Attendance Matters: Make every day count...

At High Storrs School pupils attending school for 190 days in any year will achieve 100% attendance; this will leave 175 days for holidays. Please help us to help your child achieve their full academic potential and progress by ensuring they are in school each school day for 8.40am. For your child's safety and education, please keep us updated with any information that means your child is not in school.

Attendance and the Law

Parents have a legal responsibility to make sure their child gets a full time education and that they are present and punctual for each school day. The Local Authority meet regularly with school around pupils with low attendance. School attendance is expected to be a minimum of 97%, with parents whose child is falling below 92% at risk of:

• Being issued with a fixed penalty notice of £120 (£60 if paid within 21 days)
• Being fined up to £2500 or imprisoned
• Having a parenting order, this would mean attending a parenting class

Further information can be found at Sheffield City Council's website - Attendance Guidance for Parents

Holidays in Term time

Parents do not have the right to take their child out of school for holidays during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. Any absence without agreement will be classed as unauthorised and will go down on your child's record. Unauthorised absences can lead to fixed penalty notices and/or prosecution. Exceptional circumstances do not include discounted holidays. To find out more about the government changes visit www.education.gov.uk

What must I do if I want to request exceptional leave during term time?

A request needs to be made on an term time leave form, also available from the Student Reception, MUST be completed and returned to the main school office at least 20 school days before the expected leave. School will inform you of the outcome with regards to the request by letter with 10 school days of receiving the form. Please do not hesitate to contact the school if you wish to discuss this further.

Please be aware that the family of schools is working closely together to tackle unacceptable term time leave and there is a consistent approach from across the schools. Fines will be issued where leave is not deemed exceptional.

Please be aware that our Attendance Team make regular visits to pupils homes when there is a prolonged pattern of absence, even if we receive notification that a child is ill.

Attendance & Punctuality Q & A

What if my child is ill?

Please call the school attendance voicemail line on 0114 267 0000 (option 1 - Y7-Y11 / option 2 - Y12-Y13) each day your child is absent, before 8.40am if possible, and tell us why your child is absent.

What if my child arrives late?

If your child arrives late to school they must sign in at the Student Reception before going to their class so they are accounted for in case of fire or other emergency. 

Punctuality detentions will be set for the following day. If a pupil is late on a Monday, they will be given a detention for Tuesday, lunchtime. If the child misses said detention, it will be escalated to either Tuesday or Thursday after school. 

What about a medical appointment?

Where possible these should be made after school or in the school holidays. Alternatively try and make the appointment for the beginning or end of the school day in order that your child can achieve their attendance target. Collect your child shortly before the appointment and return afterwards where possible. You must email the school to inform the Attendance Team of the appointment otherwise your child will be unable to sign out. An appointment card, letter or text needs to be shown to the Attendance Team to allow the absence to be authorised. We do not allow full days learning to be lost because of a short medical appointment.

Absence alerts

The school will send out a text to parents whose child is absent from school where absence has not been reported. This is a safeguarding measure to ensure all the young people have arrived safely. Please help us by contacting school and informing us immediately if your child is not going to be in school and the reason for absence. If you receive a text alert please respond immediately. Please help us by ensuring all your contact details are up to date especially mobile phone numbers, we know that these change regularly and we are not always informed.

As an additional safeguarding measure where absence is unreported, a member of staff from school may carry out a home visit to establish the reasons for absence.

Attendance letters and support

The Attendance Team will send out letters regularly to inform parents/carers when attendance falls below the school expectation of 97%. This is so you are aware of your child's attendance level and that they cannot afford further absences from school. Medical evidence is required for absence to be authorised by the school.

Where attendance continues to be a concern, our staff may look to meet with parents/carers to discuss these issues.

School want to help and support our pupils and families, so please inform us if there are any issues or concerns that are impacting on school attendance.

What is an Unauthorised Attendance?

In line with the Minerva trust policy, no absences are recorded as I (illness) or M (medical) unless medical evidence is provided to support these absences. An I and O (unauthorised absence) code affect a student's overall attendance exactly the same way.

When a reason is given by parents/carers we input this into the register, and it would only be picked up by attendance if it became a concern. The codes that are inputted into the register are for schools' purpose and do not mean that parents/carers are not believed but helps us to identify those with attendance concerns quickly. 

We would not except you to seek a GP for minor illness such as cold/sore throat/headache etc. unless you felt the need to and would advise students to come into school, these are not illnesses the school deem necessary to have full or continue absences for. Medication is permitted in school if needed if symptoms worsen, they can report to the medical room and seek support from our designated medical assistant.

Approved Sheffield City Council school calendars can be found here