Attendance Facts

• Summerhill School expects students to have at least 97% attendance*.
• 97% attendance = 6 school days missed per year. This is the equivalent of 36 lessons.
• 95% attendance = 9.5 school days missed per year. This is the equivalent of 57 lessons.
• 90% attendance = 19 school days missed per year. This is the equivalent of 114 lessons.
• 17 missed school days could result in you dropping 1 grade
• 5 years at 95% attendance = 2.5 grades less than expected. If you hoped for a Grade 9 at GCSE this could actually be a Grade 6 or 7.

*except in exceptional circumstances

Leave of Absence Requests

Every LOA request will be considered on a case by case basis with exceptional circumstances always considered. Unauthorised LOA requests may result in a fixed penalty notice from the Local Authority.

1. Parents/carers/guardians must complete an official LOA request form and submit it to the school.
   LOA forms can be downloaded from the website or picked up from reception.
   All requests must be submitted to the school 15 days prior to the planned absence.
2. LOA requests will be considered by the school and parents/carers/guardians will be notified of the decision in writing by the school and a copy of the LOA request form will be returned with the LOA decision letter.

Reporting Absence

Please leave a message on each day of absence.  It is for school to decide if an absence is authorised or unauthorised.  Stating 'Unwell', 'Poorly' or 'Not sure if they're unwell, I'm keeping off to see' gives insufficient information for us to make a decision and the absence may be unauthorised.  School reserves the right to stop authorising absence for a pupil if they are reporting ill frequently.  In this instance you will receive a letter informing you to provide medical evidence from that point.

Contact details:

Summerhill School Phone Number: (01384) 816165; Select: Option 2 to report a student absent

Please ensure that the school always has the most up to date contact details at all times, so you may be contacted at required times. You have a duty to notify school as soon as possible of any changes to contact and personal details.

Education Investigation Officer: If you would like to contact the EIO directly for independent and impartial advice, in accordance with their statutory duties, their telephone number is 01384 814137.

Children that are absent from school for 3 days or longer with no contact from parents are classed as missing from school.  In this instance a member of school staff will conduct a 'safe and well' check by visiting the family home to ensure that everything is ok

If your child is unwell during the school day

If your child is unwell during the school day they should report to the lead first aider in the first instance who will examine their symptoms, make a judgement and provide advice. If the lead first aider feels the child is too unwell to remain in school they will contact home. Students should not call home themselves to arrange to be collected, this may result in an absence without authorisation and potentially an unknown whereabouts of the student, which is a health & safety risk in the event of an emergency evacuation

The government states that school attendance below 95% is unsatisfactory.  This is why here at Summerhill School we know that our school family is capable of achieving a higher standard and we are confident our whole school attendance can surpass 97% for the school year.

To underline the importance placed on excellent school attendance the DfE have has decided that students with less than 90% attendance will now be classed as ‘Persistent Non-Attenders.’  We are going to ensure that our Attendance Team at Summerhill School will address any concerns with parents well ahead of this.

It is clear that any absence from school, other than planned educational activities, will affect a young person’s academic achievement and will have a negative effect on life chances.  Whenever we look at students who are failing to achieve their potential, there is usually a link with poor attendance.  Once students have fallen behind, catching up can be very difficult and absence in the later years of education almost always affects exam results and can cause problems with references for colleges, universities, employers etc.

Every half day absence from school has to be classified by the school (not the parents), as either authorised or unauthorised. This is why information about the cause of any absence is always required, preferably in writing.

Authorised absences may include a morning or afternoon away from the school for a legitimate reason such as illness, medical or dental appointments which are unavoidable during the school day, emergencies or other unavoidable causes. However the school reserves the right to classify these absences as unauthorised in some circumstances. Proof of appointments will always be asked for.

Unauthorised absences are those which the school does not consider reasonable and for which no ‘permission’ has been given. This type of absence can lead to the Local Authority using sanctions and/or legal proceedings. Examples of (but not limited to) unauthorised absences include:

• Parents/guardians/carers keeping their child off school unnecessarily
• Truancy before or during the school day
• Absence from individual lessons – should your child be present for registration but fails to attend subsequent lessons (without permission), the school reserves the right to amend the register code for that school session to ‘unauthorised’ to reflect lesson absence. In the case of this happening you will be notified by email, phone or text message.
• Students who arrive after registers close
• Day trips and holidays in term time which have not been agreed

A student may be absent from school because they are reluctant to attend. In this instance it is best to be honest with the school and work with the House Tutor and Head of House to find a solution that ensures absence is avoided. Do not cover up the absence or give in to pressure to excuse them for not attending.

Students at Summerhill School with attendance that falls below 97% may be asked to meet with staff from the school and all future absences may be recorded as unauthorised without appropriate medical evidence. Correspondence may be sent acknowledging a fall in attendance in order to raise awareness and aid in the improvement of this issue.