Attendance

Our job at Trinity Academy is to prepare your child for life. The well-planned Academy curriculum looks at the child as a whole person, preparing them for adulthood, relationships and the possibility that one day they may become a parent.

Our aim is to give learners knowledge and wisdom to make an informed decision. Positive school attendance is central to raising standards in education and ensuring all pupils can fulfil their potential.

Pupils who attend school on a regular basis and offered access to high-quality teaching and learning opportunities will usually leave school with qualifications and access to greater employment opportunities. The links between attendance and achievement are strong, and high levels of attendance at school should be the right of each pupil.

Trinity are focused and striving to improve our overall Academy attendance. We believe in a proactive approach, this will be supported if we can reduce the percentage of our population who fall into PNA (persistent non-attendees) category.

In keeping with recent legislation, our guidance is as follows:

95% and above is good attendance, whereas a learner with 90-95% would be deemed a poor attender. If a learner’s attendance drops below 90%, the Government classes them as ‘persistent non-attender’, and legal monitoring of attendance can occur. In order to prevent this, and ensure that your child is attending school as much as possible, we offer help from our experienced staff team. We understand that it is not always easy to get your child into school every day.

If you are experiencing any difficulties in maintaining your child’s attendance, which you would like to discuss with us, please contact the school, or let your child’s tutor know. We will do our best to help you.

In addition, your child may be allocated an attendance caseworker who will work with them on an individual basis in order to try and improve their attendance.

Important Attendance Information

Recent changes in school attendance legislation have led to the following amendments in Newcastle LEA attendance monitoring criteria.

The amendments adopted by Trinity Academy are as follows:

  • Any learner falling below 90% attendance, may be referred to the local authority and, as a result, may be subject to the legal monitoring process.
  • All term-time holidays are unauthorised.
  • Any parents/carers taking learners on holiday during term time may be referred to the local authority and as a result, may be issued with a Penalty Notice.

Responding to Persistent Non Attendance

Stage 1 - U95% Letter

For any learner whose attendance falls below 95%, an initial attendance letter will be sent to inform parents / carers that attendance is below 95% which is a prompt and an offer of support to improve attendance. If parents / carers want to discuss reasons why attendance has dropped below 95% they can contact the school to do so.

Stage 2 – Non Improvement Letter

If after a learner has received a stage 1 letter and after monitoring, attendance has failed to improve or has decreased further, a follow up Non Improvement Letter will be sent to parents / carers to inform them. This letter informs parents / carers that school will continue to monitor the situation and will be in touch again if it does not improve which may lead to a Parenting Contract meeting being arranged to discuss support for improved attendance and possibly a referral to the Local Authority Attendance Team.

Stage 3 – Parenting Contract Meeting

If after a learner has received a stage 2 letter and after monitoring, attendance has failed to improve or has decreased further, a follow up letter requesting a Parenting Contract meeting will be issued. This is a further opportunity for parents / carers to discuss with school any concerns regarding the learners attendance and look at possible solutions to try support them attending school more regularly. The offer of external support via Early help can be offered at this stage to support the family if required.

Stage 4 – Legal Monitoring

If a Parenting contact meeting is not attended or if after attending the meeting attendance has failed to improve or has decreased further, A letter will be sent to the parents / carers to inform them that a referral to the Local Authority Attendance Services will be made. All information will then be sent to the Local Authority Attendance Officer who will then make contact with the family in regards to monitoring the learners attendance. School will need to provide weekly attendance data to the Local Authority in line with it Legal Monitoring procedures and if the learners attendance does not improve, the Attendance Team can issue a Fixed Penalty Warning Notice to parents / carers.