High attendance lends itself to resilience, excellence and quality aspirations!

Outstanding attendance at Sir Christopher Hatton is an important focus and part of our day-to-day approach to ensure that our pupils have the best life chances.

We monitor every student’s attendance closely and will follow up unexplained absence with parents/carers, by telephone, text or by letter. Where a student’s attendance record reaches a concerning level, we will contact parents and carers to discuss ways in which the Academy can support you and your child. 

Students are given the knowledge to understand correlations between attendance and achievement; this is done through a range of Academy forums and strategies. Our ethos towards attendance is reinforced by a thorough system, with an emphasis on home-school communication. All students are expected to work towards a minimum target of over 96.5% for each academic year.

All routine medical and other appointments must be arranged out of school time. In exceptional circumstances, where an urgent appointment is required or for hospital clinic appointments that operate during the day only, we require sight of an appointment card or letter in order to authorise any absence from school.

The school site and canteen are open to students from 8.00am.

Students should arrive for 8:30am. Any students arriving after 8:30am will be marked as late and can expect to receive a sanction. 

Any student arriving after registration must sign in at Main Reception. 

Since 2013 Headteachers and Principals have not been able to grant any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. Absence will not be authorised for reasons such as shopping for uniform, birthdays, day trips, weekends away etc.

Only exceptional circumstances warrant an authorised leave of absence. Parents/carers should make any request well in advance in writing.  Requests for absence for reasons such as compassionate leave, special family events, sporting or musical competitions, etc., should be made in the same way.

All requests are considered individually, taking into account the circumstances of the request. Other factors will be taken into account, such as:

• The time of year the student will be absent
• The attendance record of the student
• The number of previous requests for leave of absence
• The student’s ability to catch up with missed work

Parents will be notified of the Academy’s decision either by telephone or in writing.

Where a parental request has been refused, and parents continue to take their child out of school, this absence will be recorded as unauthorised. The Academy are also legally obliged to apply to the Local Authority who may issue a Penalty Notice under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003. This may result in a fine of £80 per parent for each child if paid within 21 days, rising to £160 per parent for each child if paid between 21 and 28 days. Failure to pay can result in prosecution in the Magistrates Court. Further legal action may also be taken if the absence persists.

Parents/carers have a legal duty to make sure their child attends school regularly. The Academy are legally required to make referrals to the Local Authority where parents/carers are failing in their legal duty. The Local Authority has the power to enforce school attendance where this becomes problematic, including the power to prosecute parents/carers who fail to ensure their child’s regular attendance at school. If found guilty, parents/ carers could be fined up to £2500 and/ or imprisoned for 3 months.