Djanogly Northgate Academy is proudly recognised as an Inclusive Attendance school. Our unwavering commitment to attendance centres around child-centric actions, evidence-informed practices, and a shared understanding of everyone's roles and collective responsibilities to promote exceptional attendance. You can learn more about what Inclusive Attendance means here: Our Inclusive Attendance Model

We believe that good attendance at school has a direct impact on good progress and achievement. It is important for children to attend regularly in order to maximise both their learning and their social and emotional development.

Children who miss a lot of school may feel left out and will not have the same shared experiences as their classmates and may find it difficult to follow what is going on in the classroom. Missing school trips, special events and break time may affect their ability to make friends at school. Being in school gives students more time to interact with teachers and classmates. Irregular school attendance is a contributory factor to social exclusion and underachievement. We expect children to attend regularly and arrive on time.

Who to contact

Our school attendance officer is Mrs Sarah Scholes.

Mrs Scholes is based at the main gate every morning if you would like to speak to her about any concerns you have. You can also contact Mrs Scholes on:

s.scholes@northgate.djanogly.org or by calling the school office.

Late arrivals

• Gates are locked at 8:55am each morning, so children arriving after that time need to enter via the main entrance.
• Children arriving after the gate has closed must sign in at reception. Their time of arrival will be noted and recorded.
• Registers will close at 9.15am.
• Please note, in line with government guidance, any children who arrive after the register closes will receive a ‘U’ code which will then be marked against their attendance.
• If a pupil is recorded as having 10 lates within a 10-week period, we will refer to Education Welfare services.
• If you are struggling to get your child into school on time, please inform the office and our inclusion and attendance team can support and advise. For example, we could discuss transport, routines, breakfast club and explore all available possibilities to support you.

Absences

If your child is unable to come to school, please ring the school office on 0115 9156896, option 1, before 9:15am to let us know the child’s full name, class, and reason for the absence.

As per our school attendance policy (which can be found at the bottom of this page), once a child has been absent for 3 consecutive school days, we will conduct a home visit. This is purely in a supportive capacity and is nothing to worry about. We also reserve the right to conduct a home visit on the first or second day of absence if we feel it is necessary.

When we conduct a home visit, the attendance officer and/or a DSL will visit your home, usually before 12pm, to speak with the child and the parent/carer. This ensures we keep good channels of communication, listen to you, understand any barriers that might be affecting attendance and offer support.

Reasons for Authorised Absence

• Illness (call school on the first morning of the absence, and every day they are absent until they return)
• Medical appointments (call the school - evidence must be provided)
• Any exceptional circumstances can be considered by our attendance team when a request has been submitted.

For any absence apart from illness and medical appointments, a leave of absence form must be completed. You can collect a paper copy of the form from the school office or download it here: Leave of Absence Request.

If you take your child out of school without completing a form, the absence will automatically be unauthorised.

As a school, we reserve the right to authorise or unauthorise absences depending on circumstances, and are within our right to request evidence. For any absence to be considered, we must be informed of the absence in advance via the leave of absence form.

Championing and rewarding attendance

As a school, we also want to champion and reward attendance. This includes persistently high attendees but also pupils who have made significant improvement.

• We complete a weekly class attendance review, and the highest attending class will receive a reward, which is announced in assembly every Friday.
• At the end of every term, we reward pupils who have high attendance or have made significant improvements, with an in-school treat.
• We reward attendance with termly certificates and badges. We have 4 badges to collect over the course of the school year:
  • Bronze (awarded in Autumn)
  • Silver (awarded in Spring)
  • Gold (Awarded in Summer)
  • Iridescent (awarded in Summer – 100% attendance)
• At the end of the year, before we break up for summer, we hold a big event for all high attenders, and for the students that we believe have made significant changes to improve their attendance.

Here are some useful resources for parents from our Inclusive Attendance Model:

• Supporting children who struggle to go to school
• The Anxious Child - Learn more about anxiety in children and young people
• Top tips on how to talk to your children about their feelings
• You're never too young to talk mental health
• Mood diary
• Ten ways for parents to help children cope with change

We would also like to share some attendance videos with some key messages. School attendance establishes a structured routine in children’s lives, teaching them time management and responsibility, which are valuable life skills. Please watch our attendance videos for more information:

Miss School - Miss Out (English version)

Miss School - Miss Out (Punjabi version)

Miss School - Miss Out (Polish version)

Miss School - Miss Out (Arabic version)

Miss School - Miss Out (Urdu version) 

Miss School - Miss Out (Romanian version)