Smithycroft Secondary School

Dear Parent/Carer,

Attendance Matters

I am delighted to introduce to you our new attendance strategy. It is based on the fundamental principles of: Early intervention, Accurate recording, Parental engagement, Supportive ethos and Everyone working together. A PDF version of our strategy has been sent by Group Call to all Parents/Carers today and is also available below.

Research shows that missing school days directly impacts on the level of qualifications achieved and future employment opportunities. Absence from school can also impact on relationships with peers, health & wellbeing and the sense of belonging. Statistically we know that missing over 10% of the school year (4 weeks) has the worst impact on young people. We fully recognise and acknowledge that there are many reasons for absence from school and understand that families can face considerable challenges that can impact attendance. We are fully committed to providing a positive, high quality, inclusive education that gives every pupil the chance to reach their full potential and we believe firmly in our core values and school vision: We Belong, We Learn, We Achieve.

As outlined in the strategy, Parents/Carers can help us keep attendance accurate in the following ways;

• Please notify the absence line of any pupil absence.
• Contact us to discuss difficulties regarding attendance with our Pastoral Care Principal Teachers.
• Reinforce the message at home that Attendance Matters.

You will soon receive a detailed attendance print out for your child (we are starting this week with S1 and S2) – you will then receive a copy at the end of every month for the rest of the school year. The purpose of this is to highlight any late-coming or attendance issues that you may be unaware of and also to help us correct errors in our attendance recording. Your attendance print out has a series of codes on it.

I have included below the most common codes: