If your child is absent, parents/carers must:
▪ Contact the academy as early as possible, but before 8.25am, on the first day of absence, either by telephone, email or in person. The telephone number to report an absence is: 01782 883333 opt 1 or alternatively email the attendance team
▪ Call every day thereafter to advise the academy of the child’s progress.
▪ Send a note in on the first day of the child’s return with a reason for the absence (even if a telephone explanation has been given) or call into the academy in person and ask to speak with a member of staff. Please see the Attendance Policy for more details.
At OHA we believe that good attendance has a direct effect on good progress and achievement. It is important for children to attend regularly in order to maximise both their learning and their social and emotional development. Children who miss a lot of school may feel left out and will not have the same shared experiences as their classmates. Pupils with lower attendance are more likely to find it difficult to follow what is going on in the classroom, miss school trips, special events and may affect their ability to make friends at school. Being at OHA gives students more time to interact with teachers and classmates. Irregular school attendance is a contributory factor in social exclusion and underachievement. We expect children to attend regularly and arrive on time every day.
Miss E Green – Attendance Officer
As our attendance officer, Miss Green monitors individual pupil attendance and works with staff, pupils and families to ensure attendance remains high. Where attendance falls below 100% and particularly below 96% our attendance officer works with our heads of year, personal tutors and support officer to check in with families to ensure further absence is avoided wherever possible.
Where attendance falls below 90% (1 day in every 10 days of school) attendance becomes a significant concern. At this rate, a pupil could miss up to 4 weeks of school per year and research shows that this level of absence can have very negative effects on educational outcomes. As a result, further monitoring takes place, the family may be met and targets for attendance set.
In line with academy trust policy our attendance officer holds formal attendance clinics, makes EWO (Educational welfare officer) referrals and fine applications where attendance is low and/or found to be unjustified.
Mrs M Stevens – Attendance Support Assistant
New to our team in 2022, Mrs Stevens works with families and individual pupils to ensure unauthorised absence is explored on each and every occasion. Mrs Steven sends reminder text messages, absence notifications, makes on the day and next day calls to ensure pupils return from absence as soon as they are able, so as not to miss out on valuable learning time and make sure that we, as an academy can account for all pupil absences.
The law requires all schools and academies to maintain an admission register containing the personal details of every pupil at OHA. This must include information regarding parents/carers and the date of admission. Such information is entered on to the register on the first day of admission.
At OHA, like all other schools and academies, we must notify the local authority within 5 days of adding a name to the admission register in the year and must provide the local authority with relevant information held. Where a pupil leaves, the school must record the date of leaving and the name of the receiving school and cannot remove a name unless the authority and new school confirm that we are able to do so.
These are defined as children whose attendance falls below 90%. Actions to address this are taken on an individual level and may include other agencies; specifically, social care as such extended absences may trigger a safeguarding concern. Referrals will be made to the Local Authority Education Welfare team and appropriate actions taken. This may include formal meetings and lead to the issue of a Penalty Notice or other legal action. Parents/carers may be taken to court where they could be issued with a fine or even a custodial sentence.
Please note that holidays during term time will be marked as unauthorised and may lead to a fixed penalty fine.