Attendance Matters

Vision

At Uckfield College we are committed to promoting good attendance and reducing absence, including persistent and severe absence by:

• Ensuring every student has access to full-time education to which they are entitled
• Analysing attendance data intelligently so we understand the causes of absence and create clear and effective strategies which lead to sustained improvement.
• Acting early to address patterns of absence
• Adopting a “Listen, understand, empathise and support - but do not tolerate” approach
• Individualising and adapting particular approaches for particular students.
• We recognise the small improvements students make without over rewarding and risking lowering expectations long term.

Strong attendance is a result of an atmosphere where the College feels safe and friendly and learning is manageable and enjoyable. We also currently work with primary colleagues through the newly appointed Family SEND Support Workers team to support the attendance of families across both primary and secondary colleges.

To ensure that we support and encourage good attendance for students - we ALL have a role to play

We will also support parents/carers to perform their legal duty to ensure their children of compulsory college age attend regularly, and will promote and support punctuality in attending lessons.

It is our duty to consistently strive to achieve a goal of 100% attendance for all children. Every opportunity will be used to convey to students and their parents/carers the importance of regular attendance.

For our students to take full advantage of the educational opportunities offered it is vital that each student is at college, on time, every day the college is open unless the reason for the absence is unavoidable. The routines students develop around attendance and punctuality at college are the same as the expectations of any future employer in the world of work. High attainment, confidence with peers and staff, and future aspirations depend on good attendance.

Good attendance is important because:

• Statistics show a direct link between underachievement and attendance below 96%
• Regular attenders make better progress both socially and academically
• Regular attenders find College routines, College work and friendships easier to cope with
• Regular attenders find learning more satisfying
• Regular attenders are more successful in transferring between primary college, secondary college and higher education, employment or training.

What is good attendance?

At Uckfield College we believe all students should have an attendance of 96% and above as students with attendance at this level throughout their school career, will make the most progress and this should lead to better prospects for work, college and university

We have adopted a graduated response to attendance so that appropriate actions are taken for each student depending on their attendance rate

At Uckfield College we believe that students who have 90% attendance and below are a cause for major concern. We think this because students with attendance at this level are missing a month of school per year and are likely not to reach their target grades. Progress will be negatively affected and their attendance will be viewed negatively by employers, further and higher education.

A student with a 90% attendance record is absent from lessons for the equivalent of one half-day every week.

A student with a 90% attendance rate misses the equivalent of four whole weeks of lessons in one school year.

A student with 90% attendance throughout KS3 and KS4 (5 years) misses the equivalent of about one half of a school year.

A study by The Department for Education shows that attendance is likely to affect GCSE outcomes in the following way:

How we support attendance

Good attendance is celebrated by form mentors during PDT sessions and by Directors of Year in assemblies. Certificates and prizes are given to individuals and form groups who have excellent attendance. A weekly prize draw is held for students with 100% attendance and punctuality

Attendance is routinely monitored by the Year Team and Helen Lovell (Attendance Officer).

When the team has concerns about attendance they will write to parents/carers to express their concerns and to discuss how the student can be supported to increase their attendance.

If you would like to discuss attendance with a member of the team, the contact details are below