To report any safeguarding concerns about a child please contact the Designated Safeguarding Lead, Mr Burr via main reception during school hours.
School attendance is the single most important element of education. For students to benefit from the expertise of teachers, the learning environment we work hard to create, the social interactions and friendly ethos we are proud of, they must be at school. We must work together to support good attendance.
There are strong links between regular attendance and high attainment and Writhlington students take pride in their achievements. Together with parents/carers and students, staff will work hard to ensure that any barriers to attendance are identified quickly and resolved in a timely manner. Missed days from school have an impact on the wellbeing of students and can result in gaps in their learning.
We expect all students to arrive at school on time every day. Parents should ensure that students arrive at school on time every day. Parents should promote good attendance and monitor their child’s attendance using Talaxy. Parents are aware of their legal responsibilities to ensure regular attendance.
Punctuality when attending school is crucial. Lateness to tutor sessions and lessons causes disruption to your child's learning and the learning of other students in the class. All students are expected to arrive in school at 08:45 in time for AM registration at 08:50. Morning registration closes at 09:30, students who arrive after this time without an acceptable reason will be marked as unauthorised late.
We encourage all routine medical appointments to be made outside of school hours. Should there be any need for a student to be absent during the school day due to a medical appointment, evidence should be provided to ensure the absence is authorised.
Parents/carers are expected to inform the school by phoning prior to the start of the school day if their child is unfit to attend. This should be done before 8.45am. Each day the absence line will be checked and parents of those absent without a reason will be called by Assistant Heads of Year.
The flow chart below shows the steps we will follow at every level, starting with promoting good attendance and tutors having a first conversation at a personal level when it starts to dip.
Where absence exceeds 3 consecutive days it is expected that medical advice is sought. Absence in excess of 3 days will not be authorised unless medical advice is received stating that students are unfit to attend.
Where absence relates to a medical condition which may prevent a student attending school every day, a meeting will be arranged so that a Medical Action Plan can be discussed to ensure support is in place in school.
Leave of absence will not be authorised during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances.
All absence requests should be made at least two weeks prior to the first day of absence.
Writhlington School continues to have high expectations in all aspects of school life and attendance is recognised as part of our reward system at the end of every term during celebration assembly. Students who have attended 100% during the current term will receive a non uniform day.