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Good Attendance Matters

Students will only be successful at school if they attend school.

Our aspiration is for everyone at Kimberley School to attend for more than 95% of the year.

  • If a student's attendance falls below 95% then they will inevitably fall behind. Days off add up to lost learning. 

  • Even at 95% attendance this will mean that you have missed 40 lessons in one year – the equivalent of 8 full days of lessons.

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  • Attendance above 95% gives your child the best chance of success in your exams.
     

  • Attendance below 90% means that they have limited chance of success and are likely to fail or fall very short of target grades.

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How we address shortfalls in attendance...

  • ​​​If your child’s attendance falls below 95% the attendance officer will send a letter to you to alert you to this.   

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  • If your child’s attendance falls below 90%  we will then contact you again and will more closely monitor future attendance.  Our attendance officer may contact you to arrange a meeting so that we can put in place a plan to help you improve your child's attendance.

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  • If, following this, your child's attendance continues to drop and we do not think there is a legitimate reason then we may refer you to the Local Authority who may issue you with a penalty notice or even prosecute you.

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Parents and carers should know that:

The school must be contacted before 8:45am with a valid reason for the student's absence by dialling 0115 9387000 and selecting option 1.  Please do not send this through School Gateway.  If you do not contact us then the absence will be unauthorised and you could be issued with a penalty notice by the Local Authority

The school cannot authorise absences adjacent to INSET days. If you remove your child from school on days adjacent to INSET Days in order to take them on a family holiday then you should be aware that the school will monitor this and will be unable to authorise these absences .  If this is the case then the school will refer the absences to the Local Authority who may issue parents with a fixed penalty notice.

We do understand that there are legitimate HEALTH REASONS why some children miss school.  Our approach is not punitive.  Our first instinct will always be to work with parents and carers to support you in ensuring good attendance for your child whatever the circumstances you face.

It is the LEGAL responsibility of the parent/carer to ensure that their child attends school.  All children have a right to attend school and is not the right of the parent/carer to keep them at home.

Term-time HOLIDAYS will have a significant impact on achievement and progress and therefore our policy is not to authorise any other than in the most exceptional of circumstances, as deemed by the school. The fundamental principles that we use for defining exceptional are rare, significant, unavoidable and short.   If parents do take a term time holiday that is unauthorised then we will refer this to the Local Authority who may decided to issue a fixed penalty notice.

The school is closed to students 175 days a year, this is time to spend on family time, visits, shopping, holidays, household jobs and other appointments.  They should not miss school for these reasons.​​

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The school is following UKHSA guidance whilst there is an increase number of Strep A cases nationally.  If the child is well then they should continue to attend school.  If the child does have Strep A/Scarlet Fever then they should stay at home until at least 24 hours after the start of the antibiotic treatment to avoid spreading the infection to others.  If the child is particularly anxious about this they are still to attend however please contact our student support teams who will work with you to support your child attending school

If the school is NOT CONTACTED by the parent/carer with a valid reason then our attendance officer may conduct a home visit to check the child is safe and well.

Parents should not keep one child off school because a sibling/friend or cousin is ill.  We do monitor this and we are unable to authorise an absence where we believe a child has missed school because a sibling/friend or cousin is off school.

Student's attendance can be viewed at anytime via the ShowMyHomework web portal/app.   Links to this platform can be found under the Students and Parents menu as well as on the home page.

Our Support team

Year 7 - Maura Wilkinson (m.wilkinson@kimberleyschool.co.uk). Extension 213

Year 8 - Eleri Dunstan (e.dunstan@kimberleyschool.co.uk). Extension 273

Year 9 - Donna Wheatley (d.hawkes@kimberleyschool.co.uk). Extension 267

Year 10. - Holli Levett (h.levett@kimberleyschool.co.uk). Extension 279

Year 11 - Louise Smith (l.smith@kimberleyschool.co.uk) or Jo Pates (j.pates@kimberleyschool.co.uk).  Extension 262

Year 12 & 13 -  Michelle Marriott (m.marriot@kimberleyschool.co.uk). Extension 225

If you are concerned about your child’s attendance and you need support, then the first point of contact for each year group is listed below:

Following your contact these staff will either work with you to improve your child’s attendance or they may ask our attendance officer Amanda Allen to work with you instead.

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