Attendance and Absence
It is the responsibility of parents of a child of school age to make sure that their child is educated. Most do this by sending their child to school regularly. Attendance is recorded twice a day, morning and afternoon.
Absence from school is recorded as authorised, that is approved by the education authority, or as unauthorised, and that is unexplained by the parent (truancy). Please let the school know by phone if your child is likely to be absent. If there is no explanation from a child’s parents / carers, the absence will be regarded as unauthorised. All pupils returning from absence must provide an explanation, indicating the period of absence and reason. Parents can do this by either replying to Groupcall text messages, emailing the school office/attendance officer or telephoning the school attendance line.
Please make every effort to avoid family holidays during term time as this disrupts your child’s education and reduces learning time. All term-time holidays should be regarded as unauthorised unless they meet the following criteria:
· where it is important to the well-being and cohesion of the family (including extended family);
· due to serious or terminal illness, bereavement or other traumatic events; or
· Where a parent’s/carer’s employment is of a nature where school holiday leave cannot be accommodated (e.g. Armed forces or emergency services).
The Headteacher makes the decision as to whether or not a term-time holidays meets the above criteria.
Parents/carers requesting a holiday on this basis should submit a request to the Headteacher, by phone, email or letter, before the holiday takes place.
Absences may also be permitted to allow pupils to participate in religious or cultural activities, including travelling to their or their parents’/carers’ country of origin.
A supportive approach is taken to unexplained absence. However the education authority has legal powers to write to, interview or prosecute parents, or refer pupils to the Reporter to the Children’s Panel, if necessary. House teams monitor attendance on a monthly basis. Where attendance of a pupil causes concern and/ or is seen to deteriorate, the Depute House Head will make contact with parents/ carers to seek support for improvement. We also have a School Attendance Officer who works with Depute Heads of House to liaise with home about attendance.
Positive pupil attendance supports learning
In Graeme High School, to support our pupils to Aspire, Attain and Achieve, we have a robust policy and procedures around supporting positive pupil attendance. Good attendance at school supports good personal development and academic achievement. Attend today, Aspire, Attain and Achieve tomorrow. Good attendance at Graeme High School means being in school every day, ready to learn.
If you are aware that your child is going to be absent, please telephone the school and select the correct option, in advance to have the attendance updated. Alternatively, email our Attendance Officer on vicky.carter@falkirk.gov.uk. Emails will only be accepted from email addresses that are listed within a pupil contacts record. If this requires to be updated, please contact the office.
When reporting an absence please detail the date(s) of absence and the reason for absence. Please provide details of this rather than simply ‘ill’.
If you expect your child to be absent for a period of time (longer than 5 days), please contact your child’s Depute Head of House to arrange appropriate work to be sent home.
Supporting attendance
To support positive attendance for all of our pupils, there are several daily, weekly and monthly processes that ensure that there are clear lines of communication between parents/carers and the school.
These include –
Daily groupcall for unaccounted absences for both morning and afternoon openings.
Daily phone calls for targeted pupils by our Attendance Officer.
Daily monitoring by all staff of individual absences and period discrepancies – concerns passed to Faculty Heads and Depute Head of House.
Daily monitoring of the accurate completion of registers by teaching staff.
Weekly late reports and groupcall home
Weekly review of attendance patterns and concerns identified
Monthly attendance report to parents/carers
Monthly review of attendance patterns and concerns identified
Being late matters!
Late Coming
All pupils are expected to attend school punctually each day, arrive prior to the warning bell at 8.45am. Pupils who arrive late report to the School Office where a lateness slip is issued. Persistent late coming is investigated by House staff and appropriate action taken.
An automated telephone message is sent if a pupil has been late for school.