Attendance
Student voice tells us that Limehurst Academy students enjoy coming to school, they feel lucky to learn in a caring environment that helps them feel happy and safe.
Having chosen to send your child to Limehurst we expect all families to meet our high expectations and aim for full attendance. Most of our children attend school on time, every day and thus we achieve the results we do, ensuring our young people go on to their first-choice destination.
What are the risks of missing a day of school?
Every moment in school counts, and days missed add up quickly. On average, students with higher absence over key stage 4 (year ten to year eleven) had lower GCSE attainment in 2019. This is the most recent DfE data on the link between absence and attainment.
Students who did not achieve grades 9-4, in English and Maths GCSE’s, in 2019 had an absence rate of 8.8%, compared with 5.2% among students who achieved grade 4 in both subjects, and 3.7% among students who achieved grade 5 or above.
Students who were persistently or severely absent (who missed more than 10% and 50% respectively of possible school sessions) had lower average attainment. 35.6% of persistently absent students, and just 11.3% of severely absent students achieved grades 9-4 in English and Maths (compared to 67.6% of all students).
What if my child needs to miss school?
Parents/carers have a legal duty to ensure that their child gets a full time-education. Usually, that means going into school from the age of 5 to 16. There are only a small number of circumstances where missing a school day is permitted. Your child must attend every day that the school is open, unless:
- Your child is too ill to attend
- You have asked in advance and been given permission by the school for your child to be absent on a specific day due to exceptional circumstances
- Your child cannot go to school on a specific day because they are observing a religious event (only 2 days per year are permitted for religious observance)
- Your local authority is responsible for arranging your child’s transport to school and it’s not available or has not been provided yet
Punctuality
Like attendance, it is important that your child attends school on time and is ready to learn. Students who arrive late to school not only miss out on their learning but disturb the learning of others. Arriving just 10 minutes late for school every day adds up to a total of 32.5 hours of learning lost over the course of a year. Support your child by ensuring that they are at school on time and ready to learn.
We all have times when life is difficult and when this happens, we ask you to talk to us by contacting Miss N Turner, Attendance Officer;
Please see the below for all our key documents relating to attendance and punctuality: