Attendance at school is the fundamental building block for academic success and positive social interaction. Research from the Department for Education shows there is a clear correlation between a student’s attendance at school and their attainment and development, both academically and personally.
In order to give our students the greatest chance of academic success and of maximising the opportunities provided to them here at MVC, we expect 100% attendance from each student and will do all we can to help them achieve this. We expect students to arrive on time to school and to lessons and will sanction those that do not.
Ensuring students attend regularly at school is a parent/carer’s legal responsibility but we recognise that achieving good attendance happens best when families and schools work together.
John Barnes – SLT Attendance Lead | Tel: 01763 223400 Email: jbarnes@melbournvc.org |
Becky Jackson - Attendance Officer | Tel: 01763 223400 Email: bjackson@melbournvc.org |
Rachael Panther - Education Welfare Officer | Email: rpanther@melbournvc.org |
We look to spot problems before they arise, meet with parents to provide support and we are always on the front foot.
We ensure every register is taken. We contact families of every absent student every day they aren’t in school. We ensure we have the support we need from the CAM Academy Trust attendance team and the local authority. We know where every child is, every day, and why they are not with us if they’re absent.
Our interventions are planned, timely and purposeful. They are grounded in data and our knowledge of individual students. We have systems in place to track attendance, to record interventions and evaluate their effectiveness.
Students are expected to be present in school every day. Students should only be off school if they are very ill. Illness should be a rare occurrence. Anyone who takes a lot of time off school misses out on learning and it affects their grades and life chances. We do not authorise absences for minor illnesses or ailments such as headaches, and colds as these can, in most cases be managed without the need for school time being missed.
If a student’s attendance falls below certain thresholds, the College will use various interventions to support improvement including parent meetings, support plans, 1-2-1 or group support activities and/or legal interventions. It is always our aim to work with families to improve attendance and early action often brings about the best results.
If you are worried about your child’s attendance or punctuality; if you need help and strategies to get your child into school more often; if you need to talk to someone about how hard it can be to encourage your child into school, contact the school attendance team on 01763 223400. The ‘A’ Team are here to help.
If your child is absent from school and a notification of absence is not received, the College staff will attempt to contact you, may undertake a home visit and will mark your child with an unauthorised absence code.
To help ensure that students attend frequently, miss as little school as possible and don’t fall behind their peers if they have absences, we ask the following;
We ask that our parents use their common sense when deciding whether their child is too ill to attend school. It may be helpful for parents to consider the following questions:
If the answer to the questions is yes, it might be worth considering keeping a child at home but at MVC we are happy to support students that are feeling a little ‘under the weather’.
Students can access help and support at the school office if they feel unwell and we will call home if a student finds that they are unable to continue at school after support has been given.
Further advice on whether children are well enough to attend school can be found HERE
In respects of bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea, we advise parents to consider whether the illness is likely to be viral or as a result of a contagious illness. If parents feel that the answer is yes, we advise that parents keep their child at home, until they have been symptom-free for 48 hours. If families feel that the vomiting and/or diarrhoea is for other, non-contagious, reasons students can return to school sooner if they feel well enough to do so.
The information given on our website is general advice and guidance and we would always suggest that parents consult a medical professional with individual concerns or queries about their child.
We expect students to arrive at school punctually. If a child misses the start of the day they can miss key learning opportunities and do not spend time with their form/class teacher getting vital information and news for the day.
Timetabled activities at MVC start at 8.30am each day.
Students need to be at their form room, ready to start the 8.30am session at this time. To ensure that they can do this, students need to arrive between 8.00am and 8.25am.
Students that arrive late will enter school via the ‘late gate’, be signed in by the school attendance officer or a member of the school’s senior team. Lateness to school will result in a range of follow up actions depending on how often this happens.
The Education Act (1996) requires you to ensure your child attends school regularly. There is however a discretionary power to allow leave of absence in exceptional circumstances during term time. This is not an entitlement and is purely at the discretion of the Principal.
Before booking a holiday or requesting a leave of absence for your child you should consider very seriously how the absence will affect your child's education. If you still feel that you need to make a leave of absence request, this should be in writing and addressed to the Principal.
All requests for leave of absence from school during term time will be considered but it is extremely unlikely that requests purely for holiday purposes will be granted. Where exceptional circumstances exist, it is possible that a leave of absence may be authorised. However, each case will be carefully considered on an individual basis.
To request permission to your child to have a leave of absence, please fill out an “exceptional leave request form”, which can be accessed from the link at the top left of this page.
Please click here for the link to the Cambridge County Council Website for current guidance on 'Attendance', 'Non-attendance and the Law' and 'Term time holidays.' Please click here for the link to the DfE guidance on School attendance parental responsibility measures: statutory guidance.
The CAM Academy Trust employs an Education Welfare Officer (EWO) to help schools support good attendance. The school and EWO always try to work with students and parents at an early stage to resolve problems. This is nearly always successful. However, if other ways of resolving attendance have failed, these officers can use legal sanctions such as penalty notices or prosecutions in the Magistrates court. Families can ask for support from the EWO at any time should they want it. Requests for help from the EWO can be made by contacting absence@melbournvc.org