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Dates of school terms for the academic year 2025 – 2026

Autumn Term 2026

Spring Term 2027

Summer Term 2027

Attendance:

Regular and punctual attendance at school is vital to ensure continuity of your child’s education. At Chauncy, we set an individual target attendance of 95% and expect a student to achieve this to maximize their life chances.

Did you know that:

100% Attendance = 0 lost learning hours

96% Attendance = 37.5 lost learning hours

90% Attendance = 95 lost learning hours

Please be aware that should your son’s/daughter’s attendance drop below 93%, we will contact you and if it continues to fall to 90% then we will contact you again and may invite you into school. If we are still concerned and attendance continues to fall, you will be asked to provide proof of absence i.e. a doctor’s note, appointment card or a copy of prescribed medication, in order for the school to authorise any future absences.

Authorised Absences:

Under section 1 of the Education Act 1993, a pupil’s absence may be treated as unauthorised if not covered by the following:

According to the DFEE circular 11/91, there are other circumstances in which the Headteacher might reasonably exercise discretion to grant leave, including:

Leave of Absence:

Head teachers should only authorise leave of absence in exceptional circumstances. If a head teacher grants a leave request, it will be for the head teacher to determine the length of time that the child can be away from school. Leave is unlikely, however, to be granted for the purposes of a family holiday as a norm.

Head teachers should not grant leave of absence unless in exceptional circumstances. The application must be made in advance and the head teacher must be satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances which warrant the leave. Where a leave of absence is granted, the head teacher will determine the number of days a pupil can be away from school. A leave of absence is granted entirely at the head teacher’s discretion.

If a school does not authorise a leave of absence for the purpose of a holiday but the parents still take the child out of school, or the child is kept away for longer than was agreed, the absence is unauthorised. The regulations do not allow schools to give retrospective approval. If the parents did not apply for leave of absence in advance, the absence must be recorded as unauthorised.

Parents have a legal duty to make sure that their child aged 5-16, if registered at a school, attends that school regularly. If taking an unauthorised term time holiday is grounds for issuing a penalty notice according to the local authority’s code, and if the leave of absence for holiday was not authorised by the school, either the school or the local authority may issue a penalty notice.

Reporting an Absence due to sickness:

Via edulink

Phone: 01920 411200.

Any student absence, whatever the reason, must be reported by 9.00am on each morning of absence.  If leaving a voicemail, please leave student’s full name, form class, and give a brief, detailed description of the reason of absence (reasons such as ill, poorly or unwell will be recorded as unauthorised). A message will be sent to any parent/ carer who has not given a reason for absence by 9.30am each day, if no contact is made, phone calls to each child’s contact on SIMs will follow to ascertain a reason for absence. If no reason is provided, the absence will be classed as unauthorised.

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

Future Absence due to Medical Appointments or Other Reasons:

Edulink or for Years 7 to 13 email admin@chauncy.org.uk

Please notify the school at least 2 days prior to the appointment, along with relevant confirmation of the appointment. A letter or screenshot of the appointment should be attached to the message. Appointments may not be authorised if you are unable to provide confirmation of the appointment.

Please do not report absences via form tutors, teachers or the admin school office.

Late arrival/missed registration:

Any student missing from Form Registration, for any reason, should sign in at the main Reception area. If they do not, an unauthorised absence may remain on their record and parents may be notified of the absence unnecessarily.

If parents/carers are aware of a reason why their child will arrive late on any occasion, they should notify the school by calling the absence phone number 01920 411200.

Repeated lateness to school and lesson has a detrimental affect on learning. If your child is late to school on 3 occasions without a reasonable explanation, they will be issued a lunch time detention.

If you child continues to be late and this increases to six occasions, we will confiscate their phone for a 3 day period and they will sit another lunchtime detention.

If the lateness continues, after 9 occasions, the phone will be confiscated for a week and an afterschool detention will be issued.

Continued lateness will then result in a meeting the Learning Co-ordinator and a Punctuality Plan being put into place.

Late to lesson:

Nearly all our students are punctual to lesson and are ready to learn. Arriving late for lesson means that the student has missed out on essential early learning in the lesson and disrupts the rest of the class. Students have breaks between each lesson for travel time across the school and over and hour of social time in the school day. There is no reason for a student being late for a lesson. If a student arrives late to the lesson, the following will be applied:

Signing out/in:

Students should sign out at the main Reception. Any student needing to leave during the school day for an appointment, etc. should have already advised the office via edulink or email. Students will not be allowed off-site if the school has not received prior advice of the appointment, and contact will be made with a parent/carer.

Signing back in on return from an appointment must also be done at the main school Reception.

Request for absence from School for exceptional circumstances:

As a school, following government guidance, we are no longer able to authorise absences in order that you can take a holiday, which could lead to a Fixed Penalty Notice fine. There may be applications for leave of absence that are considered to be exceptional circumstances.

These requests will need to be applied for at least 10 days in advance by completing the form below and emailing it to: admin@chauncy.org.uk or to the school by hand to the main reception (in an envelope clearly marked for the attention of the Attendance Officer)

Only the school can authorise an absence.  An explanation given by a parent/carer is not always sufficient for the school to authorise it.  An absence may only be authorised if the absence is due to:

Unauthorised absence:

A fixed penalty notice can be issued if a student accrues 10 sessions of unauthorised absence within a window of 10 school weeks (a school day contains two sessions, morning and afternoon). This can be any combination of unauthorised absences. The 10-week period can span different terms or even different school years.

Penalty Notice Limits and Legal Intervention

A maximum of two penalty notices can be issued within a three-year period. If a third penalty notice is necessary within the same three-year period, legal intervention will take place. Penalty Notice Charges First penalty notices are charged at £160 per parent, per child. This amount is reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days. Second penalty notices are charged at a flat rate of £180 per parent, per child.

Please note that a third penalty notice cannot be issued to the same parent for the same child within three years of the date of issue of the first. Prosecution / other interventions will be considered. Should a Penalty Notice remain unpaid, and it is not withdrawn, then a prosecution for the substantive offence of failing to secure the regular attendance of a child of compulsory school age at school will be considered.

If the students attendance doesn’t improve or there are unauthorised absences legal action may be taken following LA guidelines.

https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/schools-and-education/at-school/penalty-notices-for-unauthorised-absence/penalty-notices-for-unauthorised-absence.aspx

Encouraging good attendance:

Certificates and achievements points are awarded half termly for those with 100% attendance in that half term.

Regular prizes are awarded for tutor groups/classes with most improved attendance.

100% raffles and Bingos will take place with prized donated from businesses within the local community.

Attendance contributes to the Chauncy Passport

End of term/ end of year rewards e.g. film, inflatables

School attendance – Statutory guidance and departmental advice (DfE August 2013)

Rates of authorised and unauthorised absence for pupils of compulsory school age 2024 – 2025:

The total number of registered pupils of compulsory school age on roll for at least one session of the reporting period to the Friday before the last Monday in May = 1237
Total number on roll, including 6th Form = 1536
Percentage of half days (sessions) attended throughout the period = 93.4%
Percentage of half days (sessions) missed through authorised absence = 6.0%
Percentage of half days (sessions) missed through unauthorised absence = 1.3%

Rates of authorised and unauthorised absence for pupils of compulsory school age 2023 – 2024:

The total number of registered pupils of compulsory school age on roll for at least one session of the reporting period to the Friday before the last Monday in May = 1225
Total number on roll, including 6th Form = 1490
Percentage of half days (sessions) attended throughout the period = 92.7%
Percentage of half days (sessions) missed through authorised absence = 6.1%
Percentage of half days (sessions) missed through unauthorised absence = 1.2%