Attendance Expectations – September 2021

Dear Parents/Carers

Hanham Woods Academy is committed to ensuring the best for all our students and excellent attendance greatly improves your child’s chances of fulfilling their potential and being successful in school.  Given this, we ask that you support us by ensuring your child comes to the Academy every day on time and ready to learn.

We would advise that parents/carers ensure that their child arrives to the Academy punctually by 8.25am (i.e. 5 mins prior to registration).  Late arrival will result in a 15 minutes lunchtime detention.  If a student arrives after the end of registration (9.00am) the absence may be recorded as ‘unauthorised’ for that session.  If lateness persists, formal action in the form of a Penalty Notice or legal action may follow.  You will receive a text message each time your child is late to the Academy to inform you of the late arrival and also of the detention.

If your child is too unwell to attend the Academy, you must notify the Academy by contacting the 24-hour absence line on 0117 440 8900 (Option 1) before 8.30am each morning. If we do not receive an explanation this will be marked as unauthorised absence and this will affect your child’s attendance percentage and may result in School Attendance Monitoring.  Please ensure that you telephone or email the Academy on each day of your child’s absence using the number and email address shown in the header of this letter.

We have an automatic text system which will send a text to parents/carers of students who are absent from the Academy each day and you may receive a second day absence call from a member of the pastoral team.

Hanham Woods Academy encourages all medical appointments, where possible, to be taken outside of the Academy hours and for students to return, if possible, after the appointment.

With regard to holiday requests, in line with Government guidance and legislation, you are asked not to take holidays in term time.  If holidays are taken this will be coded as unauthorised and you could receive a penalty notice from South Gloucestershire Council with a fine up to £120 per parent per student

We would also like to bring your attention to the following – All parents/carers have a responsibility to ensure that their child attends the Academy every day; not doing so may result in either a fixed penalty fine or attending a school attendance meeting.  It is an offence (contrary to Section 444 of the Education Act 1996) for a parent/carer to fail to ensure their child is attending full time education – the maximum penalty may be up to £2,500 per parent and/or 3 months in prison.

If you have any further queries in relation to attendance please contact either your child’s Pastoral Leader or a member of the Attendance team.  You will find further information regarding attendance and its importance on the Hanham Woods Academy website www.hanhamwoods.academy.

In the meantime, if you require any further information or clarification on the above, please do not hesitate to contact me on 0117 440 8900.

Yours sincerely

Mrs Jane Thurston | Attendance Lead & Senior Pastoral Lead