Attendance

Attendance and Punctuality

Good attendance is linked to both students’ happiness and their academic achievements in school. At BHS we want all our students to attend school every day so that they give themselves the best chance of being successful.
Research has shown that those students with 100% attendance are more likely to secure the best grades at GCSE. In fact, students with no absence are 1.5 times more likely to achieve 5 or more GCSEs at the top grades, and are almost three times more likely to achieve 5 or more GCSEs including English and Mathematics than students who have missed 15-20% of lessons. Similarly, students who progress to further study beyond Year 11 will also find that good attendance is crucial in order to secure the best outcomes.
Our ultimate objective is to ensure that students are ‘work-ready’ by the time they leave school at the end of Year 11. Any employer will tell you that good attendance is at the core of being a reliable employee. So we want all of our students to aim for 100% attendance and to take every opportunity to be successful and prepare for the road ahead.

The ‘attendance thermometer’ on this page illustrates just how important it is for students to be in school every day. Thank you for continuing to work with us to ensure that learning time is not lost.
Punctuality

Good punctuality is also essential for students’ progress. Students who are late for school miss learning and develop bad habits resulting in them being unprepared for the world of work. Each half term, those students who have been regularly late will be placed on a monitoring report with further action taken to support improvements.
If you are experiencing any difficulties that are affecting your child’s attendance, the school would like to work with you to support you. Please contact the school in the first instance.

Illness

We understand that on occasions students may have to miss school due to ill health.

We ask that parents:
1. Adopt a resilient approach to illness. Please only keep students off school when it is absolutely necessary.
2. Contact school by telephone on the first day of absence by 8.40am indicating the expected date of return.
3. Send in a written explanation for the absence on the students return, to be given to the form tutor.

In cases of persistent or prolonged absence, school may require medical evidence e.g. doctors note to explain the absence.

Medical appointments

Medical/dental appointments should be made out of school hours to prevent disruption to learning.
When this is not possible, please write to your son/daughter’s form tutor with the appropriate evidence e.g. letter / appointment card.

Term Time Holidays

The Government changed the Education (Pupil Registration) Regulations in relation to term time holidays on 1st September 2013.

As a result, Head Teachers can no longer allow any leave of absence during term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. This means that holidays in term time will not be authorised and will be marked as an unauthorised absence in the school register.

Unauthorised absences may result in a Penalty Notice being issued under the provisions of the Education Act 1996 (as amended) which means that you could be fined for your child’s absence.

The issuing of Penalty Notices relates to any unauthorised absence. Authorisation of absence is at the Head Teacher’s discretion and if your child is absent for any reason such as illness, you may be required to provide school with evidence of the absence such as a medical appointment card or prescription.
Information on penalty notices is also available on the NYCC and DFE websites.