ATTENDANCE

ATTENDANCE MATTERS

Every Student, Every Day

At Royal Wootton Bassett Academy, we recognise that regular attendance at school is the most critical element in ensuring academic achievement, wellbeing, and wider development. Regular school attendance is key to support pupils mental and physical health. We provide support, raise awareness through our ‘Attendance Matters – Every student, Every day’ ethos and set strong foundations which contributes to the pupils' long-term wellbeing.

Through our commitment to meeting our obligations with regards to school attendance, including those laid out in the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) statutory guidance on Working together to improve school attendance through our whole-school culture and ethos that values good attendance, including:

Setting high expectations for the attendance and punctuality of all pupils
Promoting good attendance and the benefits of good attendance
Reducing absence, including persistent and severe absence
Ensuring every pupil has access to the full-time education to which they are entitled
Acting early to address patterns of absence
Building strong relationships with families to make sure pupils have the support in place to attend school

Attendance is everyone’s responsibility including parents and pupils. To encourage and support good attendance, we ask that:

PUPILS

Be prepared - make sure that your bag is packed and that you are ready to learn
Be here - school starts promptly at 8:30am and all pupils are expected to be in ilearn by that time
Be consistent - attend every timetabled session, on time
Sixth Form (only) students - must email absence line abs@rwba.ascendlearningtrust.org.uk to report their absence before 8.30am on the day of the absence and each subsequent day of absence, and advise when they are expected to return

PARENTS

Make sure their child attends every day on time
Email the school Absence Line – abs@rwba.ascendlearningtrust.org.uk to report their child’s absence before 8.30am on the day of the absence and each subsequent day of absence, and advise when they are expected to return
Ensure that, where possible, appointments for their child are made outside of the school day
Seek support from your year team, where necessary, for maintaining good attendance

REPORTING DAILY STUDENT ABSENCE

If your child is unable to attend school please report your child’s absence via the Arbor Parent App by 8.30am every day your child is absent.

The Arbor App provides a quick and secure way to notify us and helps keep our records up to date in real time. When using your Arbor Parent App further information and guidance can be accessed via the following link:

Arbor Reporting Absence Parent Guide

We kindly ask that you:

ONLY use the Arbor Parent App to report daily student absence. Please DO NOT report absences by calling school reception or emailing.
Report daily absences by 8:30am, every day of your child’s absence. *Only same day absence can be reported. You cannot change the date to report future absences.
Should discuss ongoing medical absences and other long-term absence arrangements with your child’s year team.

REQUESTING A LEAVE OF ABSENCE / HOLIDAY DURING TERM TIME

If you wish to request a leave of absence for your child(ren) during term time, you must do so by completing our official MS Form. Please access this MS Form via the link below:

https://forms.office.com/e/8cUj2L9UdJ

Leave of absence requests will be reviewed individually and exceptional circumstances will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The Academy will provide a decision within 10 working days of receiving the request.

* Requests made through other methods (such as email or paper forms) will not be accepted.

At Royal Wootton Bassett Academy, we believe that every lesson is important & maximum attendance and punctuality are valuable life skills. Taking your child out of school during term time may harm your child’s academic progress.

The Academy will not authorise any holidays or time off during term time, unless that request is considered to be for ‘exceptional circumstances’. The Academy may agree up to 5 days holiday absence in exceptional circumstances with consideration being given to pupil’s attendance, attainment and public examinations.

Where unauthorised holidays are taken, the Academy may refer the case to Wiltshire County Council for consideration of a Penalty Notice.

REMOVING YOUR CHILD FROM ROLL

We understand the decision to remove a child from roll, can be for a variety of reasons. When removing a child(ren) from roll, we require written instruction to do so, in line with statutory government guidelines and support by our Attendance Policy. Royal Wootton Bassett Academy will provide support and guidance to ensure a successful transition.

Royal Wootton Basset Academy have a duty of care to inform the Local Authority, Wiltshire Council, if not instructed to remove from roll and the student is not attending. We cannot remove a student from roll without authorisation from a Parent/Guardian.

Please access and complete the below removal from roll request form, ensuring all sections are completed and full details provided.

Please download our Removal From Roll form here.

POLICIES

Please view our attendance policy here, in line with DFE Working together to improve school attendance-August 2024

KEY CONTACTS

Year 7

Head of Year Mr P Day pday@rwba.ascendlearningtrust.org.uk

Student Manager Mrs D Chambers DChambers@rwba.ascendlearningtrust.org.uk

Year 8

Head of Year Mrs K Penberthy - kpenberthy@rwba.ascendlearningtrust.org.uk

Student Manager Ms K Innes – KInnes@rwba.ascendlearningtrust.org.uk

Year 9