At Bishop Fox’s School, we are committed to providing an education of the highest quality for all our young people and recognise that this can only be achieved by supporting and promoting excellent school attendance.
This is based on the belief that only by attending school regularly and punctually will young people be able to take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them. We know that lost learning can have a significant impact on academic performance and wellbeing. Students who do not have good attendance often find it challenging to catch up on what they have missed, and this can lead to further reluctance to attend. Together, we must work closely to avoid this negative cycle and encourage our young people to thrive.
We believe that staff and parents must work collaboratively to ensure the best outcomes for our young people. If your child is finding it difficult to attend, please contact their tutor, Head of Year, Pastoral Lead Officer or, our attendance officer, Mrs Abson urgently to let us know. We are committed to working with you to remove barriers and ensure all young people can reach their potential.
If your child is too ill to attend school, please use the Class Charts app to notify us. If you need to speak to our staff about the absence, please ask for a call back in your Class Charts message and we will get back to you as soon as we can. You can also use the Class Charts app to see your child’s punctuality and attendance of each lesson every day; we would encourage you to talk to your child about this.
Whilst we do not expect students to work at home if they are too unwell to attend school, we understand in some circumstances that students may be able to access some learning from home. Students have immediate access to Oak National Academy lessons here for a range of subjects to ensure they do not fall behind with their learning.
The Local Authority only allow us to authorise term time absence in exceptional circumstances. Please complete the term time request form and submit it in good time. It is unlikely that we will be able to authorise your absence and, if a child has an unauthorised absence, a Warning Penalty Notice may be issued on behalf of the council.
We know that there is a national attendance issue and that there are many challenges facing our young people. Please get in touch if we can help.