Attendance & Punctuality

An interim attendance policy related to Covid-19 is in place for the academic year  2020-2021. Please read it here:  Attendance Addendum

Positive patterns of attendance are very important to ensuring your child is successful with us.

All pupils are expected to attend on a regular daily basis during term time unless they are ill or their parents have informed the academy of an authorised reason for absence. All pupils should arrive on time for the start of the academy day (8:50am). It is not acceptable to arrive later than this unless parents have notified the office of an authorised reason, i.e a visit to the doctor, dentist.

If your child is ill, please inform the office on the first day of the absence, giving the reason for the absence. If we do not hear from you we will attempt to establish contact via text or phone call.

If your child becomes ill, or has a serious accident, we will contact you by telephone, so it is important that you ensure we have your up-to-date contact details. If we are unable to contact you we will contact another adult from your contact details. Minor accidents will normally be reported to you at the end of the day via a red accident reporting slip.

Leave of absence Term Time

The DCSF guidelines specifically state that leave of absence during term time taken for the following reasons should not be authorised:

• availability of cheap holidays
• availability of desired accommodation
• poor weather in the academy holidays
• overlap with beginning or end of term.

The Directors of Yarborough Academy, many of whom are parents at the academy, are aware of the effect absence in term time has on overall attendance and, potentially, the achievement of pupils. Before requesting leave of absence during term time please consider the following facts:

• A pupil who is authorised to take 10 days holiday during one whole academic year will only attain 94.7% attendance
• There is a strong link between the amount of absence and the results/qualifications that a pupil achieves.
• Every lesson matters – children who have time off often find it difficult to catch up and make expected progress.

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We would urge your support in this matter and ask you not to take your child out of the academy for any reason, except the most exceptional of circumstances.