Attendance and Punctuality – Working Together to Support Your Child’s Success

Dear Parents and Carers,

Attendance and Punctuality – Working Together to Support Your Child’s Success – It Matters.

Regular attendance and good punctuality are essential to your child’s success at Hanham Woods Academy. This letter outlines our expectations, the legal responsibilities around school attendance, and some important updates for the 2025–2026 academic year.

Why attendance matters National and local evidence is clear: pupils who attend school regularly achieve better outcomes.

Pupils with no absence are over twice as likely to achieve 5 Grade 5s or above at GCSE.
There is a direct link between poor attendance and lower academic achievement.
90% of young people with attendance below 85% fail to achieve five or more good GCSE grades, and around one third achieve no GCSEs at all.
Attendance records are routinely checked by colleges, employers, and training providers as an indicator of reliability.

Every day – and every lesson – matters. We avoid “Lost Learning at all costs.”

Your legal responsibility

Under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996, parents and carers have a legal duty to ensure that their child attends school regularly and punctually. Attendance is considered “irregular” if absences are not authorised by the school.

Unauthorised absence can lead to:

Penalty notices (£80 per parent, per child, rising to £160 if unpaid within the specified timeframe)
Prosecution, with fines of up to £2,500
Other legal interventions where necessary

Absence from school

Your child should attend school every day unless they are genuinely too unwell or there is another exceptional reason agreed with the academy.

Absences must be reported each day by 8:35am via telephone or email, with a clear reason.
Illness-related absences are usually authorised; however, medical evidence may be requested where absences are frequent or patterns cause concern.
If a student becomes unwell during the school day, they should report to their Pastoral Leader. Students will not be sent home without parental consent, and a parent/carer must collect them.
No student is allowed to leave before 1:10pm unless they are significantly unwell.
To help us keep your child in school, if possible, administer medication before school and send your child in with a dose or paracetamol which they can take at the appropriate time.

Holidays in term time

The law does not give parents an automatic right to take children out of school during term time.

Term‑time holidays will not be authorised unless there are exceptional circumstances.
Requests must be submitted 4 weeks in advance, and permission must be granted before any arrangements are made.
Unauthorised holidays will be recorded as unauthorised absence and will result in a penalty notice of 10 absences or more.

It is important to understand the impact of even a short holiday:

A one‑week holiday (10 absences) reduces attendance to 97.3%.
One holiday combined with short illness can push attendance below 95%, where concerns are raised.
Falling below 90% is classed as persistent absence and triggers formal interventions.

Help us to improve this and make our Academy the best in the City for Attendance, every family matters and contributes to this national benchmark.

** We have received excessive applications for requests to take children out of their education in term time for the purpose of a Holiday. Please don`t, Education matters and we are on a rapid Improvement journey @ HWA . Attendance is 91% for the Academy and should be 96%+. These requests are affecting our Academy.

Punctuality to school

Arriving on time is a vital life skill and ensures pupils access the full curriculum.

The morning register is taken at 8:35am
Students arriving up to 30 minutes late are marked late but present.
Students arriving after registers close are marked as unauthorised absence. Please support us to get your child into school on time.

Frequent lateness has a significant impact:

Being late by 15 minutes every day equates to around 2 weeks of “learning lost” over a school year.

Punctuality to lessons – “Move on the bell.”

Learning time continues between lessons:

Students have 5 minutes to move between lessons, including toilet visits.
Late arrival to lessons disrupts learning and reduces progress.
Students are expected to move promptly when the bell sounds – every second counts.

How we support attendance

We follow a “support first” approach, in line with Department for Education guidance. Where attendance or punctuality is a concern, we will:

Monitor patterns carefully.
Communicate early with parents and carers.
Offer pastoral and attendance support.
Hold meetings and put plans in place where needed.

Legal action is always a last resort, but the academy is required to escalate concerns where attendance does not improve.

Working together

Good attendance is everyone’s business. We ask for your continued support to:

Ensure your child attends school every day and arrives on time.
Avoid booking holidays in term time.
Communicate promptly and honestly with us if difficulties arise.

If you require support or wish to discuss attendance concerns, please contact the Attendance Team or your child’s Pastoral Leader.

Thank you for your continued partnership in supporting your child’s education.

Yours sincerely,

Kath Cooper
Senior Principal
Hanham Woods Academy