Attendance

Article 28 - Children and young people have the right to education no matter who they are.

Main principles

"If education is to be effective, regular attendance is a prerequisite, and ensuring this must be a priority for everyone in the school"
(The Education and Science Department, 1989)

Attendance is a statutory necessity for all children and young people until they reach 16 years of age. Also, it's a necessity for earning a successful school career. Regular intermittent absences and/or absences for more extended periods are harmful to the education of our learners. Everyone involved in the life of our learners must work in partnership to ensure a high attendance amongst learners at Bryn Tawe.

Read our Attendance Policy in full here

Aims

Raising and maintaining attendance levels continues to be a priority in Bryn Tawe in order to provide the best opportunity for all learners to reach their potential. There are several aspects of our daily work that have a positive effect on raising attendance and we take a ‘support first’ approach to acting on low attendance.

Our priorities include:

Implementing and monitoring clear registration systems

Promoting and rewarding good attendance regularly

Monitoring and acting on low attendance - with a graduated response depending on the level of absence (see our Attendance Support Plan infographic.)

High expectations and support for learners.

Expectations for our parents:

ensure your child’s regular attendance in school
Work in partnership with the school
Ensure that their children understand the importance of attendance
Take an interest in their children's education - ask about their experiences in the school and encourage them to take part in extra-curricular activities in the school
Discuss any possible problems their children are having in the school - contact the Head of Year to discuss any serious incidents.
Make sure that your child goes to school regularly, arrives on time and attends every lesson.
Start developing these routines from a young age. If you feel that your child is having problems, speak with the teachers at the school.
Do not allow them to miss school for trivial reasons - especially reasons that parents wouldn't miss work for.
Organise appointments and visits after school, over the weekend or during school holidays as this is an effective way of helping to avoid disrupting the child's education in school
Do not take children on holiday during school time.

Support for parents:

Your child's school is the first point of contact to discuss any attendance problems.
The school should agree on an improvement plan to improve your child's attendance.
Keeping in regular contact with the school is crucial.
Every school has a Welfare Officer who can offer support with regards to problems that involve attendance.
They can offer specialist help to improve your child's attendance and behaviour whilst at school.
The Welfare Officer will work with families and schools to avoid serious problems such as bullying.
Support is offered to reduce the burden on pupils who find things difficult on different occasions (i.e. if a child spends a lot of time caring for another member of the family).
Support because of a long-term illness and re-integration plans will be put in place to help them re-integrate upon return.

Penalty Notice Information regarding school absences

The Education (Penalty Notices) (Wales) Regulations 2013 introduced fixed notice penalties for regular non-attendance at school.

The Welsh Government required all local authorities to draw up and implement their own Local Codes of Conduct to ensure consistency in the issuing of penalty notices. The code was implemented in Swansea in January, 2015.

The Welsh Government states that penalty notices are one option among a number of different interventions available to promote better school attendance. The introduction of these regulations is one part of the Welsh Government strategy to support improved school attendance across Wales.

The introduction of these regulations mean that parents may now be fined for their child(ren)’s regular non-attendance at school.

The local code of conduct, which explains how penalty notices will operate, is available on the Swansea Council website https://www.swansea.gov.uk/educationpenalty

On the website the local authority has also provided answers to some frequently asked questions.

If any parent has concerns about their child’s attendance, then please speak to your child’s Head of Year for advice and support.