Attendance
Attendance Matters at Corby Business Academy
Corby Business Academy has high expectations of student attendance.
We believe encouraging school attendance is one of the most powerful ways you can prepare your child for success, both in school and in life.
Making school attendance and punctuality a priority helps your child to maximise their potential, develop important socials skills and avoid dangerous behaviour.
Student attendance is measured as a percentage. This refers to the proportion of days that a student attends out of the 190 possible school days per year. The poster below shows the number days and lessons that a pupil will have missed were their attendance to fall below 100%.
At Corby Business Academy, we would not expect any student’s attendance to fall below 97%. Pupil’s whose attendance remains between 97% and 100% are in the best position to achieve the top grades in their GCSEs and A-Levels. Students whose attendance drops below 94% will have missed 2 weeks of school. This has a significant impact on GCSE results:
- Pupils with no absence are over twice as likely to achieve 5 or more GCSEs at grades 5-9 including English and Mathematics.
- The students with the highest levels of attendance are almost 5 times more likely to achieve 5 GCSEs at grades 5-9 including English and Mathematics
- Students with a rate of attendance lower than 95%, have lower 50% chance of gaining 5 or more GCSEs at grade 5-9 including Maths and English. Only 35% of pupils whose attendance is lower than 90% gain 5 or more GCSEs including England and Maths.
- Students with 100% attendance have almost 75% chance of gaining 5 or more GCSEs at grades 5-9 including English and Maths.
All students will know their attendance colour, current attendance percentage and position on the diamond.
If your child is having difficulties attending school, please contact your child’s Head of Year as soon as possible, as most issues can be dealt with very quickly.
Yassine Elhasbaoui - Head of Year 7
yassine.elhasbaoui@corbybusinessacademy.org
Barney Glaze - Head of Year 8
barney.glaze@corbybusinessacademy.org
Shannon Sutton - Head of Year 9
shannon.sutton@corbybusinessacademy.org
Natasha Barstow - Head of Year 10
natasha.barstow@corbybusinessacademy.org
Kelly Herbert - Head of Year 11
kelly.herbert@corbybusinessacademy.org
Matt Smith - Head of Sixth Form
matt.smith@corbybusinessacademy.org
We wish to work in partnership with parents/carers and so are seeking your full support in ensuring that your child attends school every day and on time. We are always pleased to work together to resolve any difficulties, and we are committed to improving attendance levels.
Attendance Intervention Model
Reporting Absence
Parents/carers should contact the Academy every day of their child's absence before 8.30 a.m.
To report an absence telephone 01536 303120, select option 2 to speak with our Attendance Officer or option 3 to speak with our reception team. Please do not leave a voicemail message and persevere if the phones lines are engaged.
Alternatively you can email the Attendance Officer at studentabsence@corbybusinessacademy.org with the following information:
- Student Name
- Year Group
- Absence Reason
- Day of Absence
- Parent/Carer Name
- Parent/Carer Contact Number
- Parent/Carer Email Address
If an explanation for an absence is not received, it will be recorded as unauthorised and an unexplained absence text message will be sent from the Academy or a telephone call will be made. A home visit may occur as a follow-up action.
Request for term time absence
Request for term time absence
Before booking a holiday, remember you could be at risk of a penalty notice fine if you take your child out of school during term time.
There is no longer a provision in law for Headteachers to authorise an absence for the purpose of a term time holiday however there are exceptions for ‘exceptional circumstances’. This is at the discretion of the Headteacher’s judgement.
To request leave in term time and if you feel that you have an exceptional circumstance, please email studentabsence@corbybusinessacademy.org
Please confirm the reason for the term time absence, the date that the absence will begin and the date of when the child is expected to return to school.
Student Sickness Policy - In School Protocol
If a student feels unwell, whilst they are attending the Academy site, they must report to a member of the Senior Leadership Team – this can be done via their class teacher during lesson time or by approaching a Senior Leader directly during break or lunch.
When this occurs a student’s condition and circumstances will then be checked, with the Senior Leader involved then considering the situation and liaising with parents or carers. If it is agreed that the student should go home, this will be clarified with a named adult from our student contact details list.
Students must then be collected by an adult, who is again named on the students contact list. If this is not possible, the Academy will need written confirmation and permission stating the adult who will be acting as the person responsible for supervision and collection.
Please note that students should not be contacting parents or carers directly during school hours via mobile phones, we need to manage safeguarding protocols and ensure that we control records of students arriving on and off site.
Medical Appointments and Evidence
In the case of unavoidable medical or dental appointments and in accordance with Brooke Weston Trust policy, we will require medical evidence in order to authorise these absences.
We accept the following as medical evidence that details the time and date of the appointment:
- Appointment letter/slip
- Text message or online booking confirmation
Please can we be informed of planned medical or dental appointments at least 1 day prior to the appointment. This notification, along with medical evidence, can be emailed to studentabsence@corbybusinessacademy.org.
Parents/Carers Responsibilities
Ensure your child comes to school every day, on time, equipped and ready to learn. Students should be in the building by 8.35 a.m. and sat down by 8.40 a.m., when morning tutor time begins. Students arriving very late will be marked absent and will require an explanatory note or the absence will remain unauthorised.
Ensure the school has up-to-date addresses and telephone numbers. We will contact you if your child is absent, and you have not contacted the school. This ensures your child’s safety and any truancy is quickly identified. Persistent lateness is monitored and affects the overall attendance figure for each student. Consequences are the same for those students with low attendance.
The Attendance Team
Amy Harris – Assistant Principal for Student Care, Safeguarding and Attendance
amy.harris@corbybusinessacademy.org
Elliott Hanna – Attendance Officer
elliott.hanna@corbybusinessacademy.org
Laura McCluskey – Attendance Support
laura.mccluskey@corbybusinessacademy.org
Fixed Penalty Notice
Fixed Penalty Notice
The Government’s priority is to ensure that every child attends school regularly and where attendance is deemed to be unsatisfactory, that it is addressed promptly. There is clear evidence that any absence can and will have an impact on attainment. It is therefore important that schools maintain good attendance levels and that parents/carers support this by ensuring their children attend school regularly.
What is a penalty notice?
A penalty notice (PN) is an alternative to prosecution and requires the parent(s) to pay a fixed amount as a fine for their child’s irregular attendance at school. It is issued per parent, per child.
Who issues them?
In Northamptonshire the Local Authority issues them through the Educational Inclusion and Partnership Team following notification from the school.
When are they used?
-
When a pupil has a minimum of 10 school sessions recorded as unauthorised in a 6-school week period; (a school day is two sessions -morning and afternoon) or
-
When a pupil has a series of unauthorised absences leading to irregular attendance
This includes:
-
Any absence marked in the register as unauthorised.
-
Persistent late arrival at school after the register has been taken and is recorded as an unauthorised absence.
-
An absence in term time which has not been authorised by the head teacher. The Government has directed that head teachers may only grant leave in exceptional circumstances.
-
PN's can also be used during the first 5 days of exclusion. Parents are made aware of the consequences by letter when a child is excluded from school.
Penalty notice costs
|
When you pay |
Amount to pay |
|
Payment within 21 days |
£60 |
|
Payment within 22 days and 28 days |
£120 |
If you don’t pay within the 28 days the Local Authority will consider instigating a prosecution in the Magistrates Court for the offence of irregular school attendance. If proven this could result in a criminal conviction, fine of up to £1000 per parent per child and/or a parenting order or a community service order and also costs.
Please note
If the school refers a period of absence that is longer than 15 consecutive school days, the Educational and Inclusion Partnership team may consider that a penalty notice is not appropriate.
In these instances, the matter may proceed to a prosecution. If a parent knows that their child is failing to attend school regularly and there is reasonable justification for not ensuring that their child attends then it is for the parent or carers to prove that reasonable justification.
Attendance FAQs
What are the timings of the school day?
When are the school holidays?
The school term dates are published on our website. You can find them here.
What should I do if my child is ill?
If your child is unwell and unable to attend school, you must inform the school as soon as possible (before 8.30 a.m.).
To report an absence telephone 01536 303120, select option 2 to speak with our Attendance Officer or option 3 to speak with our reception team. Please do not leave a voicemail message and persevere if the phones lines are engaged.
Alternatively you can email the Attendance Officer at studentabsence@corbybusinessacademy.org with the following information;
- Student Name
- Year Group
- Absence Reason
- Day of Absence
- Parent/Carer Name
- Parent/Carer Contact Number
- Parent/Carer Email Address
My child has a medical appointment – what should I do?
Please can we be informed of planned medical or dental appointments at least 1 day prior to the appointment. This notification, along with medical evidence, can be emailed to studentabsence@corbybusinessacademy.org.
We accept the following as medical evidence that details the time and date of the appointment:
- Appointment letter/slip
- Text message or online booking confirmation.
I have received a letter, or been invited into school, about attendance. Should I be worried?
If we have written to you or invited you into school for a meeting, it is because we want to work in partnership with you to improve your child's attendance. Poor attendance affects your child socially as well as academically and we will discuss what we can do to help you and your child to ensure they are coming into school regularly. We ask that parents/carers do their best to work with us so that any issues can be resolved as quickly as possible and do not escalate.
My child does not want to come to school. What should I do?
Parents/carers have a duty to ensure that their child of statutory school age is receiving an appropriate education. If your child does not want to come to school then we need to discuss this so that we can look into the reason(s) for this and work out what we can do to help. If your child is having difficulties attending school, please contact your child’s Head of Year as soon as possible, as most issues can be dealt with very quickly.
Yassine Elhasbaoui - Head of Year 7
yassine.elhasbaoui@corbybusinessacademy.org
Barney Glaze - Head of Year 8
barney.glaze@corbybusinessacademy.org
Shannon Sutton - Head of Year 9
shannon.sutton@corbybusinessacademy.org
Natasha Barstow - Head of Year 10
natasha.barstow@corbybusinessacademy.org
Kelly Herbert - Head of Year 11
kelly.herbert@corbybusinessacademy.org
Matt Smith - Head of Sixth Form
matt.smith@corbybusinessacademy.org