Attendance at Islwyn High School

Why Attendance Matters

Regular attendance is fundamental to ensuring that every pupil can access high-quality learning, develop positive relationships and make the progress of which they are capable. Estyn identifies regular attendance as having a positive impact on learner outcomes, standards, progression and emotional and physical wellbeing, while extended absence can have longer-term consequences for a young person’s future opportunities.

Every session matters. For example, an attendance rate of 95% across a typical 200-day school year represents approximately 10 days of absence. For a pupil who has five lessons each day, this could mean around 50 lessons missed. At 90% attendance, approximately 20 days of learning would be missed across the year.

Our ambition is therefore to develop a culture where every pupil attends regularly, feels that they belong and understands the importance of being in school.

Our Approach to Attendance

Islwyn High takes a supportive, proactive and graduated approach to improving attendance. Attendance information is used to identify pupils and groups who may be at greater risk of persistent absence, allowing staff to intervene at an early stage rather than waiting for attendance to deteriorate further.

We use attendance data to:

• identify emerging patterns and pupils at risk of persistent absence;
• focus additional support on vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils;
• monitor attendance at individual, year-group and whole-school level;
• evaluate the impact of interventions;
• work collaboratively with pupils, parents/carers and external agencies;
• celebrate improvements and reinforce positive attendance habits.

This targeted use of data ensures effective practice takes place where we use robust monitoring and a targeted and graduated approach to respond to low attendance among identified pupils.

At Islwyn High, responsibility for attendance is shared across the school. SLT, Progress Leaders, Learning Coaches, the Attendance Officer, FLO and the EWO work together to understand barriers to attendance and provide appropriate support.

Our approach recognises that attendance difficulties are often a symptom of wider barriers. Consequently, our focus is not simply on recording absence, but on understanding the reasons behind it and identifying appropriate support to enable pupils to attend successfully.

Supporting and Celebrating Good Attendance

We believe that positive reinforcement is an important part of developing strong attendance habits.

Throughout the year, pupils achieving 100% attendance are recognised through our attendance rewards, including:

• 100% “Skip the Queue” passes, allowing pupils with full attendance to have a chance to access the school canteen queue reward;
• Pizza Parties to celebrate and recognise groups of pupils who demonstrate excellent attendance;
• regular recognition through pastoral teams and Progress Leaders;
• targeted encouragement and celebration of pupils who make significant improvements in their attendance.

These approaches are intended to recognise effort, reinforce positive habits and celebrate improvement, rather than simply rewarding pupils who have historically had the highest attendance.

Working in Partnership with Families

We recognise that improving attendance is most effective when schools and families work in partnership.

Where attendance begins to cause concern, we aim to communicate early and constructively with parents/carers. We seek to understand the barriers affecting attendance and work collaboratively to identify practical solutions and appropriate support.

The Welsh Government’s attendance guidance emphasises that targeted intervention and effective engagement with families are important in resolving poor attendance. Fixed penalty notices and other statutory measures form part of a wider graduated approach and should be considered alongside support and intervention.

Leave of Absence During Term Time

Parents/carers are asked to arrange medical appointments, family activities and other commitments outside of school hours wherever possible in order to minimise disruption to learning.

Under current Welsh Government guidance, parents do not have an automatic right to take their child out of school for a holiday during term time. Requests for leave of absence are considered individually, and absence for a family holiday should only be authorised where the school considers that exceptional circumstances apply. An agreed family holiday is normally limited to 10 school days per academic year.

Where absence is not authorised, the school will work with the family in line with the school's attendance procedures and the Local Authority's arrangements.

Our Attendance Ambition

At Islwyn High School, our aim is for every pupil to attend regularly and achieve their potential.

We will continue to use accurate attendance information, early identification, targeted intervention, positive recognition and strong relationships with families to:

Identify → Understand → Support → Monitor → Improve → Celebrate

Ultimately, improving attendance is about more than increasing a percentage. It is about ensuring that pupils are present, engaged, learning and able to benefit fully from the opportunities available to them at Islwyn High School.