Attendance at St Antony’s Roman Catholic School
St Antony’s are committed to ensuring the best education and opportunities for every child in our school. Regular school attendance is vital to this. Evidence shows that the students with the highest attendance throughout their time in school gain the best GCSE results. By ensuring your child attends school regularly, you are providing them with the best chance of future success.
Regular school attendance not only supports your child’s academic progress but also helps them develop crucial life skills, resilience, and a strong work ethic that will benefit them throughout their lives.
Ensuring your child attends school regularly gives them the best chance of future success—both academically and personally.
How to Support Your Child’s Attendance
Below are pieces of information for you and your child on fostering a positive culture around attendance:
- talk to your child about how important it is to attend school; ask regularly about how school is going
- inspire them to think about what they would like to be when they grow up, and how school can help with that
- ensure they have a good sleep routine, eat healthily and exercise regularly; help
them to get everything they need ready for school the night before
- use the NHS guidance on illness. https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/ Assess the severity of your child’s condition before keeping them home. Minor ailments, such as coughs or colds, typically improve once pupils are in school with their peers
- book all holidays outside of term time
- book medical and dental appointments outside school hours if possible – and if not possible, ensure your child attends school before and after the appointment
- find out if your child wants to avoid school for a reason that they’re frightened to tell you about –reach out to your child’s form tutor to discuss these reasons further
- we are here to support parents/carers as well as our children. Work openly with your us to address any attendance issues
The Government has published a number of blogs on why school attendance is important and provides advice on circumstances where missing a school day is permitted.
How to Report an Absence
If your child is too ill to attend school, we ask that parents/carers contact school on the first day of absence wherever possible before 8.00am on 0161 911 8025 or email: absence@st-antonys.com. We ask to receive updates from parents/carers each day until your child returns to school. If we do not receive an explanation for a child’s absence, parents/carers will be contacted via text and/or by phone requesting a reason for the absence. Until we have been updated with a viable reason for the absence, it will be recorded as Unauthorised. Home visits will be made if necessary.
Important Attendance Changes from August 2024
From August 2024, the Department for Education (DfE) has introduced new national rules to improve school attendance and ensure consistency across all schools in England. These changes are part of the government’s updated guidance, Working Together to Improve School Attendance, which is now statutory.
One of the most important changes is the introduction of a national threshold for when penalty notices must be considered. If a child has 10 or more sessions (equivalent to 5 school days) of unauthorised absence within a rolling 10-school-week period, a penalty notice may be issued. This includes any reason for absence that is not authorised by the school—such as term-time holidays without prior approval. It is now no longer possible to take a week-long holiday during term time without receiving a penalty notice.
There has also been an increase in the amount parents may be fined. From August 2024, the fine is £80 if paid within 21 days. If it is not paid in that time, it will increase to £160 and must be paid within 28 days. If a second penalty notice is issued for the same child within a 3-year period, the fine will automatically be set at £160 with no option to pay the lower rate. If there is a third offence in that same 3-year period, the local authority will consider further legal action, which could include prosecution and a much higher fine.
In addition to unauthorised absences, parents should also be aware that persistent lateness can result in a penalty notice. If a child arrives after the close of registration (9:15am) on 10 or more occasions within a 10-school-week period, this will be treated the same as unauthorised absence and may lead to a fine.
As a school, we are committed to supporting families and will always seek to work together to understand any challenges with attendance. Before any penalty notice is issued, we will offer support and work with you to identify and remove any barriers to regular attendance. Our aim is to help every child attend school regularly so they can achieve their full potential.
If you have any questions or need support with attendance, please contact the attendance team or your child’s form tutor.
How We Support Attendance
The DfE defines persistent absence as attendance below 90% (equivalent to 19+ days missed per year). Persistent absence disrupts learning and can have long-term consequences.
Persistent absence is where a pupil misses 10% or more of school, and severe absence is where a pupil misses 50% or more of school.
We will:
- Use attendance data to find patterns and trends of persistent and severe absence
- Hold regular meetings with the parents of pupils who the school (and/or local authority) considers to be vulnerable, or are persistently or severely absent, to discuss attendance and engagement at school and offer support
- Provide access to wider support services to remove the barriers to attendance
The EWO will initiate/ escalate intervention procedures in consultation with Head of Years and SLT to support improvement of attendance
| Stage | Action | Person involved |
| Stage 1 | Letter sent to parent by the Head of Year informing them attendance is a cause for concern | EWO |
| Stage 2 | Head of Year meets with parent and pupil | Head of Year |
| Stage 3 | Attendance Officer conducts a meeting with parent and pupil | EWO |
| Pre Panel Meeting | SLT lead for attendance meets with parent and pupil | SLT Lead for Attendance |
| Attendance Panel | Meeting with Headteacher, SLT lead for attendance, EWO and representatives from other relevant agencies if appropriate (School Nurse, Police, Early Help, Community School Officer) | Head teacher, EWO and SLT lead for attendance |
A Penalty Notice can be issued after 10 sessions of unauthorised absence and/or unauthorised late Parents/carers have both a moral and legal responsibility to ensure that their children attend school regularly and on time. Failure to do this may result in parents/carers being prosecuted under section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996.
Lateness and Punctuality
All students must arrive on time and be ready for learning with the correct uniform and equipment. St Antony’s Roman Catholic School is open from 8.00am for Breakfast Club in the school canteen where a range of breakfast options can be purchased. All students must be on site by 8:45am. Any student arriving to school after 8.50am is late. Students who arrive late to school without a valid reason are issued with a same day 30-minute lunch time detention. Text messages are sent out informing parents/carers if their child is late. Poor punctuality can also have legal implications for parents/carers. Students who arrive after 9.15am without a valid reason will be marked as unauthorised late (10 sessions of unauthorised late can result in a Penalty Notice being issued by Trafford Local Authority). When a student has arrived to school late on 5 occasions not counting incidents of instances beyond reasonable control, a letter will be sent home reminding parents / carers of their responsibility to see their child arrives to school on time and informing them school will be monitoring their child’s punctuality closely. Further instances of poor punctuality could result in the school requesting a penalty notice being issued. Any student who is not present during AM registration will receive follow up contact from school should a parent/ carer not inform school to confirm their absence.
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