At the Dorcan Academy we are committed to providing an education of the highest quality. We therefore expect all students to attend regularly so they are able to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them. We recognise that excellent attendance is intrinsically linked to academic achievement and progress and there is clear evidence to show that students who have regular absence, patterns of unauthorised absence and high levels of absence for minor illness are unlikely to achieve their academic potential. We expect all of our students to aspire to 100% attendance and appreciate the full support of parents and carers in encouraging this. The minimum level of attendance for this school is 95% and we keep parents updated regularly about progress to this level. The Dorcan Academy prioritises the monitoring, support and robust action needed to secure high levels of attendance and works in close partnership with the local authority to place matters before the court in circumstances where parents/carers do not ensure that their child attends school regularly.
The table below shows the impact that poor attendance can have over one year of your child’s education.
One of the ways that we track the attendance of your child is to place them into an attendance band. Your child will be aware of which band they are currently in and will set targets to improve their attendance. This will happen once a fortnight during tutor time when students complete the “Attendance Individual Tracker”. Below is an explanation of each band.
The Dorcan Academy is committed to supporting students and families to help raise attendance. Some of the strategies that are currently being used are:
Parents do not have the right to take their child out of school during term time for holidays, and the academy, as a rule, does not authorise such absences. Taking holidays in term time will affect your child’s schooling as much as any other absence and we expect parents to help us by not taking children away in school time. There is no automatic entitlement to time off in school time for holidays.
Any period of leave taken without the agreement of the school, or in excess of that agreed, will be classed as unauthorised and may attract sanctions such as a Penalty Notice.
Head teachers have the discretion to grant leave, but they should only do so in exceptional circumstances. If a Head teacher grants a leave request, it will be for them to determine the length of time that the child can be away from school.
An attendance record of 90% might seem good but is equal to four weeks of school missed over a school year. If this continues from Years 7 to 11, a total of five months’ education will be lost.
Poor attendance is when a student is persistently absent from school. Persistent absence is defined by the government as any student who is absent 10% of the time over one school year. This means that any student with an attendance of 90% or less is defined as persistently absent.
High temperature, diarrhoea and sickness, childhood ailments eg, measles, tonsillitis are genuine illnesses. A child should not be kept home with coughs, colds, tummy aches and headaches.
If at all possible you should avoid making dental or doctors’ appointments during school time, however we do appreciate that there are times when this is unavoidable. If it is necessary to book an appointment during school time, please inform the attendance office BEFORE the appointment by calling 01793 525231 and write the appointment in your child’s link book.
Please call the attendance office on 01793 525231 BEFORE the observance, so that necessary arrangements can be made.
Please contact the school on 01793 525231 and ask to speak to the relevant Head of House. If you prefer you can also email, please see relevant contact details below.
Eagle – Mr Shorey – ashorey@dorcan.co.ukFalcon – Mrs Barton – lbarton@dorcan.co.ukKingfisher – Mrs Burnett – eburnett@dorcan.co.ukOsprey – Mr Corkish – pcorkish@dorcan.co.uk
