Attendance

“Pupils with no absence are 2.2 times more likely to achieve 5+ GCSE grades 4-9 or equivalent including English and Mathematics than pupils that missed 15-20% of their lessons”

This section outlines how to report an absence, inform us of an unavoidable medical appointment, request leave for your child as well as to inform you of our morning punctuality expectations.

Bingley Grammar School aims to ensure that all its students access a full-time education which meets their needs and allows all to realise their potential. As such we expect all students to aim for 100% attendance, with a 97%+ target!  Whilst understandably children can get poorly and may need to be off school, it is vital this is not the case for minor illnesses and students return as soon as they are well enough to without delay. The school maintains the highest expectations for its students and we ask that parents support us with this by ensuring their child is in school every day and on time ready to learn.

Appointments

Wherever possible can medical/dental and other appointments be arranged out of school hours. Proof will need to be provided and these should rarely take a full day. Please send your child to school before the appointment, sign out and return to school after their appointment.

Medical

The School has a full time workplace first aider on site. If a student is unwell, parents will be contacted to collect their child from school. In more serious cases, or where an injury requires further investigation, the first aider will ask parents to take the child to hospital. In an emergency, the first aider will send directly for an ambulance and contact parents immediately.

Requesting a Student Leave of Absence

Any requests for leave under exceptional circumstances must be made by completing an e-form which can be found here: https://bradford.gov.uk/LOAForm

*This form must be completed and submitted at least 2 weeks in advance of the proposed absence.*

Please note that we cannot grant a leave of absence retrospectively.

The school can only grant an agreed leave of absence for an agreed period of time under exceptional circumstances.

As most leave of absence requests made by parents to the school surround absence for family holidays it is important that we clarify the statutory regulations that the school must follow. Section 38 of the legislation states that the DfE does not consider a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance. This makes it clear that, in the legislation,  family holidays or travel do not count as exceptional circumstances and as such the school is unable to authorise them.It has been brought to our attention that the Local Authority is responding to holiday enquiries from parents by saying that the headteacher has the power to authorise holiday absence. As you can see from the above paragraph, this is far from the case and I am constrained by the statutory legislation. Only exceptional circumstances can be considered as per Section 38.

Penalty Notice for Student Leave of Absence

If a leave of absence is not approved by the school or LA and your child is still taken out of school, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised. This could lead to a penalty notice. The fine is £80 per parent, per child, rising to £160 if the penalty notice remains unpaid after 21 days. If a parent receives two fines for the same child within three years, there is no option to pay at the discounted rate, the fine will be £160 per parent, per child. If a parent receives two fines for the same child within three years, further fines will not be issued, and legal action such as a parenting order or prosecution may be considered.

If a child is taken out of school for 20 or more school days without permission, Bradford Council may choose to prosecute parents directly through the magistrates’ court, without first issuing a penalty notice. If found guilty, parents could face a fine of up to £2,500 per child, per parent, a criminal record, and in rare cases, a custodial sentence of up to 3 months. These serious consequences reflect the importance of regular school attendance for your child’s education and wellbeing.

Lateness

The School gates close at 8.30 am.

Any student arriving after this time should go to student reception and register before going to their form time. Students who are late to school, more than once after 8.30am are issued with a Friday Attendance detention that finishes at 4.15pm. If a child is late due to extenuating circumstances, we expect parents/carers to make contact with school to explain the reason why as otherwise the detention will still stand.