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At Teddington School, we believe that students are only able to achieve their potential if they attend school punctually and avoid missing lessons. We therefore expect students to achieve 100% attendance and punctuality. Individual student records prove that this is achievable.
School Attendance Government Guidance 2021
How do I report my child as Absent?
We expect all families to:
- Encourage regular school attendance and be aware of their legal responsibilities.
- Ensure that your child arrives at school punctually and prepared for the school day.
If your child is absent for any reason, please contact us using one of the following methods:
- Call the school at the telephone number (0208 943 0033) before 8:00 am and select 'Option 1'.
- Email our school's attendance officer, Mrs S Baker, at bakers@teddingtonschool.org. Please do not use the schools' info@ account.
Additionally, you can track your child's attendance lesson by lesson using our Arbor App. This app will also provide you with up-to-date statistics on your child's attendance.
What is Good Attendance?
Attendance percentage needs to be in the high nineties before it can be considered good. We grade attendance as follows:
An attendance target of 95% for all students, and we consider attendance between 95% and 100% as regular school attendance.
| 100% | Excellent Attendance |
| 98% | Very Good Attendance |
| 95% | Good Attendance |
Each year, a number of students across all year groups achieve 100% attendance, showing that this is an achievable target. Any absences for students with an attendance percentage of under 90% will not be authorised unless we receive medical evidence.
Consider the following examples:
- 90% is the equivalent to missing one day per fortnight which equates to missing half a year of education during the course of Years 7-11
- 80% is the equivalent to missing one day per week which equates to missing one full year during the course of Years 7-11
Lateness to School
Any student arriving after 8:40am will receive a late mark and a 30 minute detention after school on that day. If the lateness is due to a legitimate reason e.g. a medical appointment, the absence can be authorised.
Teddington School’s morning registers close at 9:00am, so any student arriving after this time without an authorised reason will not receive their full mark which will affect their attendance percentage.
Automated Contact System
The school has an automated email system that contacts families when their child is absent from school unexpectedly or late on arrival. This ensures families know when their child has not arrived at school and allows families to record a reason for the absence or lateness. This system will continue to send out emails to families until the school is contacted.
Medical Appointments
Families should avoid scheduling medical appointments for children during the school day. We do, nevertheless, understand that this is sometimes unavoidable.
If your child has an unavoidable medical appointment and they miss registration in the morning or afternoon, they will lose an attendance mark for half a day and their attendance that week will fall to 90%. Many of the appointment times mean that students can attend school first and return afterwards. This means they minimise missed lessons as well as keeping their attendance levels as high as possible. Therefore, we ask that families send their child into school for morning registration, even if they have a medical appointment in the middle of the morning.
We encourage students to return to school after their appointment wherever possible, or to schedule appointments for as late as possible in the afternoon so they are present for period 4.
Encouraging Good Attendance
- Inter tutor group competitions and rewards
- Individual rewards for students with good and excellent attendance records
- School, year group and tutor group targets are set for attendance (and individual targets where necessary)
- Regular attendance information sent to families to assist them in monitoring their child’s attendance
- Regular promotion of good attendance in assemblies, the student bulletin, school newsletter and at parents’/carers’ evenings
- Detailed analysis of attendance figures and trends for individuals, year groups, sub groups and the whole school
- Regular reports to our governors
- Computerised registration system which allows every lesson to be monitored
- SIMS parent app for families to track their child’s attendance throughout the school day
- Automatic contact with families when students are absent or late
- Dedicated School Attendance Officer
- Support for students and parents/carers where attendance difficulties are emerging.
How Can Families Help?
Families make a vital contribution to their child’s attendance by:
| Supporting their child to achieve 100% attendance |
| Monitoring their child’s attendance by checking the Arbor Parent Portal weekly |
| Avoiding dental/medical appointments during school time |
| Ensuring their child arrives at school punctually at 08:30 to be in form by 08:40 |
| Encouraging their child to catch up on work missed through absence |
| Informing the school in the morning if their child will be absent |
| Taking holidays during school holidays and NOT in term time. |
The Schools Responsibilities
| Record daily, students’ attendance and punctuality |
| Provide attendance and punctuality percentages |
| Monitor all attendance and punctuality |
| Share concerns with regard to attendance and punctuality with families and the school’s Education & Welfare Officer |
| Decide whether to authorise student absence from school |
| Set attendance targets. |
Authorising Absence
Only the headteacher or delegate can authorise absences. Government guidelines are specific in what we can and cannot authorise. Please contact the School Attendance Officer Mrs S Baker if you need to seek further clarification.
Punctuality
All students are expected to arrive punctually for school in the morning and to arrive punctually for each lesson. A register is taken at the start of the day and during each lesson. Students arriving late are recorded as thus on the register, along with how many minutes late they are.
The school's support for good punctuality
We place a strong emphasis on good punctuality and support this by:
- Giving sanctions to students who arrive late to school or lessons
- Informing parents, by automated email, if their child is absent from school
- Awarding tutor points to tutor groups where all students have arrived punctually over a period of time
- Senior staff patrolling the local shops first thing in the morning to encourage students not to loiter in these areas and make themselves late
- Addressing issues of poor time keeping with individual students and their families.
