Author: Emma Silvestri-Fox Date: December 2019 Shared with Staff : December 2019 Shared with Governors : December 2019 To be reviewed: December 2021

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Principles: High levels of attendance and excellent punctuality are both characteristics of students who achieve above or in-line with their potential. Research shows poor attendance and punctuality has a serious detrimental effect on outcomes. Attendance falling below 95% has been shown to result in an average reduction of one grade at A level per subject and this increases to two grades when attendance falls below 90%. 

Aims / Objectives

• To improve student attendance and punctuality and encourage students and parents to realise the importance of good attendance and punctuality.
• To reduce to zero the number of sixth form students whose attendance at college drops below 90%.
• To ensure that the proper maintenance of registers and the submission of attendance data, are met.
• To allow effective use of attendance data in the College.
• To give clear guidance on expectations and procedures regarding attendance and punctuality and the taking of registers to all stakeholders.

Expectations

• Students are expected to attend all timetabled lessons (including elective lessons), Registration, Form periods, assemblies and House sessions as part of their contract of attendance.
• It is an expectation that all Sixth Form students maintain a cumulative rate of attendance at 95% or above. The minimum level of attendance is 90% however in order to make adequate progress we expect the majority of students to achieve 95 % or above attendance.
• Sixth Form students are expected to attend fully during the college day from 8.25am to 3.25pm. Home Study is permitted and students may go off-site if they do not have a lesson. Students may also go off site during the lunch period.
• Students are expected to use their study periods to work independently either in Sixth Form Centre, the Library, QSR or in departmental areas with the agreement of the Head of Faculty.

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Procedures Students should be encouraged to take responsibility for:

• Ensuring their own full attendance.
• Being present at all lessons, Registration, Form periods, assemblies and House meetings.
• Being punctual to all lessons, Registration, Form periods, assemblies and House meetings.
• Signing in at the Office if they should be in a lesson but their teacher is absent.
• Signing out at the Office if they leave the premises at any time.
• Giving all of their teachers notice and seeking work for any planned absence.
• Asking their teachers for missed work and catching up after any absence.
• Ensuring that their parents communicate with the office should they be unable to attend.
• Signing in at the Office before going straight to Lesson 1 if they arrive late, where the teacher will record their late arrival.

Parents have responsibility for:

• Encouraging their daughter to achieve full attendance and arrive at school punctually (as per the Sixth Form Home School Agreement) (Appendix 1).
• Arranging family holidays during the school holidays in order to avoid absence.
• Seeking permission in writing from the Head of Sixth Form (for short absences e.g. university visits) or the Principal (longer absences) well in advance (at least 7 days) for any planned absence.
• Trying, wherever possible, to make medical (or similar) appointments for their daughters outside school time. If appointments are absolutely necessary, ensuring that an email or letter requesting absence is submitted to the Head of Sixth Form in advance.
• Monitoring their daughter’s attendance.
• Negotiating an appropriate plan with the College in the event of long-term absence.
• Immediately informing the College by telephone, note or email if their daughter is unable to attend school, giving a reason for her absence.

Subject Teachers have responsibility for:

• Being aware of their obligation to complete accurate registers (See Appendix 2).
• Keeping a head count of all students in class so that in the event of a fire drill or alarm, teachers know how many students should be at assembly point.
• Completing a registration for each lesson and submitting it on SIMS employing the codes specified in Appendix 3.
• Marking students late on the register if they arrive during lesson 1 after register has been taken, checking that they have first signed in at the Office.
• Submitting register immediately should you receive a reminder from Office staff.
• Contacting the Office as soon as possible, using the absence@jcg.sch.je email address and copying in the Heads of Sixth Form, should a student be absent from a lesson without explanation.
• Ensuring lessons are sufficiently stimulating and useful from the moment they start in order to promote punctuality and attendance.
• Promoting good attendance within their lessons.
• Monitoring attendance in their lessons and referring any concerns regarding attendance or punctuality to their Head of Department and the student’s tutor.
• Dealing with individual students regarding punctuality to their lessons.
• Assisting students to keep up-to-date with work should they need to miss or have missed lessons.

Heads of Department have responsibility for:

• Monitoring attendance in their department.
• Checking if there are any patterns of attendance or punctuality which relate to their subject or a particular subject teacher specifically (e.g. a student who is frequently absent for the same lesson each week).
• Supporting subject teachers with any issues related to attendance and punctuality.
• Informing Office Manager of any visits or activities which might require registers to be completed by the office.
• Informing a student’s tutor regarding any concerns relating to attendance or punctuality in the department.

Tutors have responsibility for:

• Promoting good attendance and punctuality amongst their tutees.
• Ensuring that registration (which also acts as morning roll call) is complete by 8.35.
• Ensuring that afternoon registration is completed by 2.20.
• Monitoring the attendance and punctuality of students in their tutor group.
• Discussing attendance and punctuality in academic mentoring sessions either to praise or promote improvement and link with academic achievement.
• Liaising with subject teachers, subject leaders and Head of Sixth Form regarding a student’s attendance and punctuality.
• Contacting parents, in the first instance, should there be any concerns regarding a student’s attendance and punctuality, using the suggested email template provided by Heads of Sixth Form: https://jerseyedu.sharepoint.com/:w:/s/JCG/JCGStaff/Edf1Dm2YaGlJpBt7zzl-xaEBhh28A_tvtFlbmHVCwaJ4Jg?e=WjrTuh (Please see Appendix 6)
• Informing the office of any communication from parents regarding absence of a student.
• Completing afternoon roll call registration on all days using the procedures in place (including assembly day and House day).
• Providing a tutor time that is engaging and purposeful so that students consider it important to attend.

Heads of Sixth Form have responsibility for:

• Checking Sixth Form weekly reports of students with absent codes N, O and G and following up on individual cases as appropriate.
• Communicating to parents when there are concerns about attendance / punctuality.
• Setting up a meeting with parents and student if this action is considered necessary.
• Liaising with parents and negotiating a plan in the event of long-term absence.
• Discussing concerns with Assistant Head teacher Student Progress and Welfare in weekly meeting and contacting parents, using standard letter or as appropriate.
• Supporting tutors and subject teachers in ensuring that students attend lessons and arrive punctually.
• Informing staff in briefings of actions and students to monitor in relation to attendance and punctuality.

College Business Manager / Administration Support has responsibility for:

• Ensuring that morning registration (roll call) is complete by 9am.
• Following up on Ns from AM registration.
• Managing the InVentry electronic sign-in system, including supervising students who sign in late.
• Completing roll calls with appropriate codes (see Appendix 2) should a student be absent.
• Liaising with Heads of Department regarding any visits or activities that may require the office to complete registers.
• Liaising with the Examinations Officer regarding students who are involved in examinations and completing registers as appropriate.
• Checking that lesson by lesson registers are completed by all staff.
• Sending reminders to staff when lesson by lesson registers have not been submitted by the next morning.
• Informing Assistant Head Teacher Student Progress and Welfare if any members of staff persistently fail to submit registers.
• Collating accurate attendance statistics for the Heads of Sixth Form on a weekly basis (including exchange of data with collaboration partners) and completing the initial colour-coded analysis.
• Collating accurate attendance statistics for Assistant Head teacher Student Progress and Welfare when required.

Assistant Head teacher Student Progress and Welfare has responsibility for:

• Communicating and promoting the importance of good attendance and its link with good academic progress throughout the school.
• Supporting the Heads of Sixth Form in ensuring that good attendance and punctuality is promoted throughout the Sixth Form.
• Meeting with the Heads of Sixth Form in order to monitor their analysis of attendance and discuss any concerns.
• Directing staff who persistently fail to submit registers or submit inaccurate registers and referring these cases to the Principal should there be no improvement.
• Communicating serious concerns relating to student attendance to Vice Principal and Principal.
• Monitoring the attendance statistics provided by the Heads of Sixth Form.
• Providing statistics to Principal as required.

Principal has responsibility for:

• Authorising or not authorising, at his discretion, any requests for absence.
• Monitoring attendance in the school.
• Reporting attendance statistics to Governors.

Consequences of poor attendance/punctuality

1. Student will be spoken to by form tutor/subject teacher (Heads of Sixth Form informed)
2. Subject teacher/form tutor will call parents (Heads of Sixth Form informed and parental communication log completed on SIMS)
3. Student will be spoken to by relevant Head of Sixth Form
4. Relevant Head of Sixth Form will call parents
5. Relevant Head of Sixth Form will write to parents
6. Relevant Head of Sixth Form will invite parents in for a meeting and student will be placed on a Sixth Form Contract and will have permission to go offsite withdrawn
7. Principal will invite parents in for a meeting in which a final warning will be given
8. If no improvement, student’s place at JCG may be jeopardised

Relationship to other policies 

External Policies:

• Data Protection

Internal Policies:

• Tracking
• Academic mentoring
• Improving Behaviour

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Appendix 1 – Sixth Form Home School Agreement 

Jersey College for Girls is a selective fee-paying provided school within the provision of the States of Jersey’s Education Department.  Parents / Guardians choose to send their daughters to JCG to benefit from our education and values.  Therefore, in choosing JCG, it is implicit that Parents / Guardians support the College in its expectations.  These expectations are expressed in the Home School Agreement. JCG offers a broad and balanced education for girls between the ages of 11 and 18.  We aim to provide our students with opportunities and experiences to enable them to understand and believe in themselves, to help them to achieve success as they define it and to make a significant and positive contribution to the world in which they live.  We value the abilities of all our students in whichever field they lie, be they academic, creative or sporting and we will support and encourage each individual to find and develop her own personal strengths.  Within our JCG family of students, parents, staff, governors, alumni and the JCG Foundation we are committed to maintaining high standards of education in an environment in which care and respect for others, a passion for learning and the pursuit of excellence can thrive.  

Parents/Guardians As parents/guardians we are committed to:

• Supporting and promoting the values and expectations of JCG.
• Contacting the College at our earliest convenience if we are concerned about our daughter’s education or wellbeing.
• Ensuring that our interaction with the College is conducted in a courteous and professional manner at all times.
• Ensuring that our daughter attends school regularly and punctually during the term-time, aiming for a cumulative rate of 95%. We will notify the school by phoning in before 9.00am if she is unable to attend school for any reason.  We will keep absences for other reasons e.g. to attend medical appointments to a minimum and send in a note to her tutor in advance of the appointment. Arranging to collect our daughter should we be notified by the College that she is unwell and needs to go home.
• We acknowledge that we have no automatic right to take our daughter out of school to go on holiday during term-time and that leave of absence for such occasions must be requested well in advance and is awarded at the Principal’s discretion.
• Ensuring that our daughter attends any off-timetable events as we recognise that these are crucial to developing a rounded education.
• Supporting the College in whatever educational initiative or event it judges to be of benefit to our daughter.
• Supporting the College’s Improving Behaviour Policy (available on the College’s website).
• Supporting the College’s Home Learning Policy, (available on the College’s website) and doing our best to see that our daughter completes the homework set by the College to the best of her ability.
• Supporting the College’s uniform guidelines and Sixth Form dress code by ensuring that our daughter is sent to school correctly dressed.
• Notifying the College of any issues or concerns which might affect our daughter’s progress.
• Recognising the requirement to pay the fees as determined by the governing body by the first day of each term and to give at least one term’s notice of our daughter leaving the College in advance and in writing to the Principal and acknowledging that failure to do so will result in being liable to pay a term’s fees in lieu of notice.
• Attending Parents’ Evenings and other meetings at the College to discuss our daughter’s progress and wellbeing.
• Taking an active interest in our daughter’s education and her life at the College.
• Notifying the College of any changes to our family circumstances or contact details.

The College As a College we are committed to:

• Promoting our values and expectations of learning, behaviour and wellbeing.
• Providing students with a safe and stimulating learning environment
• Providing students with a broad and balanced curriculum.
• Doing our best to ensure that each student can be successful in achieving her goals.
• Communicating with parents in a courteous and professional manner at all times.
• Keeping parents informed about school matters through regular Parent Briefings, information published on the school website and letters, including assisting the governing body to fulfil its responsibility to notify parents a term in advance of any fee increases.
• Providing parents with regular written reports on their daughter’s progress as well as appropriate opportunities to discuss their daughter’s progress face to face with her teachers.
• Providing a healthy, safe and welcoming environment.
• Making every effort to deal promptly and sensitively with issues causing parents and students concern whether raised informally or formally using the College’s complaints procedure.
• Responding to Child Protection or Safeguarding issues as outlined in our policy (available on the College’s website).

Students As a student I am committed to:

• Supporting and promoting the values and expectations of JCG.
• Pursuing every opportunity to learn and achieve my goals.
• Attending school regularly and punctually, signing in at the Office if I arrive late for any reason and signing in and out if I have to leave school to attend a medical or other appointment.
• Attending lessons promptly and with the right equipment.
• Completing my class work and home learning promptly and to the best of my ability.
• Developing my scholarly approach to learning through the completion of 5 hours of additional study per subject per week outside of lessons.
• Adhering to the College’s Sixth Form dress code.
• Treating others with care and respect and adhering to the College’s Code of Conduct and the guidelines laid down in the College’s Improving Behaviour and Counter Bullying policies both in school and when on trips and visits both on and off island.
• I will not be a bystander if I witness a student being bullied. I will intervene or fetch an appropriate adult to intervene.
• Respecting my learning environment by treating equipment and books with care and by not dropping litter or deliberately damaging College equipment or property.
• Recognising that I am a role model for younger students and an ambassador of my College.
• Behaving appropriately at all times.

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Appendix 2 - Extract from Fire Advice issued by Jeremy Harris and Roy Bedson, Education Policy in relation to Fire Safety.

• In addition to School Secretary keeping up-to-date registers in the School Office, all class teachers should be responsible for keeping a head count of all students, so that in the event of a fire drill or alarm, all teachers know how many students should be at the assembly point and this head count can be compared with the School Secretary’s records
• There should also be another person allocated to obtain the records if the School Secretary is temporarily unavailable for any reason
• Schools may have their own procedures for maintaining a written register (e.g. keeping an up-to-date printout of names with the School Secretary)

Our interpretation.

• In the events of a full school evacuation for fire or any other reason, the responsible person or their delegate in the Admin Office will take the InVentry and office mobile device with them to the assembly point. InVentry are updated with visitor information and sign-out records of students and staff. The office mobile device will allow access to SIMS and students records, including attendance records.
• All class teachers are be responsible for keeping a head count of all students, so that in the event of a drill or alarm, all teachers know how many students should be at the assembly point. Teachers should take their school mobile devices with them as the mobile device will allow access to SIMS and students records, including attendance records.

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Appendix 3 - Procedure in the event of a Sixth Form teacher being absent (planned or unplanned)

• Students register at the office before logging in to Show My Homework to collect the cover work. They may then either stay in classrooms or go to study areas to work.
• If cover work has been given to students prior to the lesson in the event of planned absence students should sign in at the office and go to work in study areas.

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Appendix 4 – Registration guidance and codes Registration guidance Unless an alternative symbol has been entered by the office and you follow it, please only use the symbols as per below. Please don’t worry about the ‘P’, ‘V’ etc. on the SIMS screen. 

AM Registration 8.25am

Scenario	Action
Student is present	/
Student is absent and office have pre-entered a symbol	Enter the same symbol as that entered by office
Student is absent	N
Student arrives late (8.30 or after register has been submitted)	Send to the office to sign in
Student has music/exam/sport/ other activity in school but no symbol entered by office	N

Lesson 1 onwards

Scenario	Action
Student is present	/
Student is absent and office have pre-entered a symbol	Enter the same symbol as that entered previously by office
Student is absent	N   Get message to the office Absence@jcg.sch.je
Student arrives late	L
You know the student has music/exam/sport/ other activity that is in school as you have spoken to them or seen a list to say they are involved.	Q

PM Registration 2.00pm (1.50pm on a Tuesday)

Scenario	Action
Student is present	/
Student is absent and office have pre-entered a symbol	Enter the same symbol as that entered by office
Student is absent	N  Get message to the office Absence@jcg.sch.je
Student arrives late	L
Student has music/exam/sport/ other activity in school but no symbol entered by office	N

Attendance codes – for full detail please see Operational Guidance for the Service Delivery of Education Welfare Team in Jersey

Present	/	Use this if the student is in your lesson and on time
Unauthorised absence	O	Do not use this
Late	L	Use this if a student arrives for a lesson late unless it is morning registration when the office will enter lateness when you have already marked student as ‘N’
Educated off-site	B	Only use if code has been pre-entered by office
Other authorised	C	Only use if code has been pre-entered by office (this usually means that the student is authorised to not be in school for an exceptional reason; office staff to enter the reason when they pre-enter the C code)
Dual Registration	D	Only use if code has been pre-entered by office
Unauthorised Holiday / Leave	G	Only use if code has been pre-entered by office
Approved holiday  / Leave	H	Only use if code has been pre-entered by office
Illness	I	Only use if code has been pre-entered by office
Medical Appointment	M	Only use if code has been pre-entered by office
Approved Sporting Activity	P	Only use if code has been pre-entered by office
Religious observance	R	Only use if code has been pre-entered by office
Study leave	S	Only use if code has been pre-entered by office
Late - 30 minutes after register	U	You should not have to enter this one
Educational visit/trip	V	Only use if code has been pre-entered by office
Work experience	W	Only use if code has been pre-entered by office
Interview	J	Only use if code has been pre-entered by office
No Reason yet provided	N	You should use this one when a student is not present in your lesson and no code has previously been entered by the office. If it is not registration, you should contact the office to see if they know where the student is.
Not required to attend	Q	Present in school but not in your lesson for a legitimate reason (e.g. sitting an exam).

The main codes you should use are / or N for AM registration. In subsequent lessons, the office should have already given a code (e.g I /S/M etc.). You should continue with this code for your lesson.

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Appendix 5 - Procedure for Monitoring of Sixth Form Attendance 

Teachers will:

• Enter any student not present as an N.
• Email absence@jcg.sch.je for each N entered from lesson 1 onwards, copying in Heads of Sixth Form
• Please do not email for absent students during AM registration or period 1.
• Amend register to L if student arrives late at any point during period 1 and ensure that student has signed in.

The Office will:

• Provide sign in lists for Sixth Form lessons where the teacher is absent and enter these registers.
• Run an Ns report at 9 for AM registration and follow up on students who have been marked as N; if following up after 8.35 office staff should check the sign in book in case student has arrived late and signed in before they try calling home.
• If a student arrives late, after 8.35 they should sign in at the office and go to their lesson where the teacher will mark them as ‘L’.
• College Business Manager produces a weekly attendance report for which is analysed with colour-coding by administration support and sent to LMS/SM (to forward to tutors).

Heads of Sixth Form will:

• Follow up tutors who consistently have several students marked as an N for form time
• Spend some time each week looking at the attendance report and following up on students who have a pattern of Ns / a growing or concerning number of Ns

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Appendix 6 - Suggested wording for tutor email to parent regarding attendance 

Dear Parent Your daughter's attendance has slipped below 95% on more than one occasion in recent weeks; I have discussed this with her and know that I can count on your support in maximising her attendance in the remaining weeks of this term. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss further. Regards, Tutor