Absence & Attendance

Attendance is one of the biggest factors in determining individual students’ achievement, success and wellbeing at school, and therefore their future life chances.

Absence Reporting

If your child is absent due to illness or a medical appointment, please report their absence, along with the reason, via the Arbor App. Alternatively, you can email studentabsence@clystvale.bep.ac

Absences must be reported daily for the duration of your child's absence.

If you know in advance that your child will be away from school, please inform us at your earliest convenience.  Additionally, kindly notify us of any lateness or scheduled appointments.

The school actively follows up on unexplained absences.  If your child is absent for an unauthorised event, the details may be referred to the Educational Welfare Service which could result in a fixed penalty notice.  Please be aware that the College may request supporting documentation for any absence.

Typically, work is not provided for students during their absence, as our priority is to ensure they recover fully and return to school as soon as possible.

Is My Child Too Ill for School?

We want to support every child’s learning journey by encouraging strong attendance, but we know it can be hard to decide when to keep a unwell child at home. As a general rule, children with minor conditions like a cold, minor cough, or sore throat can attend school if they feel well enough. However, if your child has a high temperature (over 38°C), they should stay home until the fever passes. For vomiting or diarrhoea, children must stay off school until at least 48 hours have passed since their last episode. For a quick guide on specific conditions like chickenpox, scarlet fever, or head lice, please refer to the official https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/. If you are ever unsure, please call the school office in the morning so we can advise and update our register.

Medical Appointments

We encourage students to maximise their attendance, as research highlights a strong correlation between regular attendance and examination success.

Many medical appointments can often be scheduled in a way that allows students to attend school both before and after their appointments. By doing so, they can minimise missed learning opportunities while maintaining high attendance levels.

We kindly ask parents/carers to ensure that their child attends morning registration, even if a medical appointment is scheduled later in the morning. Similarly, where possible, afternoon appointments should be arranged after Period 4, during lunchtime. We also encourage students to return to school following lunchtime appointments, if feasible.

Thank you for your continued support in helping your child achieve maximum attendance and academic success.

Attendance and Absence

Research strongly indicates that students with an attendance rate of 95% or higher not only excel academically and make greater progress, but also tend to be happier and more settled in school.

However, when attendance falls below this level, it begins to have a negative impact across all areas of a student’s school life—a detrimental effect that worsens as attendance rates continue to decline.

Poor attendance (below 95%) is one of the most significant barriers to student achievement, as it leads to students falling behind in their learning.

Why good attendance is important:

• 1 School year at 90% attendance – 4 whole weeks of school missed.
• 90% Attendance – ½ day missed every week
• 90% Attendance every year during secondary school = ½ school year missed.
• Research shows that 17 missed school days in a year will result in at least one whole GCSE grade drop in achievement.

 Attendance

Attendance is formally recorded twice daily: in the morning at 8:50 am and in the afternoon at 12:30 pm. It is essential that students are prepared to begin their tutor period promptly at 8:50am and are punctual for each subsequent lesson.

As required by law, registers must be taken in a timely manner, and there are consequences for lateness. Students who arrive after registration closes will be marked as late, and those arriving after 9:25am will receive an unauthorised mark.

If a student is absent without prior notification, we will inform parents/carers as soon as possible if your child has not arrived at school in the morning. To ensure prompt communication, parents/carers are strongly encouraged to keep their contact details up-to-date via the Arbor App.

Attendance is recorded during every lesson to monitor internal truancy and comply with safeguarding regulations. Students are required to sign in upon late arrival or sign out if leaving during school hours. Parents/carers must notify the school and provide a valid reason for their child's departure.

No student may leave College without authorisation from staff under any circumstances.

Students feeling unwell must report to reception and are not permitted to contact parents directly through phone calls, texts, or messaging apps to request collection.

If my child becomes unwell during the school day

The College will make every effort to provide immediate care for students who are injured or begin to feel unwell during the school day. However, there are limitations to the support the College can offer for students who are unwell.

If your child becomes unwell during the day and is unable to attend lessons, they should report to student services to be assessed. Where appropriate, their parent/carer will be contacted and asked to collect them.

To assist us in managing this efficiently, please ensure that your contact information is always kept up-to-date.

Absence Requests (inc holiday requests)

Under the Education (Pupil Registrations) Regulations 2006: ”Headteachers may not authorise leave during term time except where the circumstances are exceptional.”

For circumstances to be deemed exceptional they must be: ‘rare, significant, unavoidable and of short duration'.

To request an absence from school, please complete the School Absence Request (Devon School) which can be downloaded from the following link:

Absence Request Form (S2)

(IMPORTANT - Holidays during term time will not usually be considered as exceptional circumstances.)