Attendance
Attendance is key to academic success, as well as preparing a student for their lives beyond school and into their future careers. Students enjoy their time at Oaks Park High school for a variety of reasons, therefore our overall attendance is very good. We work hard with families to support their son/daughter’s attendance, especially on the rare occasion their attendance is low.
In supporting parents to understand how we manage attendance we have created School Attendance Guide for Parents, which can be downloaded here. This booklet covers all areas of attendance from leave of absence requests to legal proceedings and includes our approach to teaching students about the importance of punctuality.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your child's Pastoral Leader or Form Tutor.
Reporting absences
If your child is not able to attend school then you should contact the Attendance Officer by calling the school directly on 0208 590 2245 and press option 1 if your child is in Years 7-11 or option 2 if they are in the Sixth Form. If your child is absent in school for a medical reason then medical evidence must always be produced.
Please note: Authorised absences still contribute to your child’s overall attendance.
Punctuality
Punctuality is a key life skill for students that translates into the working world and we strive to ensure students are in good habits from a young age. We expect students to attend school on time, every day. Form Time begins at 8:25am, students should be in their year group zones by this time. Students who arrive at the school gate after 8.25am will be marked as late.
Attendance Summary
The general guidance for good attendance is that students should attend school at least 96% of the time. This equates to no more than 8 days of absence across an academic year. Anything less than 90% attendance (around 20 days or more of absence across an academic year), is classed by the government as “persistently absent” and without sufficient evidence to explain this level of absence, families are open to prosecution by the local authority, in this case the London Borough of Redbridge.
The school’s policy for attendance creates effective systems and procedures for encouraging regular school attendance, investigating and resolving the underlying causes of poor attendance and for the early identification of persistently absent students and the prevention of their absence.
The effective implementation of the attendance policy, together with the more general work of the school in ensuring that every student has the best possible learning experience, should ensure that student attendance is high. It is proven by numerous studies that regular attendance at school will help your child get the most from their education and that pupils who attend regularly are likely to develop both academically and socially, leave school with more qualifications, improve their life chances and have greater access to employment opportunities. For these reasons staff members monitor punctuality and attendance at Oaks Park High and take action when concerning attendance patterns emerge.
Parent's Guide to Attendance
Attendance PolicyDfE Guidance - Working together to improve school attendance
