Parents and carers can see "live" attendance updates by accessing the WEDUC APP or visiting the parent login on the WEDUC website

How do I notify the academy about my child's absence?

To avoid your child being given an unauthorised absence register mark, it is vitally important that you contact the Academy on the first day of their absence, before 8.30am, and then on each subsequent day that your child is absent from the academy. You can notify the academy of your child's absence via email at absence@thekings.staffs.sch.uk or by phoning the Academy and selecting the 'reporting my child absent' menu option.

In reporting your child's absence you must state the reason for the absence

Where the Academy does not receive notification of an absence, we are legally obliged to follow this up making contact with parents/ carers by telephone in the first instance.  

Why attendance is so important

Students' achievement is directly related to their attendance; if a student is not in the Academy, they are not able to access learning and the resources presented in class by teachers. In March 2016 the Department for Education (DfE) published a report on the link between absence and attainment in Key Stages 2 and 4. The findings for both Key Stages show that in general, the higher the absence rate, the less successful they are in GCSE examinations. The report states that at Key Stage 4:
 

‘… pupils with no absence are 2.2 times more likely to achieve 5+ GCSEs A*-C or equivalent and 2.8 times more likely to achieve 5+ GCSEs A*-C or equivalent including English and mathematics, than pupils missing 15-20% of Key Stage 4 lessons.’
 

The report also highlights that 73% of pupils who have over 95% attendance achieve five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C and explains that pupils with persistent absences are less likely to attain at school, and – very importantly in terms of the future of the UK workforce – are unlikely stay in education after the age of 16 years.

It is not surprising then to note that The Education Act 1996 states:

'If any child of compulsory school age who is a registered pupil at a school fails to attend regularly at the school, his or her parent is guilty of an offence'

We take attendance very seriously at The King's. Not attending school is a problem that affects students, families and the community. Not only are students with poor attendance less likely to do well academically, but they are also more likely to get involved in illegal activities in the community.

All absences are recorded as either 'authorised' or 'unauthorised':

• Authorised absences are mornings or afternoons away from school for a good reason: illness and other "unavoidable causes"

• Unauthorised absences are those, which the school does not consider reasonable and for which no "leave" has been given. This includes truancy.

When 90% is not enough!

Though in many situations 90% sounds like a good score, in attendance terms it is not.

An attendance of 90% across a school year is the equivalent of approximately 20 days of missed learning (a month off school!). If 90% attendance is maintained over a student’s secondary education, this would mean 100 missed days of learning, or over half a year of education.  Unbelievable, isn't it!

The chart below shows how a 90% attendance record across year 10 and 11 could impact a student's GCSE results. 90% attendance equates 8 weeks lost (in total) across years 10 and 11 reducing a student's chances of securing 5 or more GCSEs (at grades 9-4) from 78.7% to 30.9%

Students with attendance 90% or less are almost one and a half GCSE grades (-1.48) behind where they might typically be expected to be in each of their best 8 GCSEs. The impact can be seen broken down to different curriculum areas such as maths (almost 2 GCSE grades behind).