Mission Statement

At Richmond Park Academy, we demand the highest level of attendance from all our students so that they reach their full potential during their time at school. It is our aim to maintain a culture of excellence, attendance and punctuality and firmly believe that it is the responsibility of every individual within the student’s life to ensure that this happens. 

Reporting Absence

All absences will be unauthorised, unless medical evidence is provided.

Types of unauthorised absence include the following: 

• Self-diagnosed ailments (a headache, slight cold, stomach ache, sore throat or any other condition that has not been identified by a medical professional) 

• Going shopping with parents

• Birthdays

• Minding other younger children in the family 

• Staying at home because other members in the family are unwell 

• Arriving at school too late to get a present mark 

• Truancy

Please note: Evidence from the doctor can be in the form of a date stamped compliment stamp, prescription or medicine bottle. Please note: the school is not asking for a parent/carer to incur a charge for such information and will not be liable for the cost.

What to do if your child is ill:

If your child is too ill to attend school, parents/carers should contact the school’s Attendance Line as soon as possible. 

Do not use the Ed App to report absence or reply to school text messages, as these systems are not monitored by the Attendance Officer for absence reporting purposes.

Emailing the school:

If you wish to notify us by email, please email us at attendance@richmondparkacademy.org detailing the following: 

1. Your Child’s Name

2.  Year Group, 

3. The reason for the absence, 

4. How long you expect the absence to last.  

We ask that you contact us each day that your child is absent unless you have given us notification informing the length of the absence through medical evidence.

On your child’s return following an absence, we request that parents/carers write a brief note explaining the absence. The student should hand the note in to their Form Tutor.

RPA Procedures Around Absences 

1. Registers are taken during period 1, by the member of staff responsible for the class 

2. Any student with an absent mark will result in a text message being sent home to the parent/carer notifying them of the absence.

Text messages will be sent home for all students, if they are absent on that day. 

It is vital for students to be in school at all times when necessary to avoid missing opportunities. If however, they are absent, RPA will take specific steps to address the reasons why. Please see the following RPA procedures around monitoring pupil attendance:

1. If your child is absent once in the week, their form tutor will contact home. 

2. If your child is absent twice in a week, their Head of Year will contact home. 

3. If your child is off for 3 days or more, the Attendance officer will call home. 

As of September 2015 the Department for Education (DfE) announced that any student whose attendance falls below 90% will be classed as a Persistently Absent pupil.

If your child’s attendance hits certain triggers, RPA will implement supportive measures to help improve this.  Please see the following RPA procedures around supporting the improvement of pupil attendance: 

1. If your child is absent for 3 days, they will be placed on Attendance report to their Form Tutor. (Pupil’s attendance is between 96-98%)

2. If your child is absent for 5 days, they will be placed on Attendance report to their Head of Year. (Pupil’s attendance is between 91-95%)

3. If your child’s absence exceeds the 5 days, they will be referred to the SLT Lead for Attendance, where the appropriate next steps will be decided. (Pupil’s attendance is between 90% and below)

Punctuality 

All students are expected to arrive at school on time and be ready and punctual to lessons. 

• Students should arrive at school for 8.20am.  

• Students are expected to be in Period 1 by 8.30am ready to start learning. 

• Any student arriving late must sign in at the main Reception.  

• After 8.30am, students will be marked as late (L)

Please see RPA Procedures around punctuality: 

• If a student arrives no later than 15 minutes, they will receive a 45-minute detention. 

• If a student arrives later than 15 minutes, they will receive a 45-minute detention.  

• If a student receives 3 detentions in a week, they will receive a 1 hour detention on Friday after school. 

If a child is late 3 times in a week, they will be placed on punctuality report to their Head of Year. 

If a child is late more than 3 times in a week, they will be placed on punctuality report to the SLT line lead for Attendance.

Consequences of Poor Attendance /Punctuality

For pupils whose attendance and/or punctuality fails to improve, after a range of interventions and supportive measures have been tried by the school, the ultimate consequences may be one of the following:

1. The school may ask the Council to issue a Penalty Notice on its behalf. A Penalty Notice carries a fine of £60, per parent, per child. If the fine is not paid within 20 days it rises to £120 per parent, per child. If not paid at all, court action will be initiated. 

2. The school may ask the Council initiate court action under Section 444 of the Education Act 1996, which could lead to fines of up to £2,500, or even imprisonment. 

3. In some cases, action may be taken under the Children Act 1989 to protect the welfare and development of the child.

Holidays in Term Time

We want to give our young people the very best educational experience we can and an extended absence from school can affect this by causing disruption to learning and progress. For this reason, we do not authorise holidays during term time.  Failure to adhere to this policy could result in a FPN fine. If a child is taken out of school in term time for a holiday, then the period of absence will be unauthorised.

Leave of Absence for Other Reasons

Under the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006, a leave of absence may only be granted by the school (through the headteacher) in exceptional circumstances. Absence will not be authorised for reasons such as shopping for uniform, birthdays, day trips, etc.  If parents/carers wish their child(ren) to be absent for other reasons, such as compassionate leave, special family events, or to participate in sporting or musical competitions etc, application should be made in writing, in advance where possible, to the Attendance Officer.  It may be necessary for parents to apply for a performance license in such circumstances.

Vulnerable Children 

Children who are Looked After (LAC), subject to a Child Protection Plan (CP) or Children in Need (CIN) plan will be treated with highest priority and will be known to the Attendance Officer. Any unexplained absence will be followed up immediately by a telephone call to the home or by a call to the child’s assigned social worker, in order for a visit to be made. Children with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND) will be treated with similar priority in order that their time in school can be maximised, and their learning supported to the greatest extent possible.

Moving School

If you are moving, there are a number of things we require you to do:

• Notify us in writing at least 2 weeks in advance, including contact details for where you are moving to and provide the details of the new school that your child will be attending.

• Notify us in writing when your child has started their new school.

We will also: 

• Request an email from the new school to confirm when your child started regardless of the country the new school is in.

• If we do not hear from the family about your child’s new school, we will contact the local authority to find out whether the child is in school. If they are on the waiting list or have started school, we will request a confirmation email and off roll the child after one week following this confirmation.