Why attendance matters:
Regular school attendance is one of the most important factors in your child’s success. When children attend school every day, they benefit from consistent learning, build strong friendships, and develop positive routines that support their well-being. Good attendance helps them achieve better grades, stay on track with the curriculum, and access all the support and opportunities school offers. In the long term, children who attend regularly are more likely to gain higher qualifications, secure good jobs, and enjoy greater life chances. Every day in school really does make a difference—both now and for their future.
Many of our students are missing out on their education, enrichment opportunities and life skills due to persistent absence. Analysis shows that there is a pattern of significantly lower attendance every Friday for all year groups and days around school Holidays.
Parents/carers should understand that attendance is a serious issue for children at our school. Absence at Lea Valley Academy is higher than the national average and this impacts on outcomes for children individually and the school as a whole.
Whilst we are aware of individual circumstances, we will continue to actively seek to enforce the necessary legal actions to address absence where improvements are not seen and/or parents do not engage with or recognise the legitimate concern.
Legal parental obligations and the right to full time education
When parents register a child at a school, the have the legal duty to ensure their child attends school regularly, parents and carers commit an offence if a child fails to attend regularly and absences are not authorised. This means their child must attend school every day the school is open, except in a small number of allowable circumstances such as being too unwell to attend or being given permission for an absence in advance from school.
Fixed Penalty Notices
Continued unauthorised absence may lead to you being prosecuted for your child’s non-attendance. Prosecutions may result in fines of up to £2,500 per parent per child. You may also run the risk of receiving a Penalty Notice for your child’s continued unauthorised absence. This means that for students with unauthorised absence from school (i.e. any absence that the school has not given permission for) then you as their parent/carer may be subject to a prompt fine of either £160 (28 days). Or £80 (21 days).
Penalty notices will be used as a deterrent to prevent a pattern of unauthorised absence developing. They will be issued by post to a student’s home after just one warning and cases of absences without acceptable cause will also include excessive holidays in school term time and persistent late arrival.
Illness
Absence is absence, this impacts on a child’s learning and wellbeing, regardless of the reason.
Please see link below to NHS guidance on when your child is too ill for school. Students are able to attend school with coughs, colds, sore throats, just as adults are expected to go to work.
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/
Lateness
School starts at 8:30am. If your child arrives late, beyond the close of register, the late mark is converted to an unauthorised absence, a ‘U’ code, will contribute to their overall absence figure.
We would like to work together with you to improve and maintain your child’s attendance. Please communicate any issues you have with your child’s attendance to either your child’s Form Tutor or Head of Year and you can contact the Attendance officer directly on 01992 704 641.
