Attendance

Humberston Academy Attendance Aims 

Humberston Academy recognises the fact that regular attendance and academic success go 'hand in hand'.  Therefore, it is mandatory upon Humberston Academy to ensure that:

• (i) Registration procedures are rigorous and comply with the DfE regulations.
• (ii) Accurate attendance statistics are compiled to inform future targets for student attendance.
• (iii) Unauthorised absences are promptly detected and followed up.
• (iv) Long term absentees are successfully reintegrated on their return to Humberston Academy

Parents/ carers are responsible in law for ensuring regular and punctual attendance of their children.

Our aims are:

• To strive to maintain the excellent Humberston Academy/school attendance.
• To ensure that regular attendance assists students to be successful learners.
• To reduce attendance barriers and re-engage our students and families.
• To build positive relationships with our parents and carers to support excellent student attendance. 

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Attendance Staffing Roles

Attendance Team:

 Key Attendance Roles:

Reporting Absence & Home Visits

Parent/ Carers:

• Parents/ carers must report child absence each day by contacting the academy on 01472 319990 or emailing/ MCAS message to hua-attendance@humberstonacademy.co.uk by 8:30am.
• If a parent/carer wishes to discuss attendance concerns, please contact their attendance welfare co-ordinator on the email below or ring 01472 319990 option 1:
• - Miss Clark (Y9, 10, 11 Attendance Welfare Co-ordinator) mclark1@humberstonacademy.co.uk
• - Mrs Bass (Y7, 8, 11  Attendance Welfare Co-ordinator) nbass@humberstonacademy.co.uk

No Communication:

• If no communication has been made with the academy via the attendance email or on 01472 319990 regarding a child’s absence by a parent/carer, an MCAS (My Child At School) message will automatically be sent to those with parental responsibility prior to 9:45am.

Follow-up on no communication:

• The attendance team will continue to try contact the parent/carer via telephone to explore their reason for absence.

Attendance Welfare Co-ordinators and Home Visits:

• Our Attendance Welfare Co-ordinators play a crucial role in assisting Humberston Academy maintain high standards of attendance and support students with attendance barriers.
• Home visits will occur by the Attendance Welfare Co-ordinators if still no communication is made with a parent/carer. Our high priority students will be prioritised accordingly.
• Home visits may still occur to check on the welfare of the child (especially by day 3 of absence, despite communication being made).

Pupils:

• If a child wishes to discuss their attendance, they must speak to their form tutor in the first instance, prior to their Head of Year and their Attendance Welfare Co-ordinator.

Pastoral Concerns:

• If a child wishes to discuss pastoral support to increase their attendance in school, they can firstly discuss with their form tutor, prior to speaking to their Student Guidance Manager.
• If attendance concerns emerge the Head of Year and Attendance Team will be involved to best support the child, aiming to reduce attendance barriers and re-engage students.
• Please see the pastoral page on our website for further information and our escalation procedure.

The Law and Our Attendance and Punctuality Expectations

The Law: 

The law entitles every child of compulsory school age to an efficient, full-time education suitable to their age, aptitude, and any special educational need they may have. It is the legal responsibility of every parent/ carer to make sure their child receives that education either by attendance at a school or by education otherwise than at a school. 

Attendance Expectations:

Start of Day:

Students must be on site by 08:30 each day and must be in their tutor room by 08:35. If students arrive into their tutor room after 08:35, they will be marked late.

Register Opening Time: 8:40am.

Register Closing Time: 9:10am.

End of Day:

Students are dismissed from period 5 lessons at 15:05.

Day Structure:

Punctuality Expectations:

It is imperative for every student to be punctual to morning registration and every lesson in order to have a purposeful start. Lateness demonstrates a poor attitude to learning and this is not in line with the Academy’s ethos.  "Slow to arrive means slow to learn" and this is totally contrary to the Humberston Academy ethos. The DRET attendance initiative is ‘arrive and strive’.

All students are expected to be in Tutor time by 8:35am each morning. A student is marked late to class (each lesson) if they arrive 5 minutes after the warning bell with no valid excuse. 

Attendance Software:

Humberston Academy uses the Bromcom for the registration of all students in Years 7–11. 

Pastoral & Behaviour Support to Reduce Attendance Barriers

The first point of call is your child’s tutor for pastoral and behaviour support. Please see the slides below and the pastoral page on our website for further information.

Attendance and Progress

There is a strong link between the amount of absence and the results/qualifications that a student achieves. Children who are absent from school, often find it difficult to catch up on their learning and do well at school. Research suggests that just seventeen days missed from school equates to a GCSE grade. A student who is authorised to take ten days' holiday during one whole academic year will attain only 94.7% attendance.

At Humberston Academy, our target is that every child achieves 96% attendance every year.

Please see key figures and information below regarding the impact poor attendance may have on education/ GCSE outcomes. 

Holidays in Term-Time Absence:

There are 190 statutory school days a year; so there are 175 other days (weekends and school holidays) available for holidays which would not have a negative effect on a child’s education.  For this reason, and in line with new regulations which came into force on 1st September 2013, no holidays will be authorised in term time except in very exceptional circumstances. 

Leave of Absence:

If parents/carers request a leave of absence, please complete this LOA form (also accessible by QR code below).

The principal is responsible for considering requests for a leave of absence.  These will usually only be granted where the request is to take part in a regulated performance, to attend an interview, for study leave or consideration of a temporary part-time timetable.  Each application will be considered individually taking into account the specific facts and circumstances and relevant background context behind the request.

The Trust is committed to maintaining an overall attendance of 95% or above in line with OFSTED guidelines.  There are 190 statutory school days a year; therefore, there are 175 other days (weekends and school holidays) available for holidays which would not have a negative effect on a child’s education.  For this reason, and in line with the new national framework, no holidays will be authorised in term time except in very exceptional circumstances. 

Since August 2024 the Department for Education introduced a national framework for considering a penalty notice for any child who has had 10 half days of absence (10 sessions) within a 10 week period without the school authorising this.  This means that we have to consider a referral for a fine every time a child reaches this limit. A penalty notice is a fine of £160 if paid within 28 days, reduced to £80 when paid within 21 days. If a second penalty notice within a three-year period is issued, there is a flat fine rate of £160.  If a penalty notice remains unpaid this may lead to prosecution through the Magistrates’ Court. Please see the summary on the last page of this policy.

"Every day, half-day and lesson matters."

Please see check our term-dates on our website to ensure holidays are planned for when your child is not due to attend school.

Persistent Absence

Persistent Absence (PA):

The Department for Education states that any child with 10% absence or more of their possible sessions is classed as a Persistent Absentee or PA. Therefore, a persistent absentee is a student who has attendance under 90%.

Absence may be due to:

• Acute illness;
• Chronic illness;
• Medical and dental appointments;
• Holidays, whether with the Principal’s permission or not;
• Religious observance;
• Suspensions (exclusions);
• Lateness after the register closed (which is unauthorised absence);
• Absences which cannot be authorised because they are illegal, whether the parent is aware or not 

'The links between attendance and achievement are strong. Pupils with persistent absence are often those unlikely to attain at school and stay in education after the age of 16 years. They are also significantly more likely to engage in antisocial behaviour and youth crime and are more at risk of other negative outcomes (including teenage pregnancy and drug and alcohol abuse)'. DfE Standards website. 

PA Strategy:

Each term a PA letter is sent home to parents/carers if their child has 10%+ of absence. Parents/carers are reminded of how their child can gain pastoral support from their: Tutor, Student Guidance Manager, Head of Year and SLT link, alongside the attendance welfare co-ordinators. The attendance welfare officers will support each child (and family) accordingly to increase their attendance, by supporting to reduce attendance barriers.

The support from external services may be used such as:

• Cudox (counselling)
• School nurse
• Compass Go
• We Are With You
• Specialist Advisory Service
• Integrated Front Door 

See further external agencies on our pastoral and safeguarding pages on the Humberston Academy website, in addition to the HUA safeguarding appendix.

If absence persists and greater support is needed, an attendance meeting with be held in school with the team around the child. Meetings such as: a School attendance panel (SAP) or a governor’s attendance panel (GAP) may be held in order to set out attendance targets. If these targets are not met and attendance fails to improve, it may lead to a penalty notice or a prosecution.

Where a pupil is classed as severely absent or at risk of becoming severely absent (>50% absence) then the academy will work together with the family and local authority to ensure that a plan is in place to improve attendance. This may involve the completion of an Early Help Assessment in order to gain further support around the child and family. 

Attendance Rewards

Attendance Rewards:

Punctuality

It is imperative for every student to be punctual to morning registration and every lesson in order to have a purposeful start. Lateness demonstrates a poor attitude to learning and this is not in line with the Academy’s ethos.  "Slow to arrive means slow to learn" and this is totally contrary to the Humberston Academy ethos. The DRET attendance initiative is ‘arrive and strive’. All students are expected to be in Tutor time by 8:35am each morning. A student is marked late to class (each lesson) if they arrive 5 minutes after the warning bell with no valid excuse. A child will have an unauthorised mark for their morning session if they arrive after 9:10am (tutor time has ended), which is in line with the new attendance guidance. It is essential that your child is on time to ensure they maximise learning time.

Persistent Lateness:

Persistent lateness is sanctioned in line with the Behaviour Policy (see table below). AM lateness is tracked over a period of 2 half terms (one full term) and class lateness is tracked over a one week period (Monday – Friday). All students are aware of why punctuality is important and the consequences if this is not adhered to.

Students who are persistently late, will be placed on a Tutor punctuality report (4 lates) or a Head of Year punctuality report (8 lates) in order to support and monitor the child more closely. Following Head of Year intervention and the attendance team intervention, the child will be escalated to Assistant Principal responsible for behaviour, with support from the Vice Principal responsible for attendance.

Attendance Policies and Documentation

• DRET Attendance Policy 24 25
• Humberston Attendance Policy Appendix HUM 2024 2025 V4