Attendance
Winifred Holtby Academy puts a high importance on attendance and punctuality. We expect students to aim for 100% attendance.
However, there may be times when your child has to miss school because they are too ill to attend. Therefore, we realistically expect a minimum attendance of 96%. Parents are responsible for making sure children regularly attend school. If you fail to do so you are committing an offence and the Local Authority (LA) may take legal action against you.
We are responsible by law for reporting poor attendance to the Education Welfare Service (EWS). The school will contact you and work with you if your child is regularly absent from school.
If your child feels “under the weather” please provide appropriate relief/medication and send them to school whenever possible. We expect your child to attend if they have a minor illness that can be managed in school.
It is a parent/carers responsibility to inform the school of an absence. To report an absence, please either call us on 01482 826207 or ext: 3307. Alternatively, you can email the attendance team: attendance@winifredholtbyacademy.com. If a reason for absence is not provided within 7 days, or requested medical evidence has not been provided within 7 days, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised.
Please try to avoid arranging doctors, dentists and similar appointments during school hours. Where this is not possible, let us know as soon as you can and provide supporting evidence of appointments.
To view our Attendance Procedures, click here.
Unauthorised Absence
Any unexplained absence is treated as unauthorised absence.
School attendance that drops below 95% is considered a cause for concern. If this does not improve there is a graduated response that could result in legal action.
To help avoid this, please make every effort to make medical and dental appointments outside of the school day, take holidays out of school term time, and communicate any reasons for absence as soon as possible with the Attendance Team.
Supporting those with poor attendance
We encourage communication with us at the earliest opportunity if you have concerns about your child’s attendance. Understanding these concerns will enable us to support you in improving their attendance. Our experienced Attendance Team work within our wider pastoral team. They, and those they work with, are on hand to provide advice and guidance, and also a range of bespoke support to enable your child to attend school regularly.
We can help you by referring to Early Help if you need support at home to help your child attend.
Absence for Exceptional Circumstances
The following information comes from the Hull City Council and refers to updated guidance regarding how schools respond to holiday requests and absence. Parents are required under the Education Act (1996) to ensure that their child attends school regularly. There is, however, a discretionary power held by the school to authorise absence in exceptional circumstances. Please note this is not an entitlement. Any requests for the purpose of visiting family, attending family occasions, or celebrations cannot be authorised.
What do I do if I need to apply for an absence in term time?
Please contact the Headteacher directly to discuss potential absence from school. The Headteacher will give guidance and if necessary issue you with an Absence from School for Exceptional Circumstances Referral Form.
We advise that you do not plan for your child to be absent without speaking to the school first to obtain prior approval.
You can be fined for unauthorised term-time holidays.
- Parents are at risk of receiving a penalty notice for unauthorised absence. This is a fine of £80 per parent, per child, if paid within 21 days or £160 if paid within 28 days.
- If prosecuted and found guilty, the parent faces a punishment of up to £2500 and/or 3 months imprisonment.
- Request for absence of 20 days or more may result in students being removed from the school register.