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We take the issue of attendance and truancy very seriously; we have to adhere to Government and Local Authority targets which require students to achieve a minimum of 92% attendance. |
Excellent Attendance Awards School attendance figures Sept 08 to end of Jun 09 School attendance figures Sept 07 to end of Jun 08 |
Support on School Attendance
There are many different issues which can affect school attendance.
Examples include problems with:
- bullying
- housing or care arrangements
- transport to and from school
- work and money
If any of the above issues should affect your son, please do not keep him at home as this can inevitably make matters worse. There are a number of people at school you can contact to discuss these issues:
Education Welfare Officer: Mrs M Mitchell - email: mmitchell@portchester.bournemouth.sch.uk
Attendance Officer: Miss L Vincent - email: lvincent@portchester.bournemouth.sch.uk
Head of Key Stage 4: Mr D Chamberlain - email: dchamberlain@portchester.bournemouth.sch.uk
Head of Key Stage 3: Mr A Hopkinson - email: ahopkinson@portchester.bournemouth.sch.uk
Assistant Director of Learning for KS3(Year 7): Mr B Kerslake - email: bkerslake@portchester.bournemouth.sch.uk
Pastoral Heads:
Mr P Stephens(Year 8) - email: pstephens@portchester.bournemouth.sch.uk
Miss S Hewitt(Year 9) - email: shewitt@portchester.bournemouth.sch.uk
Mrs M Finch(Year 10) - email: mfinch@portchester.bournemouth.sch.uk
Mrs C Packer(Year 11) - email: cpacker@portchester.bournemouth.sch.uk
We have dedicated absence telephone lines to report your son’s absence. If your son is unable to attend school, please telephone before 8.50am on the first day of absence to let us know. You can call as early as you like as the voicemail is operational 24 hours a day.
Attendance Telephone numbers:
Year 7 - 01202 705050
Year 8 - 01202 705051
Year 9 - 01202 705052
Year 10 - 01202 705053
Year 11 - 01202 705054
Attendance Officer: 01202 309841 Ext 225 or email
When your son returns to school a signed absence slip needs to be returned, these are provided at the start of the school year or download by clicking here
If you wish to take your son out of school during term time, you will need to complete a Holiday Request Form and return it to our Attendance Officer (Miss Vincent), to download the form please click here
We do not encourage parents to organise holidays during term time - especially for those students in Years 9, 10 & 11.
Holiday requests are not authorised for students with attendance below 92%.
Whilst we understand that holidays are cheaper outside school holiday dates we
need you to bear in mind what price you place on your son’s education.
Breaks during term time can seriously affect continuity of lessons and course-work.
N.B. The school year provides 14 weeks of holidays.
Please take all this information into consideration before requesting holiday for your son and therefore re-moving him from his lessons.
The Law
The law requires parents to make sure their children receive a full-time education suitable to their needs. For most children this means attending school regularly. As a last resort, schools and local authorities have legal powers to deal with poor attendance. If your son does not achieve this target, or is persistently absent, then this can have serious repercussions.
Your Responsibilities as a Parent
By law, all children of compulsory school age (5-15) must receive a suitable full-time education. As a parent, you have a legal responsibility to make sure this happens. Once your son is registered at Portchester School, you are legally responsible for making sure he attends regularly. If he does not, you will be contacted by the school or the local authority. Local authorities have a duty to intervene if a child is not receiving the education required by law, either at home or at school.
If your son is missing school, you will be contacted by our Educational Welfare Officer (EWO), Michelle Mitchell, to discuss your child’s attendance problems.
Support for School Attendance
If you’re experiencing problems ensuring your child attends school we can support you and help improve your son’s attendance. One form of support is to use a Parenting Contract. You should beaware; however, that if your son is missing school regularly and you refuse to agree to a contract, or do not keep to its terms- this can be used as evidence if the local authority decides to prosecute you.
Action on School Attendance
Your son can legally miss school only in very limited circumstances. These include:
- when he is too ill to attend
- when the school has authorised the absence beforehand
If your son is missing school without good reason, the school and local authority have a number of legal powers which are outlined below:
Penalty Notices - as an alternative to prosecution, authorised local authority staff, police officers and Headteachers can issue penalty notices to parents. A penalty of £50 (rising to £100 if not paid within 28 days) if you fail to pay a penalty fine you will be prosecuted.
Taking you to court
The local authority may prosecute you (they don’t have to issue a penalty notice first) and this could result in a more severe penalty.
You could get a fine of up to £2,500, a community order or, in extreme cases, a jail sentence of up to three months.
If the court thinks it will help to stop your child missing school, it may also impose a parenting order.
Parenting orders
A parenting order is a court order which requires you to attend parenting education or support classes.
You will also have to do whatever the court says is necessary to improve your son’s behaviour and attendance at school.
Education supervision orders
As well as or instead of prosecuting you, the local authority may apply to a court for an education supervision order.
This order appoints a supervisor to give you help and advice on getting your child back into education.
Preventing Your Child from Missing School: What You Can Do
You can help prevent your son missing school by:
- making sure he understands the importance of good attendance and punctuality
- making an interest in his education – ask about school work and encourage him to get involved in school activities
- discussing any problems he may have at school - inform his teacher or headteacher about anything serious
- not letting him take time off school for minor ailments - particularly those which would not prevent you from going to work
- arranging appointments and outings after school hours, at weekends or during school holidays will help to prevent disruption to your son’s education and to the school
Under normal circumstances, you should not expect the school to agree to holidays during term time.
If you would like to view a brief outline of Portchester School’s Attendance Policy, please click here
