Attendance
At The Highfield School we believe that attending every day is essential.
When students attend school every day they are able to maximise their progress, enhance their social skills and extend their life choices. By attending regularly and being punctual students create a healthy routine that sets them up for life in terms of further education and future employment. Every week we reflect on attendance and celebrate students' dedication to school during form time. We also report back to parents/carers through progress reports each term which show your child's annual attendance up to that point in the year. We aim for every child to have an overall attendance of no lower than 95% as we know that this ambition will positively affect them, the school environment and of course we want to see our students every day!
Attendance Matters:
| = number of days absent | Approximate number of weeks | = number of lessons missed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90% | 19 days | 4 weeks | 95 lessons |
| 85% | 29 days | 6 weeks | 145 lessons |
| 80% | 38 days | 8 weeks | 190 lessons |
90% attendance and below is equal to missing 19 days of school per year, which is five months of school over five years and research shows this will cause a drop in results of one GCSE grade
If you are having issues getting your child to school please contact the attendance team on the following number: 01462 705104
Reporting an unplanned absence
In cases of unavoidable absences please contact the school on each day your child is absent by email on absence@highfield.herts.sch.uk stating reason for absence, or on the school’s dedicated absence line 01462 705104. We ask that you do this before 8.25am where possible.
The school may ask the pupil’s parent/carer to provide medical evidence, such as a prescription, appointment card or other appropriate form of evidence. We will not ask for medical evidence unnecessarily.
If you have any concerns or require any support with your child's attendance please do not hesitate to get in touch. You can speak to your child's Tutor or the attendance officer who are always happy to support you.
Attendance policy (Scholars' Education Trust policies)
Statutory attendance - Helping parents understand penalty notice fines for school attendance
You may find the following websites useful :
https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/
https://www.familylives.org.uk/
https://www.healthforkids.co.uk/
https://www.healthforteens.co.uk/
https://www.kooth.com/
https://www.selfharm.co.uk/
https://www.youngminds.org.uk/
Planned Absence
Attending a medical or dental appointment will be counted as authorised as long as the pupil’s parent/carer notifies the school in advance of the appointment.
- General requests such as medical appointments, that require a part day absence, should be made by emailing absence@highfield.herts.sch.uk
- Where a request is for an urgent or emergency appointment please email absence@highfield.herts.sch.uk or phone 01462 705104 as you would to report an illness absence.
- For extraordinary requests please email Head@highfield.herts.sch.uk for the attention of the head teacher.
However, we encourage parents/carers to make medical and dental appointments out of school hours where possible. Where this is not possible, the pupil should be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary.
The pupil’s parent/carer must also apply for other types of term-time absence as far in advance as possible of the requested absence.
Punctuality
We ask all our students to be punctual at the start of school each day and also attend their lessons on time to ensure that they are safe and so that they do not miss any learning or important socialising time. The school day starts with form time at 8.25am and all students should be inside the school gate by 8.20am, any student who arrives after 8.20am will be marked as late and given a C10. The register closes officially 30 mins after this time and so any student arriving after 8.55am will be registered as an unauthorised absence for the morning session.
The afternoon registration session is at 12.10pm, which is also the beginning of lesson four. So there are two registration sessions in one day each making up 50% of your child's overall attendance. Therefore they must attend both registrations in one day to achieve full attendance for that day.
We would recommend supporting your child to arrive at school around 8.15am if you can, giving them plenty of time to get to form time.
Free breakfast for all students is served in the canteen every day from 7.50am including toast, jam, crumpets, cheese on toast and bagels. A great way to settle in for the day!
