In line with the Department for Education’s guidance, concerns regarding attendance are carried over from one academic year to the next. If your child’s attendance has been monitored during the current school year, this monitoring will continue into the next academic year.

School attendance is hugely important, and regular attendance ensures your child benefits from all the opportunities available to them. This is not just crucial for their learning, but also their wellbeing, and wider development. It is equally important that they attend school on time every day. We understand that there can be many reasons for students to be absent, and we are committed to working with families to address any barriers that may be impacting this.

 

Reporting an Absence / Appointments

Morning Registration
Please report absences from morning registration by using one of the following methods, preferably before 8.20am:

• Telephone the school on 01462 629900 (option 1) or 01462 628041 and follow the instructions for reporting a student absence.

Please do not send notifications directly to tutors, teaching staff, pastoral teams or via the school contact link on our website as this can delay the reporting process and, as a result, absence calls may be sent out unnecessarily.

Please be aware that the software used to contact you if your child is absent, and we are unaware of the reason, will alert the person who is listed as Contact 1 on your child’s records. The external number that you will be called from is: 0114 303 4042 (Sheffield area code). To respond and stop automated calls, please leave a message when called, followed by pressing the # key. Please note that responding to automated calls via telephone or email will not stop calls.

 

Leaving during the school day
If your child needs to leave school during the day, we ask if you are coming onto site to collect them that you come into reception to sign them out. We do need to see an adult in person to sign them out.

If you live locally and are happy for your child to walk off-site, one of our team will ring you before your child leaves so that we can confirm directly with you that they are leaving the site.

In both cases, please follow normal processes to notify us of an absence by providing a note on the day that should include the reason for your child's leaving early, when they will be returning, and which adult will be collecting them from school.

If they have a note that can be shown to teaching staff and reception, you will not need to confirm via email or telephone.

If you have any medical appointment slips / letters that you are happy to share with us, they can be handed in at reception at the time of signing out, or you can send them to amartin@bestacademies.org.uk.
Please feel free to contact the Attendance Office, 01462 628041 if you require any further information.

 

Term Dates

Term dates are published here and may differ from those published by Central Bedfordshire.