“We’re in school every day, unless we really can’t be”
Attendance Vision
At Chellaston Academy we believe that good attendance supports the school vision of working with Integrity, Care and Excellence. The school strives to provide a welcoming, caring environment, where each member of the school community is treated with unconditional positive regard.
All school staff will work with and support students and their families to ensure each student attends school regularly and punctually. The school target for all students is 95% which means they miss less than 9 days across the school year.
Higher rates of absence can mean a child misses out on the social aspects of school life and may lead to challenges feeling ‘connected’ to the school community.
Missing lessons can make it difficult for a child to stay on top of their work; they may start to feel ‘behind’ and struggle to catch up. This can then have an impact on both their progress and their emotional wellbeing.
90% attendance (the threshold for being ‘persistently absent’) roughly amounts to 1 day of absence a fortnight. This would be a whole month of school missed by the end of the year!
There is strong data-driven evidence to show the direct link between attendance at school and achievement. Among pupils with no missed sessions over KS4, 83.7% achieved grades 9 to 4 in English and Maths compared to 35.6% of pupils who were persistently absent – see link below.
It is never too late to make a ‘fresh start’ and improve attendance; 54% of pupils who missed more than 20 days in Year 10, but then were rarely absent in Year 11 passed at least 5 GCSE compared to 36% of pupils who were persistently absent in both years.
Missing Children, Missing Grades. Children’s Commissioner. Nov 2023
We want all our community to understand that we want to work together to ensure that your child is at school.
Reducing Barriers – Information for parents/carers
How we can help? What can parents do to support?
National School Attendance Award 2024/ 2025
