Every Day Counts!
Attend today - Achieve tomorrow
Attendance
Good school attendance is key to helping children have the best possible start in life to support and maximise their potential learning opportunities. There is clear evidence which links educational achievement to good school attendance.
At Prestatyn High School, we know that:
-If our pupils missed more than 30% of school, they failed to achieve 5 A*-C GCSE grades.
-If our pupils missed between 10-20% of school, only 21% managed to achieve 5 A*-C GCSE grades.
-If our pupils missed less than 5% of school, more than 80% achieved 5 A*-C GCSE grades.
-1 school year at 90% attendance = 4 whole weeks of lessons missed.
-90% attendance over 5 years of secondary school = ½ a school year missed.
Prestatyn High School is determined to provide the best education to the children they serve. In recognition that school attendance and attainment are strongly linked, a robust attendance procedure has been developed to support pupils learning. The procedure includes absence prompts and opportunities to meet with staff to support parents/guardians/ carers in achieving the highest possible attendance for their child. However, it also has triggers to progress the matter to court for a parental prosecution where there is a failure of parents/guardians to take up the support offered and where the child’s education suffers.
Attendance Resources
Attendance Resources
Should your child be kept off school?
Advice as to whether or not an illness or condition requires your child to stay off school can be found in the Guidance on Infection Control in Denbighshire Schools document.
Guidance on Infection Control in Denbighshire Schools Illnesses 1 | Illnesses-2
Latest advice (26/09/23) about when students need to stay off based on illness.
PHW Exclusion Period for Common Infections June 2023 v6.1
Fixed Penalty Notice
If your child has 20 sessions (10 school days) of unauthorised absence within one term for any reason (including holidays, lateness after close of register and any other unauthorised absence), as part of the attendance procedures the school can request that the Local Authority issue you with a Fixed Penalty Notice. Fixed Penalty Notices and other sanctions will only be used where parental co-operation with this process is either absent or deemed to be insufficient to resolve the problem. The action will be used as a means to support parents to meet their legal responsibilities. You need to be aware that although you may provide a reason for absence, it is the school which decides if the absence is recorded as authorised or unauthorised.
Punctuality
At Prestatyn High School registration starts at 8.40am every day. Pupils who arrive late are greatly disadvantaged because they miss starting the day with their peers and picking up important messages. Pupils who miss the start of a lesson are disadvantaged as they miss recap of prior learning and instructions for that lesson. There is a clear link between attendance and achievement. Lost learning time due to lateness is obviously something that we want to avoid.
· 5 minutes late to lessons each day means 3 missed days of school in a year
· 15 mins late each day means you will miss 10 days of school in a year
· 20 mins late each day means you miss 13 days of school in a year
Procedures for absence
-If your child is going to be absent from school, you must inform the school by calling the main reception and leaving a message on the attendance line, explaining the reason for absence and when we expect the child to return to school. If there is no notification of absence, the school will contact you to find out your child is off school.
-Where possible let us know in advance of medical/ dental appointments and if possible, arrange these out of school hours.
-If you require support for your child’s attendance, please contact us and the Year team will support you.
-You may be invited in to meet with the Year team, if your child reaches a certain level of absences, to discuss and put an Attendance Support Plan in place.
Term time holidays
In term time, parents do not have an automatic right to withdraw their child for holidays. Each holiday request will be considered individually, and only granted at the discretion of the Headteacher/ Deputy Headteacher.
We will take into account-
· Age of the learner;
· The time of Year proposed for the trip;
· The nature of the trip;
· The overall attendance of the learner;
Where we do not grant a holiday and the holiday is still taken, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised. If the holiday ends up being longer than that agreed with the school, this extra time will also be recorded as unauthorised.
If you are considering taking your child on holiday during term time, you must complete a Notification of Absence Form, available at the main reception or Year office. Please remember-
· Holidays should not be taken during school term time;
· You should not expect the school to approve a family holiday during school time;
· It is not appropriate to take your child on holiday when he or she should be taking exams;
· The Headteacher/ Deputy Headteacher will carefully consider your request and will take your child’s attendance record into account.
The School Day
Please help your child have the best possible chances at school. Students must be in school for 8.30am so that they are in Registration by 8.40am ready to start their learning at 9am.
Leave
If a student has 10 days leave (either authorised or unauthorised) in a school year their attendance will only be...
94.7%