Link to the Meridian Trust Attendance policy can be found here: Trust Policies
We wish to work in partnership with parents and carers and seek your full support in ensuring that your child attends the academy every day, on time.
Attendance is extremely important to us at Meridian House because research demonstrates high levels of attendance and punctuality are crucial in ensuring students achieve their best academically and socially. Meridian House is striving for excellence for your child, therefore, for a student to reach or exceed their potential, a high level of attendance is essential.
| Absence Reporting Email: | MeridianHouse@meridiantrust.co.uk | ||||
| Absence Reporting Tel Number: | 01234 783178 | ||||
| LA PN Code of Conduct Link: | PN contact with home school | ||||
| Arrival from | 8.55 | Arrival closes | 9:25 | Must arrive for CREW by | 9:20 |
| AM Official Register Opens/Is Taken at:(by law this cannot be left open for more than 30 mins & an absence must be recorded thereafter) | 9:20 | ||||
| Children who arrive during the AM registration period will be deemed late and coded ‘L’ after: | 9:50 | ||||
| AM Official Registers Close:Children who arrive after this time, will be recorded as unauthorised late (U code) or authorised absence (e.g. M code for medical) both of which affects % of attendance negatively. NB. U codes can contribute to potential legal action. | 9:50 | ||||
| PM Official Register Opens/is taken at: (by law this cannot be left open for more than 30 mins & an absence must be recorded thereafter, most academies only have a short 10-15 mins PM register period due to children already being on site) | 12:30 | ||||
| Children who arrive during the PM registration period will be deemed late and coded ‘L’ after: | 12:45 | ||||
| PM Official Registers Close:Children who arrive after this time, will be recorded as unauthorised late (U code) or authorised absence (e.g. M code for medical) both of which affects % of attendance negatively. NB. U codes can contribute to potential legal action. | 13:00 | ||||
| Main Roles Responsible for Attendance Improvement: | Name: Leanne Drake | Email Contact: ldrake@lincroft.academy | |||
| Headteacher | Leanne Drake | ldrake@lincroft.academy | |||
| Senior Attendance Champion (on SLT) | Leanne Drake | ldrake@lincroft.academy | |||
| Attendance Officer | Lincroft Academy – N ReeveSharnbrook Academy- D BuszkaTFS- P McCrossan | Lincroft Academy NReeve@lincroft.academySharnbrook Academy DBuszka@sharnbrook.academyTFS PMcCrossan@theferrers.org | |||
| Attendance Admin | Michelle Britz | MBritz@sharnbrook.academy | |||
| Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) | Leanne Drake | ldrake@lincroft.academy | |||
| SENDCO | Thom JohnsonElizabeth NicholsAlison Hunt | TJohnson@lincroft.academyENichols@sharnbrook.academySENDCO@theferrers.org | |||
| Academy Councillor for Attendance | Academy Councillor at Home school | TFS: James Birch: Safeguarding and Welfare Champion and Post 16 ChampionLA: Phil McCarthy Safeguarding, Welfare & SupportSA: Not stated, Chair Rob Robson | |||
| Other Roles Responsible for Day-to-Day Attendance Improvement & Support: | Name: Michelle Britz | Email Contact MBritz@sharnbrook.academy | |||
| E.g. Asst Principal, Senior Tutor, Student Support Advisor etc | Leanne Drake | ldrake@lincroft.academy | |||
The target attendance figure for all students is 100%.
There are a number of important steps that you can take as parents and carers to ensure your child maintains a high level of attendance
- Ensure your child attends every day, on time, equipped and ready to learn.
- Ensure we have up to date addresses and telephone numbers. We will contact you by text, through parent mail or by telephone if your child is absent and you have not contacted us.
- If your child is ill, contact the us every day your child is absent and provide an explanatory note on their return.
- If no contact is received regarding an absence, it is recorded as unauthorised. Ultimately, Meridian House is responsible for deciding if the absence is authorised or not. (For your information, a Penalty Notice may be issued in relation to a child whose attendance at school is less than 90% including unauthorised absences over a given period and a range of interventions have been implemented by Meridian House to raise the attendance.)
- Only genuine absence will be authorised. You will be asked to provide medical certificates and/or proof of medication if your child has a poor attendance record.
- Ensure that medical appointments are made outside of school time as far as possible.
- Respond to letters or telephone calls regarding attendance and punctuality.
- Contact Meridian House if you are experiencing difficulty in getting your child into school.
The DfE has confirmed that:
- If a student has an attendance level above 90% this is not regarded as ‘regular’ attendance. Schools/academies should not set a minimum attendance target as 100% should be expected.
- Legislation requires us to take legal action against parents/carers who fail to ensure their child attends school at a level of 90% and below, overall/accumulative, or for a specific period, eg. 90% overall = 19 days of absence throughout the year.
- As set out in the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024, that headteachers continue to have the power to authorise leave of absence, but only in exceptional or unavoidable circumstances and each case should be considered on its own merits.
- Family holidays are not allowed to be taken during school term time. While family holidays are enriching experiences, the school year is designed to give families the opportunity for these breaks without having to disrupt their children’s education. It is for schools to consider the specific details and relevant context behind each request. Schools know their students best and are well placed to make those judgements.
Meridian House, and all other Meridian Trust academies, continue to support Local Authorities (LA) with improving attendance by using sanctions for absences which fall into the above criteria. This is under the powers of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 (amended 2012).
- Penalty Notices
Penalty Notices fines were introduced under Section 23 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 and are issued under The Education (Penalty Notices) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2007 & amendments 2012, 2013 & 2024. The fines are set by the Government; the school does not receive the fine, and they are used as an alternative to prosecution where a parent is given the opportunity to discharge their liability by paying the penalty. All Penalty Notices are issued as per the academy’s Local Authority Code of Conduct.
Parents must have received a warning that a Penalty Notice may be considered prior to one being issued. When the absence is due to a single period event, e.g. a Term Time Absence of 10 unauthorised sessions or more, due to non-exceptional reasons (e.g., holiday), parents will have received a warning either advising them their request is not authorised or they have not followed due process and the absence taken is not authorised, and both letters would state a Penalty Notice will be requested.
Where the absence is for a multiple absence period, and it is deemed that support may be required to help the family improve the attendance, a meeting must be offered to discuss what support may be required. This will often include the offer of an Early Help Assessment or other LA Early Help Pathway Referrals, and it may also include an Attendance Contract where the school and wider support networks can collaborate to pool resources. An Attendance Contract can run alongside an early help pathway or as a standalone support pathway just to address attendance.
Once it has been identified that support is not something that is required or wanted, a Legal Warning Letter must be issued giving notice to parents that attendance must improve. A timescale in which to demonstrate significant improvement in attendance will be given in the letter so that attendance can be monitored before a legal sanction is issued.
Only 2 Penalty Notices can be issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within a 3-year rolling period (the 3-year period starts 19th August 2024). If there is need for further action following 2 Penalty Notices being issued, alternative action should be taken instead e.g., prosecution in the Magistrates’ Court or other formalised legal intervention.
Penalty Notices are currently (as @ Sept 2024) £160 per child, per parent, if paid within 28 days of receipt of the notice but this is reduced to £80 per child, per parent, if paid within 21 days of receipt of the notice.
Following the receipt of all required documentation the Local Authority will decide whether to issue the requested Penalty Notice(s). The Local Authority will liaise directly with the Academy at each stage of following a penalty notice being issued. If the penalty is not paid in full by the end of the 28-day period, the Local Authority must either prosecute or withdraw the notice.
Where a 2nd Penalty Notice is issued to the same parent in respect of the same child the Penalty Notice will be charged at a flat rate of £160 to be paid within 28 days (no reduction for early payment will be allowed). Further offences will be dealt with by prosecution in the Magistrates Courts.
Please Note:
- If the LA feel a Penalty Notice would not be effective, they can decide not to offer parents the opportunity of a Penalty Notice and take a case through the prosecution route instead. They may do this where they see repeated absence patterns, even if the individual absence events do not meet the national absence threshold.
- Only the Local Authority can withdraw a penalty notice and they can only withdraw it if; it ought not to have been issued i.e., no offence was committed; it has been issued to the wrong person; or it contains material errors.
We felt it would be useful for you to have the above information to assist you to make good choices in respect of your child’s absences from school. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you in anticipation of your support to improve our student’s attendance levels and progress.
Holidays and Authorised Exceptional Absence from School
Family holidays are no longer allowed to be taken during school term time. Families who take their children out of school for holidays without permission may be fined. However, there are situations where the Principal may use discretion to authorise the absence in exceptional circumstances. If you feel that such a holiday meets these criteria, please write to or email the Principal.
Further details about government policy and advice on this matter is available here
The Term Time Absence Request Form for Exceptional Circumstances (2 pages) and Legal Information can be found below:
Attendance and Support Information
Trust letter: Sept 25 Trust Attendance Letter.docx
