Overview
We are very fortunate to have an amazing body of staff who deliver excellent lessons and provide fantastic opportunities for students, but it is widely documented that the single biggest indicator of a student’s performance at GCSE is their attendance throughout secondary school.
When your child misses a day of College, they miss five lessons each time. When this happens, it means that it is difficult for them to catch up on missed learning, and to engage in the following lesson when they have knowledge gaps. The more often this happens, the harder it becomes:
- Even at 96% attendance, a student misses 45 lessons over the course of the academic year.
- At 90%, a student will have missed nearly 100 lessons over the year, and is likely to achieve an entire grade less in each of their GCSEs than they are capable of.
- At 80%, a student has missed nearly 200 lessons over the year and is likely to achieve two grades lower in each of their GCSEs.
- Nationally, only 35% of those with attendance between 80-90% will achieve 5 good passes at GCSE including English and Maths.
We greatly appreciate the support of parents and carers in reinforcing the message about the importance of attendance and ensuring that students are in College ready to learn every day. Our attendance, pastoral and House teams are always happy to support with improving students’ attendance to College.
The IVC Attendance Procedures Policy can be viewed on the IVC Website via College Policies. Please do take the time to read this policy.
Reporting Absence
Medical Appointments
Please report all medical appointments by the following means at least 24 hours in advance if possible:
The Attendance Team will make a note on your child’s registration, which will then allow teaching staff to release them from their lesson if this is during the College day. Students will then be required to sign out or back in at the Attendance Office.
Illness
Please report as above by 9:00am on each day of the absence.
Punctuality
Please can you remind your child that a prompt start at 9:00am is required for registration. Being on time also reduces interruptions to the class and the loss of teaching time.
If your child is late to College, up to 9:15am they should promptly make their way directly to the period 1 class and they will be registered by the teacher of this class. Students that arrive after this time should sign in at the Attendance Office. Up to 30 minutes late will be coded as Late. Students that arrive after registers have closed at 9:30am will be recorded as a U code which is unauthorised absence.
Late to College and during the day will be monitored and sanctioned when appropriate.
Term Time Absence
The Government remains very clear that no child should miss school apart from in exceptional circumstances. Parent/Carers are strongly discouraged from taking students out during term time. The Principal may only grant term time absence in very few circumstances. Family holidays are not included in this.
To apply for term time absence for exceptional circumstances please follow the link Absence Request Form.
The form should then be emailed to This must be submitted to the Attendance Team as least 10 college days before the absence is to take place. If the College does not receive an application on this form, the Principal will be unable to consider your individual circumstances and the absence will be recorded as unauthorised. There will be no obligation on the Principal to reconsider authorising the leave if an application has not been made in advance.
The College is obligated to follow the DfE and Local Authority guidelines, therefore when unauthorised term time absences take place a Penalty Notice will be applied for and issued by the Local Authority.
Please note if 3 or more term time Penalty Notices have been issued over a 3-year period then prosecution in relation to Section 444 Education Act 1996, will be considered as an alternative to a Penalty Notice fine being issued by the Local Authority. Where a parent/carer takes a child out of school during term time for an extended period (20 days or more), not authorised by the school, prosecution in relation to Section 444 Education Act 1996, will also be considered.
The fine for a penalty notice is £80 per child, per parent/carer, increasing to £160 if not paid after 21 days but within 28 days for pupils who are of statutory school age. If a penalty notice remains unpaid, parents may be the subject of court proceedings for failing to ensure the regular school attendance of their child(ren). This could result in a fine of up to £2,500 and/or a term of imprisonment of up to 3 months per parent. If a second penalty notice is issued for the same child within a three-year rolling period, the fine is automatically £160. For a third penalty notice within a three-year rolling period, the parent will automatically be listed for prosecution in relation to Section 444 Education Act 1996. Where a parent takes a child out of school during term time for an extended period (20 days or more), not authorised by the school, prosecution in relation to Section 444 Education Act 1996, may also be considered.
