Attendance Procedures Explained

Attendance Procedures Explained

If your child’s attendance drops below 95%, you will receive notification via 'Letter 1' (in line with Doncaster's Attendance Policy) informing you that we are concerned about your child's absence from school.

We appreciate that some children have unavoidable medical appointments during term time such as speech and language or hospital appointments, in these instances we ask that you provide a copy of the confirmation appointment letter or text.  We also understand that your childs absence may have been as a result of a medical condition which required time away from school (eg Covid). In both cases we cannot mark a child as present if they are not in school and therefore their attendance will unfortunately be impacted.

Please be aware that we meticulously log the reasons you provide for all absences and in many cases 'Letter 1' acts as a notification of the impact of those absences and if there are no further absences, attendance percentages will improve as the year progresses.  

However, if further absences occur, notification will be made through 'Letter 2' being sent (in line with Doncaster's Attendance Policy)  will be sent. From this point, your child’s attendance will be closely monitored and any further absences may be recorded as 'unauthorised' and advice from the Local Authority Attendance and Pupil Welfare Service will be sought.

If there is no, or little improvement in your child’s attendance, following notification through 'Letters 1 and 2', then the following actions may be taken:

• Invitation to Attendance Support Plan meeting at school 
• Home visit by school staff and/or from an Education Welfare Officer

If attendance still does not improve this may lead to:

• Issue of an Education Penalty Notice warning letter
• Issue of an Education Penalty Notice
• Court Proceedings