ATTENDANCE

Please call 015394 40810 to report your child absent.
Thank you for helping us to keep your child safe.

Excellent attendance is a key factor in helping you achieve well at The Lakes School. Every year a significant number of students achieve 100% attendance, they always make very good progress and we enjoy reward them handsomely for attending school all year. We recognise that for some students maintaining 100% attendance is a challenge, particularly through illness or medical issues. We would encourage all students to keep their percentage attendance up as near to 100% as possible so that they can take maximum advantage of the excellent teaching they receive at The Lakes School.

We have 190 teaching days in the school year and taking just 10 days off due to illness or family commitments can drop your attendance down to just below 95%. Just 5 days off in the year can quickly drop your attendance down to approximately 97%. Students who make the best progress in school generally have an attendance figure that is higher than 97% and we would encourage everyone who attends The Lakes School to try and keep their attendance above this figure. It’s not only the students who achieve 100% attendance that we like to reward and, should you achieve an attendance figure of 97% or higher, we will also be rewarding you through house and whole school assemblies.

Government research from the Department of Education indicates that 16 days of absence, or 92% attendance in any one year, equals a full GCSE grade drop in attainment.

Attendance During One School YearDays Absent in the YearWhich is Approximately Weeks AbsentWhich is this many lessons missedAnd Means Persistent Absence Over 5 Years
95%9.5 Days2 Weeks50 Lessons1/4 of a Year
90%19 Days4 Weeks100 Lessons1/2 of a Year
80%38 Days8 Weeks200 Lessons1 Year
70%57 Days11.5 Weeks288 Lessons1 1/2 Years
60%76 Days15 Weeks375 Lessons2 Years
50%95 Days19 Weeks475 Lessons2 1/2 Years
Welcome message from our Attendance Officer

Dear Parent,

Attendance

Thank you for choosing to send your child to The Lakes School.  We look forward to working in partnership with you to support the development of their academic and social skills, enabling them to achieve personal success in the future. Regular and punctual school attendance is crucial in helping students achieve well at The Lakes school, allowing them to take maximum advantage of the wide range of educational opportunities – academic and enrichment – available to them. At The Lakes School we reward and celebrate good attendance: we have a school merit system and also issue awards in our end of term celebration assemblies.

I have detailed below some key information which I trust you will find useful. You can also view a table which shows the impact of a student’s absence from school. Our full Attendance Policy and Procedures document is available on our website and this can be requested from school should you need a copy. If you have any concerns or comments regarding your child’s attendance that you wish to bring to our attention, please telephone me on 015394 40810, ext. 235.

How can you support your child’s school attendance?

  • Ensure that your child attends school every day, or as near to every day as possible. Also ensure they are in school by 8:40 am, to arrive at Tutor Time by 8:45 am.  Your child is responsible for arriving promptly to all lessons in the school day.
  • Where possible, medical and dental appointments are scheduled for outside of the school day. Where this cannot be avoided, please ensure that the amount of time your child is off school is kept to a minimum, for example, by arranging for them to be in school promptly before and after the appointment.
  • In respect of holidays, please try to arrange these for within the school holidays, rather than taking your child in term time. Details in respect of applying for term time leave of absence, in addition to the request form, can be found in our Attendance Policy & Procedures document and also on our Attendance page on our website.

Notification of Absence

If your child is absent from school, due to safeguarding we will need to make sure we have heard from you as to why your child is absent.  You must notify the school as soon as possible on the 1st day of absence and any subsequent days, giving a reason for the absence.  This can be done by:

Telephone:       015394 40810

Email:               attendance@lakes.cumbria.sch.uk

As a school we monitor students’ attendance to ensure that attendance issues are identified at an early stage and to ensure that support is put in place to address any difficulties.

Yours sincerely

Mrs P Garcia Trillo

Attendance Officer

First Day Calling
Should a student fail to turn up to school in the morning and we are not sure of the reasons why, we will make a phone call to their parents to establish that they are safe. This is an extremely important part of the way The Lakes School cares for your child and safeguards their well being. We will always endeavour to contact parents before 10am if we are unsure of the whereabouts of a student.

Please help us to avoid unnecessary worry by always informing us if your child is going to be absent. Thank you.

Medical Appointments
Fitting in medical appointments around work and school commitments can prove quite challenging but we would like to encourage all parents to minimise the amount of time their child misses through medical appointments. If possible, we would like all students who have a medical appointment on any given day to attend morning and afternoon registration and as much of their lessons as possible before being collected and taken to a medical appointment. For example, should you need to take your child to an appointment at 10.30am we would like to encourage you to send your child into school on that day so that they can register and attend lesson 1 and then be collected later on in the morning. We recognise that this may not always be possible but we would like to urge you to try and minimise the amount of lesson time missed due to medical or dental appointments.
Holidays during term time
In accordance with national guidelines and our school attendance policy, we will not authorise absence for family holidays. In exceptional circumstances we may well take certain factors in to consideration but as a matter of course please do not be offended if you request authorisation for a family holiday and we refuse that request. Typically, holidays taken during school term time will be recorded as unauthorised on your child’s attendance record. In accordance with our school and Cumbria County Council policy, where absence exceeds 5 days during any period or year, we may choose to refer your case for prosecution through the Local Authority.

If you would like to request permission for leave of absence for your child then please download and complete the Leave of Absence Request Form below, returning it to school reception for the attention of our attendance team.

The Lakes School in the heart of the lakes