Attendance

If your son is unwell, please contact the school before 9.30am on the same day to let us know.

Regular school attendance is an important part of giving young people the best possible start in life. The aim should be to attend 100% of the time. Students who miss school frequently can fall behind with their work and do less well in exams. Good attendance also shows potential employers that a young person is reliable.

The section below shows the impact absence from school will have on lost learning.

We recognise the foundation of securing good attendance is that our school is a calm, orderly, safe, and supportive environment where all pupils want to be and are keen and ready to learn.

The law entitles every child of compulsory school age to an efficient, full-time education suitable to their age, aptitude, and any special educational need they may have. It is the legal responsibility of every parent to make sure their child receives that education either by attendance at a school or by education otherwise than at a school.

Where parents decide to have their child registered at school, they have an additional legal duty to ensure their child attends that school regularly. This means their child must attend every day that the school is open, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being too ill to attend or being given permission for an absence in advance from the school.

How the School Supports Good Attendance

• We will send a letter to all families at the end of each academic year which reminds families about the importance of regular school attendance. In formal terms, this letter is called a PN1.
• We will identify students whose attendance is worryingly low, at or below 92%. These families will receive further communication informing them that further absence can only be authorised on receipt of medical evidence. This letter is called PN2. (Medical evidence accepted: Prescriptions for the absence period, Pharmacy medication with a receipt for the absence period, Proof of medical appointment for the absence day only, Proof of surgery for the absence period, Doctors/Hospital letter for the absence period.)
• Recipients of PN2 will have their attendance closely monitored and if they have a further 10 sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence this will trigger a referral to Medway Council for consideration for a penalty notice.
• Each fortnight we will make contact with those families whose attendance is at 90% because this means that they are at risk of being designated as ‘persistently absent’. These families will receive a morning telephone call daily until the situation improves.

Effects of Low Attendance on a Child’s Learning

Reporting Absence

Parents should report their child’s absence each day either by email to  absence@sjwms.org.uk or via the My Child at School app.

To report your son/daughter’s absence via the MCAS app, see below:

To send a text via My Child At School:

1. Menu
2. Messages
3. ‘+’ next to messages
4. Click School Name
5. Write a message as to why your son/daughter is absent.

In addition, parents can send a text to the ‘virtual number’ (07860054468) we occasionally use to send text messages out. 

If no contact is received to explain an absence, the school’s Attendance Officer will follow up the absence and make contact with parents.

Students are expected to be in their form rooms by 8.25am. Frequent lateness can mean that students miss vital information which is distributed at morning registration. If students arrive after 8.30am, they must report to Reception and sign the late register.

Parents who want attendance support should contact the relevant pastoral office (lowerschool@sjwms.org.uk; middleschool@sjwms.org.uk; sixthform@sjwms.org.uk) or the school office (office@sjwms.org.uk).  

Absence and Medical Care

Attendance is the single most important determinant of a child’s likely success at school. Therefore we take attendance, absence and medical care extremely seriously.  A child who has an attendance record of 90% misses more than three weeks in a school year, or put another way, nearly half a school year by the time they reach the end of year 11. Most pupils will have an attendance rate in excess of 95% and as a school we aim for 97% across the whole school cohort.  Parents who are concerned about their child’s attendance should contact the pastoral teams at the school who will be able to offer guidance and support. View the attendance and medical policies, using the link below.