School Attendance

School Attendance: 5/9/16 – 31/3/17

At Barker’s Lane we are proud of our high attendance and pupil engagement. The school has been in the top 25% of schools for a number of years, with pupils achieving an excellent attendance record.

By ensuring your child attends school and arrives punctually they will be able to make the most of all of the opportunities on offer to them. Research has shown that at secondary level, children who have very good attendance are more likely to achieve five GCSE grades A-C.

At Barker’s Lane we provide parents with half termly attendance summaries to enable you to celebrate good attendance and help parents monitor their child’s attendance in the way that we do at school. These are colour-coded green, amber and red, with green recognising good attendance and red causing some concern.

All school have a duty to monitor attendance and punctuality, and to raise any concerns with parents and the Local Authority. Click on the link to see our attendance policy

Holidays

In total there are 175 non-school days in a year which give families an opportunity to spend time together, make visits and take holidays.

Holidays taken in term time are not an automatic right. In exceptional circumstances when an appropriate request has been made, a headteacher has the discretion to authorise a maximum of 10 school days leave.

At Barker’s Lane, each request is considered individually, and decisions are based on:

• Child’s current attendance
• The number of previous requests in a school year
• The time of year (leave in the first two weeks of the new school year will only be authorised in exceptional circumstances)

Unauthorised Absence and Fixed Penalty Notices

The Local Authority can issue a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) for unauthorised absence.