Attendance

Good attendance and punctuality are essential for students to make excellent progress and achieve highly in lessons. The target attendance percentage for each child is 96% and we expect all students to be on the school site by 8.20am every day.

If your child is ill, you must inform us as soon as possible by using the My Child At School (MCAS)  or email to attendance@middtech.com. The school will message you at 9.15am if your child is absent from school without explanation. They will follow this up with a phone call if you don’t respond to the message by 11am.

If your child’s attendance or punctuality drops below our targets then you will be expected to attend one of our half termly Attendance/Punctuality Panels which are supported with our Educational Welfare Officer (EWO). This panel will allow us to work together to ensure attendance is improved and academic progress is back on track.

If your child’s attendance falls to 90% or below they are classed as a Persistent Absentee. Any student who falls below this figure (without an official medical explanation) will be immediately passed on to the EWO and pursued vigorously by all means available to the school.

Holidays in Term Time

The Department for Education (DfE) has announced significant changes to legislation in relation to leave taken during term time.

The law now says that Principals may not grant leave of absence during term time unless they are satisfied that the circumstances are exceptional and warrant granting the leave.

A holiday during term time will not be classed as exceptional; No term time holidays will be authorised.

However, parents who find themselves in very exceptional circumstances regarding holidays may ask the Principal. This decision is totally at her discretion and will not exceed 5 days.

Penalty Notice Protocol Regarding Term Time Holidays

Please be aware that parents will  receive a Penalty Notice fine from the Local Authority for taking their child out of school during term time without consent from the school.

Penalty Notice Protocol for Non-Attendance

A penalty notice may be triggered by 10 unauthorised absences (equivalent to 5 days) within a 10-school-week period. This could be for example: 4 sessions of holiday taken in term time plus 6 sessions of arriving late after the register closes all within 10 school weeks). These sessions can be consecutive (e.g. 10 sessions of holiday in one week) or not (e.g. 6 sessions of unauthorised absence taken in 1 week and 1 per week for the next 4 weeks). The period of 10 school weeks can also span different terms or school years

The fine for school absences is now £80 if paid within 21 days, rising to £160 if paid within 28 days. A second notice within three years will cost £160 with no early payment discount. Further unauthorised absences may lead to prosecution, with fines up to £2,500 or potential imprisonment. There is no right of appeal by parents against a penalty notice

As a school we must be able to account for all student absences throughout the academic year and be able to justify them to the Local Authority. All schools are expected to take appropriate actions to ensure parents are aware of the change, to adopt firm policies and processes to ensure the impact of this legislation is to reduce authorised absences during term time. We fully appreciate the financial implications this might have on families taking holidays, particularly during school holiday times and we align our school holiday dates with those of Rochdale to help with this

Attendance-Policy 24
pdf, 653.4 KB

Latest News