Attendance Matters

At Higham Lane North Academy we know that pupils who achieve a high level of attendance and punctuality will benefit the most from school. Our aim is to protect learning and challenge absence, where appropriate, to ensure our pupils’ social and emotional development, educational outcomes and academic success.

Percentage Attendance	Attendance Description	Number of days missed in a year
100%	Outstanding Attendance	Zero days missed in a year
98-99%	Good attendance	Missing up to 4 school days a year
97%	Expected attendance	Missing up to 6 school days a year
96-95%	Area for improvement	Missing up to 10 school days a year
94% - 93%	Area of concern	Missing up to 13 school day a year
92% - 90%	Unsatisfactory	Missing up to 20 school days a year
Below 90%	Serious Concern	Missing 20+ school days a year

We have an effective whole school culture for high attendance that is underpinned by clear expectations for all pupils to attend school every day, where possible, to support the whole school attendance target of 98%. At Higham Lane North Academy our school motto is, ‘everyone belongs and everyone is included,’ to ensure that we value all pupils, make them feel welcome and make them feel that they belong. It is important that our pupils know that they will be missed when they are absent or late and we have a range of strategies that we implement following an absence to understand if we need to work together to ensure HLNA is a school where every child is happy to attend.

It is essential that your child aims for excellent attendance. As part of our Home-School partnership, families are required to ensure the following:

Make sure their child attends every timetabled session of each day on time
Call the school to report their child’s absence before 0830 on the day of the absence and each subsequent day of absence, and advise when they are expected to return
Provide the school with more than 1 emergency contact number for their child
Ensure that, where possible, appointments for their child are made outside of the school day
Keep to any attendance contracts that they make with the school and/or local authority
Seek support, where necessary, for maintaining good attendance, by contacting their child’s Head of Year who can be contacted via the school’s telephone number and/or email address.

How to report a child’s absence

If your child is too unwell to attend, you must contact the school on 02476 XXXXX between 08:00 and 08:30 in the morning. A member of our team will answer your call where you can provide a reason for your child’s absence. You will need to call the school between 08:00 and 08:30 in the morning on each day of absence.