent attendance (96% and above), we will celebrate this with a postcard home. If attendance falls below expected levels, particularly where it reaches 90% or below, we will contact you to offer support and raise concerns. 

If your child's attendance falls below90% we may not be able to authorise absences of any type. For example, if your child was off with a cold this would go down as an unauthorised absence.

Please use the information table below which outlines the impact of absence over a year. 

Meet the Team:

If you need to contact us regarding an attendance issue, alongside your child's tutor, we also have the Attendance Team below:

Term-time Holidays: 

We areobligated to consider issuing a penalty notice (a fine) to parents/carers for taking their child out of school for 5 days over a rolling period of 10 school weeks. Therefore, a term-time holiday of one week would meet this threshold. We aim to work with parents/carers on attendance matters and will continue to look at term-time holidays on an individual basis before making the decision to fine a family. We will always look closely at your child’s overall attendance and if we have concerns about this (for example if it is below 90% with no improvements) we may regretfully ask the Local Authority to issue a penalty notice. Also, if your child is taking more than one term-time holiday a year, we may again ask the Local Authority to issue a penalty notice. We want to stress this will be a case-by-case decision. Parents/carers should be aware that fines have increased to £160 if paid within 28 days. This will be reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days. Where there is more than one child, each parent/carer may be issued with a penalty notice in respect of each child. Holidays will only ever be authorised in exceptional circumstances.   

Illness and medical appointments

We appreciate that there may be genuine reasons why your child may miss school, but we ask that if your child is well enough that they come to school every day. We have a dedicated team of staff that manage our medical room who can be on hand to support your child should they feel unwell. 

We ask that you arrange medical or any other appointments for your child outside of the school day as it causes disruption and leads to lost learning. However, we do appreciate that in some instances this may be difficult. Guidance states that, if your child has a medical appointment and arrives late to school any time after 9.15am when the register has formally closed, the school will authorise this absence and your child will be marked with the absence code M, however in line with Local Authority guidance this will still impact negatively on their overall attendance. We therefore urge you to try to arrange morning appointments so students can come to school for their mark in tutor time and then leave or ask that appointments are made later in the day.    

If your child arrives late to school, after tutor time, without a valid reason, they must be marked with a U (unauthorised absence) for the morning. Students who are persistentlyvery late to school are also eligible for a penalty notice as this willgreatly impact their attendance and so is classed as an unauthorised absence. This is a government requirement for all schools so that attendance records areaccurate and up to date. We hope that this informationis  informative and helpful and that we can work together to help ensure your child feels happy about attending school. 

We will always work with students and their families where any support may be helpful if there is a need or issue preventing a student from attending school. We will also alwaysseek to involve parents/carers of students who are anxious about attending school and look at ways we can help.  If you would like to discuss an attendance related issue, please contact your child’s tutor or Head of Year in the first instance. 

In order that students can achieve their best with us and we can look after them, we ask students to do the following:

• In the morning, be at school and in tutor rooms for 8.40am; 

• In the afternoon, be at school by 1.10pm and in classrooms by 1.15pm to start lessons for 1.15pm; 

• To report to the office if for any reason they need to leave the school site other than atlunch-time and home-time;  

• Arrive at all lessons on time;

•  Students who arrive to school late will be asked to hand their phone in at main reception and need to collect this after tutor time at the end of the day. We willnotify you via text,letter or progress reports if your child isfrequently late to school and/or lessons. 

Parents/Carers can help us by:

• Contactingthe school office by phone or send an email if your child is ill; 

• Tryingto arrange, whenever possible, appointments with a doctor, dentist, etc. for after the end of the school day, at weekends, or in the holidays; 

• Booking holidays in official school holiday periods and not in term time.  

As a school we will: 

• Telephone on the first day of absenceif at all possible; 

• Monitor punctuality and attendance carefully/closely. 

Year 8 to 9 Transition

Starting a new school is an exciting opportunity for a fresh start, and we look forward to working with parents and carers to help every student thrive at Whitley Bay High School.

For students who may have experienced attendance difficulties in the past, Year 9 offers a chance to establish positive routines and build strong habits from day one. We are committed to supporting families throughout this transition.

Please download the guide below for useful advice and practical tips on helping your child make a successful start at Whitley Bay High School.

News and Updates: 95%+ attendance almost doubles odds of GCSE pass

The DfE has published research which has shown missing just10 days of year 11 halves the odds of getting a grade 5 in English andmaths.The odds of year 11 pupils achieving a grade 5 in English andmaths almost double if their attendance is over 95 per cent, compared to those who miss between 5 and 10 per cent of lessons, government attendance research suggests. The research is available to download below.

Please also take time to view the video guidelines below, which will support your child's attendance.

The first video is tips for how parents can support with good attendance in secondary school.

This video is for advice for starting secondary school and supporting your child's attendance.

Our next video is for our Year 10 and 11 students, parents and carers.

Our final guidance video is tips for staying healthy.