Attendance

Every day at School Matters

As an academy, we believe attendance and punctuality is incredibly important. These are skills that are important for the world of work but also ensure our students have the maximum possible learning time. We know there are sometimes illnesses and issues that can cause issues with attendance and punctuality but we ask parents/carers and students to try and ensure their absence rate is as low as possible and punctuality is excellent. This links in with our core values of excellence and potential as we want our students to achieve their goals. We will support parents to perform their legal duty to ensure their children of compulsory school age attend regularly, and will promote and support punctuality in attending lessons.

Rewards

We run a wide range of rewards to praise the resilience of our students in their arrival day to day on a regular basis. This includes:

• Weekly form time competitions
• ‘Full House Fridays’ to celebrate attendance on selected Fridays
• Weekly 100% attendance cards to enter into half-termly prize draws
• ‘Battle Royale’ to focus on individual improvements in KS3
• ‘Attendance Challenges’ to focus on individual improvements in KS4
• Focus Weeks to incentivise selected weeks with big rewards such as cinema experiences, extended breaktimes, and even driving lessons
• Termly rewards in liaison with character and behaviour awards
• Weekly ‘Wheel Spinner’ for shopping vouchers
• Family draws for a shopping voucher termly for families of students with excellent attendance

Reporting Sickness Absence

If your child is absent, you must: 

• Contact the school as soon as possible on the first day of absence.  You can report absence by leaving a message on the absence line (0121 568 3300 and press option 2), clearly stating your child's name, year group and reason for absence.   
• You must contact the school each day your child is absent. 

If your child is absent, we will: 

• Contact you on the first day of absence if we have not heard from you; 
• Contact you regularly if absences persist; 
• Include your child our attendance monitoring list if their attendance is causing concern; 
• Undertake home visits; and 
• Invite you to discuss the situation with our Attendance Team.

Requests for Absence 

We request that appointments and holidays are taken during school holidays to ensure students do not miss time in the Academy. For unavoidable absences, you should inform the Academy in advance by completing this form:

Click here to complete a Request for Absence Form

Lateness and U Codes

If students arrive after 8:30am, they will be issued with a late stamp in their planner and then proceed to form. They will complete a 15-minute break time detention on the same day.

If students arrive after 8:50am, they will be issued with a late stamp in their planner and then proceed to period 1. They will complete a 30-minute lunchtime detention on the same day. Both of these detentions will be completed in room 0093. If the venue for detentions change, students will be notified of this upon entry into the academy. 

Students who arrive after 9am, will receive a U code. This means that they have arrived 30 minutes after AM registration and will only receive an attendance mark of 50% for that day.

Please have conversations with your children about punctuality; arriving on time is crucial. During our morning tutor time, we cover much of our key safety, ethos and wider learning topics too. Parents may receive text messages regarding attendance and punctuality.

Attendance Facts

Regular school attendance matters, 100% attendance is the aim and this will give the best possible start in life. Pupils who miss school frequently can fall behind with their work and do less well in exams. Good attendance also shows potential employers that a young person is reliable.  

Research suggests that pupils who attend school regularly could also be at less risk of getting involved in antisocial behaviour or crime. Below is a table showing how children’s percentage attendance equates to the amount of school time missed.

See the table below for other percentages and look at how much time off per year it adds up to:

Achievement Impact 

17 days of absence = 1 GCSE grade dropped (on average). 

This means that if you are on the border of a grade 3/4, 6/7, 8/9 and you only have 95% attendance, then your grades could be pulled down just because you did not attend school!

17 school days missed = 91.1% attendance for the year
34 school days missed = 82.1% attendance for the year

Support at Grace Academy Darlaston

We are committed to ensuring every student attends school regularly. We offer a comprehensive range of support and interventions for students and families to actively address and remove barriers to attendance. Some support strategies have been detailed below.

Pastoral and Tutor Support:

• Form Tutors act as 'professional parents,' checking in daily on well-being and following up on absences. They mentor students termly on attendance, progress, and support needs.
• Pastoral and Attendance Teams identify and work closely with focus students each half-term to improve attendance, including half-termly strategy meetings.

Targeted Family and Student Outreach:

• The Family Support Worker and Attendance Team provide support to students and families struggling with attendance.
• This includes home visits, using the minibus for check-ins and collections, and daily phone calls for key students and unexplained absences.
• Attendance Improvement Meetings are held with parents and students to discuss barriers and implement support plans.
• We work with multiple agencies and use a range of interventions to address barriers.

Removing Barriers and Providing Incentives:

• We provide uniform and offer free breakfast and lunch toast clubs to remove financial and hunger barriers.
• We maintain an engaging curriculum to encourage school attendance.
• Maximum attendance is rewarded each half-term, and attendance impacts eligibility for end-of-year trips.

Communication and Awareness:

• Regular assemblies and tutor discussions are held on the importance of attendance.
• Regular letters are sent home, and parents can check daily attendance via SMS, Email and MCAS.

Frequently Asked Questions

Useful Links for Attendance:

• NHS Guide: Is My Child Too Ill For School?
• DFE Guidance: Working Together to Improve School Attendance
• Sleep Safe Information
• School Policies
• Walsall Guidance

Walsall Guidance on Fixed Penalty Notices: