Attendance and Punctuality

• You send your child to school every day that the Academy is open.
• You send your child to the Academy even if feeling a little unwell or not at their best.
• If your child is ill, contact the school on the first day of absence and each day thereafter.  You must also provide an explanatory note on their return to school.
• All absence, of three days or more should be supported by a doctor’s note/medical evidence – this can include copies of medication boxes/cases that have been prescribed with your child’s full name and date. 
• Ensure the Academy has up to date addresses and telephone numbers. This is also a serious safeguarding matter and is required (if ever needed) in the event of an emergency.
• If you are contacted because your child is too unwell to remain at school, your child is to be collected by a named carer/contact person. They will not be permitted nor authorised to leave and travel unsupervised.
• Avoid trivial absences such as “buying new shoes”.  This would not be accepted as a reasonable absence and would be recorded as ‘unauthorised absence’.
• Attempt to ensure that medical appointments are made outside of school time.
• Respond to school letters or telephone calls regarding attendance and punctuality.

• We will contact you if your child is too unwell to remain at school and needs to be collected and taken home.
• We will contact you if your child is absent and you have not contacted the Academy.
• We will challenge you and provide support when attendance drops below 96%. 
• Any unauthorised absence in a week will result in your child placed on Attendance Monitoring Report to their Mentor. 
• Any absence beyond three consecutive days with no contact from you will result in a home visit from a member of Academy staff.
• Persistent Absence could result in further support from any of the following levels of support/challenge: your child’s Year Leader, Attendance Officers, Academy Leadership Team, Associate Principal, and Kent County Council Attendance Enforcement Team. 

• Genuine illness - you will need medical evidence if this is beyond three consecutive days and your child’s attendance remains above 96%.
• Genuine illness - you will need medical evidence if this is beyond one day absence and your child’s absence is below 96% before the absence.
• Unavoidable medical/dental/orthodontist appointment.
• Death of a close member of the family.
• Religious observance.

• Tiredness.
• Feeling unwell.
• Illness of parent.
• Refusing to come to school.
• Any involvement in social disagreements with peers/bullying claims.
• Birthdays or anniversaries.
• No clean uniform.

In accordance with DfE guidance Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey supports a national policy of not authorising any holiday requests in term time. The national education system already provides thirteen weeks of school holiday time; family holidays are expected to be taken in this period. 

Parents/Carers wishing to apply for leave of absence for their child which is not a planned term time holiday should download the Request for Leave of Absence Form or write a letter of application, clearly stating the dates and reasons for the request, to the Attendance Manager, Mr Rob Bennett.  All requests are considered on an individual basis within DfE Guidance and are awarded at the discretion of the academy Leadership. 

Being late makes a difference!

The table below shows the impact of being late for school. 

A child that is 5 minutes late for school every day will lose three days of schooling over the year. 

Attendance and puntuality go hand in hand.  

Students need to be at the Academy by 8:20am to start Period 1 at 8:30am.