PUNCTUALITY

There is a clear link between attendance and punctuality and attainment. The more time a pupil spends in school the more likely they are to improve their opportunity to fulfil their full potential. 

 

How can you help! 
 

• Ensure your child is at school and ready to learn before the bell rings each day  

• Students should be at their line up point between 08.35am- 08.40am ready for tutor time that begins at 08.45am  

• Make sure school bags are packed the night before and that your child gets up with plenty of time to eat and get ready.
   

Being late doesn’t only affect your child, it disrupts other children in the class as well as the teachers trying to teach a lesson. However, if you do think you are going to be late, please do not keep your child off school for the rest of the day. Being late and in school is better than being absent and missing out. If your child is late for a genuine, unavoidable reason please phone the school office.  

 

Punctuality to lessons is also extremely important. The start of a lesson is when important recall activities take place to ensure learning gaps are filled. Students have an allocated 5-minute transition period from one lesson to the next, all students should be in their lesson before the start of lesson bell, or they will be classed as late. Students who are late throughout the day will make up their lost time over lunch and after school. 

 

The Law 

 

A school has to take a register of all pupils first thing in the morning and sometime during the afternoon. The Government allows schools to decide how long the registers will remain open, this is generally around 30 minutes, however this may be for a shorter period.  

​

If a pupil arrives late to school but whilst the register is still open, they are marked as late (L on the attendance register). We believe that teaching students, the vital skill of reliability is important for them to achieve their full potential in school but also to support them for the wider world where punctuality is very important for employers and further education settings.

​

If a pupil arrives at school after the register has closed, without a satisfactory reason, this may be classed as an unauthorised absence (U code on the attendance register) and may lead to prosecution for not ensuring your child has regular school attendance.