Attendance

Attendance, punctuality and absence  

There are strong and well-evidenced links between excellent attendance and excellent student achievement. At our academy, we work with students, families and external professionals to achieve the highest level of attendance.   

While illness and injury are an unfortunate part of everyday life, it is important that they do not hamper your child’s education and we encourage all students to be in all lessons. Necessary medical or personal reasons for absence must be kept to a minimum and parents/carers should follow the absence procedure below.

All staff have a respinsibility for maintaining good learner attendance. Our Atendance Lead is Suneeta Marecheau:

Email: [email protected] 

We operate a simple and robust procedure regarding punctuality. The academy day starts at 09.15am and learners arriving after 09:30 will be marked as late. Parent/carers receive a text message at 09:35 requesting that they contact school with a reason for any absence. In the event that there is no response from the parent/carer, a phone call will be made to ascertain the reason for the absence and the expected return date.

Ormiston Latimer Academy, together with the Local Authority, believes that attendance is vital. It is because of the link between attendance and attainment that the Government has placed a priority on reducing all forms of absence and has introduced Penalty Notice fines to parents whose children are absent without the education provider’s authorisation. Research suggests that low attendance has a detrimental impact on achievement. 

Attendance that is less than 96% will initiate contact and close monitoring with the Student Services Manager. We will endeavour to establish the reason for repeated absence and identify a plan of support to improve attendance.

It is our policy to refuse holidays during term time, this ensures that learners do not miss out on the best possible opportunities for learning. 

  • The current law does not give any entitlement to parents to take their child on holiday during term time. 
  • In exceptional circumstances, an application for leave of absence may be submitted and the principal must be satisfied that the circumstances warrant the granting of leave. 
  • If a holiday request is not authorised by the principal and parents do take their child on holiday during term time, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised and a Fixed Penalty Notice (fine) may be issued. 
  • Student absences which are reported as illness, but are subsequently found to be due to holiday, will also be recorded as unauthorised and a Fixed Penalty Notice (fine) may be issued. 

We operate a simple and robust procedure regarding punctuality. The academy day starts at 09.15am and learners arriving after 09:30 will be marked as late. Parent/carers receive a text message at 09:35 requesting that they contact school with a reason for any absence. In the event that there is no response from the parent/carer, a phone call will be made to ascertain the reason for the absence and the expected return date.

Parents/carers should follow one of the following steps to report an absence. We request that where possible, planned absences are reported in advance, rather than on the day.  

  • Email the school reception: [email protected]
  • Tel: 020 3108 0345 for a 24-hour answer machine you can call, any time, day or night  
  • Call in personally to reception and leave a message for the Attendance Lead, Suneeta Marecheau. 
  • Give a note signed by a parent/carer to the Attendance Lead.

Early Help link practitioner

The role of the link practitioner is to meet with you, or another identified member of the leadership team to review any needs in your pupil population (such as poor attendance, exclusions, social or emotional wellbeing needs) and to work with you to identify and agree potential pupils and their families who may benefit from additional support as part of early identification and intervention. The link practitioner would also be your main point of contact within the Family Hubs should you have any queries regarding support for the pupils in your school.

Ormiston Latimer Early Help Link Practitioner

Files