Attendance

At Lampton School, a high level of attendance and excellent punctuality is expected to help our students make good progress. The school monitors student attendance thoroughly and where there is a concern will act accordingly. In addition we regard parents and carers as having a very important role to play in ensuring that their child attends school regularly and punctually. 

 

The procedure for reporting an absence is as follows:

If your child is unwell

• Years 7-11: The absence of your son or daughter must be reported to us for each day they are unwell, before 8:30am. Please email absence@lampton.org.uk stating your child’s full name, form group, and the reason for the absence, or alternatively text us on 07860 055 490.

• Year 12 and 13: Please email sixthformabsence@lampton.org.uk or or alternatively text us on 07860 055 490.

• Medical evidence may be required if your son or daughter has accumulated a number of absences.

 

 If your child has a medical appointment:

• Medical, dentist, opticians and similar appointments should always be made outside of school hours. Where this is not possible, the pupil should only be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary for the appointment. 

• Before the appointment, please forward confirmation of the appointment to the Attendance Officer, Ms Emberson, via absence@lampton.org.uk. 

• Wherever possible please send your child into school either side of the medical appointment, your child should only be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary for the appointment.

 

Any other absence

For any other type of absence (e.g. music exams, religious observance and certain family occasion) you will need  to email a absence@lampton.org.uk to request a leave of absence.  Please note Lampton School does not authorise requests to travel abroad during term-time; we expect all parents to make their plans within the school holiday dates. The discretion of the Headteacher is tightly limited by national guidance on attendance. 

Failure to follow these procedures may result in your son or daughter's absence being treated as unauthorised and this will be recorded as such on their attendance record.

All incidents of term-time will be forwarded to the Local Authority and fines may be issued to parents who persistently take their child out of school during term-time.

 

Unreported absences

We use SIMS In Touch, an automated service that alerts parents and guardians when their child is not present in school and no reason has been provided for the absence. Parents will receive calls or texts to inform them that their child is absent. This system is used to ensure that both the school and parents are aware of their child’s whereabouts.

If a child is late to school and misses morning registration it is essential that they sign in at Student Services. If they fail to do so then messages can be sent to parents whose children are in fact in school but have not registered. Naturally this can cause stress for parents and can generate time consuming work with students having to be located on site.

If parents receive a message stating their child is not in school they should respond and inform the school why their child isn’t present. Please ensure you inform the school of any changes to your details.

 

Punctuality 

We expect all students to arrive on time both to school in the morning, and to lessons. Where students arrive late, they miss out on important learning time, and disrupt the learning of the rest of the class. Lateness will always be challenged to help students develop positive habits. If your child arrives late to school in the morning, we will send a SIMS In Touch text message so that you are aware, and so you can speak to your child to ensure that they leave on time the next morning.

All students are expected to be on site by 8.30 so that they are in tutor rooms for registration at 8.40. Any student who arrives after this time will be marked as late. Students who arrive late at lessons through the school day will also be marked as late. Students who are deemed to be excessively late over the preceding week will 'pay back' the time in late detention on Tuesday after school - students will stay back the exact amount of minutes that they are late.

 

Persistent absence 

Persistent absence (or PA) is absence of 10% or more. An individual pupil is deemed to be persistent absentee, therefore if his/her attendance is less than 90% (regardless of whether or not the absences have been authorised) their details will be forwarded to the Local Authority for further action, which include prosecution.

 

For more information, please see our Attendance Policy or contact absence@lampton.org.uk