Attendance & Unauthorised Absence

Student attendance to school

Central to raising standards in education and ensuring all students can fulfil their potential is student attendance to school. Missing out on lessons leaves students vulnerable to falling behind. Students with poor attendance tend to achieve less in both primary and secondary school. (School attendance: guidance for schools 2020)

At Kingsmead school we monitor student attendance very closely. We understand that there are additional factors affecting student attendance to school during the pandemic and analyse each student and their context on an individual basis. We work alongside our pastoral team to offer a nurturing environment which supports students who have issues with attendance due to factors outside of their control and we endeavour to work with families to get students into lessons and learning.

Student absence requests

If your child has an appointment during school hours, you must submit a note requesting an authorised absence along with evidence of their appointment at least one week before the appointment date. If evidence is not received in advance of the appointment, we will not grant their absence.

The absence request and evidence can be submitted via email to attendance@kingsmead.org or handed in by your child directly to the Attendance Officer in the main office.

Doctor and dentist appointments are encouraged to be booked outside of school hours to avoid unnecessary loss of learning time. Orthodontist, hospital, medical and extenuating circumstances will be considered.

Student absence

If you child is absent from school due to illness you must call the attendance line on 0208 351 5003. Please leave a clear a message explaining the reason for their illness and their name and form.
If you do not contact the school your child’s absence will be recorded as unauthorised. When a child is absent we will always send a daily text informing you of their absence.

When a child is absent, we carefully evaluate their context to ensure all factors are taken into consideration and we fully understand the reason for their absence. This is a two-way process with clear communication between the parent/carer and attendance team.

Like any school, we follow a protocol for students who do not attend school and who do not have a sufficient reason for their lack of attendance.

Our procedure is outlined below:

It is imperative that we work together to safeguard and oversee your child’s attendance to school.

If you have any questions about attendance, please email attendance@kingsmead.org