Anthony Gell School
Attendance
Handbook
Handbook
2026–27
Love Learning, Love Life.
Thank you for being part of our school community. This handbook is designed to help you understand how attendance works at Anthony Gell School, what we expect, and — most importantly — how we can work together to support your child.
We know that getting to school every day isn't always straightforward. Life is complicated, and many families face real challenges. We're not here to judge. We are here to listen, to understand barriers, and to find solutions together.
What we do know is that regular attendance makes a significant difference to every child's learning, friendships, confidence and future opportunities. Every day in school is a day of growth.
If your child is finding it difficult to attend, or if your family is facing challenges that affect attendance, please talk to us early. The sooner we know, the sooner we can help.
This handbook sets out the key information you need. If anything is unclear, please contact us — our details are on the back pages.
At Embark, attendance is about much more than a number. When your child is in school every day, they benefit in ways that go far beyond the classroom.
Every lesson builds on the last. Regular attendance helps children keep up, feel confident and reach their potential.
School is where children build relationships, learn to work with others, and develop a sense of community.
Consistent routines support children's mental health, confidence and sense of stability.
Good attendance habits build the resilience and reliability that open doors to future education, training and employment.
When children are in school, they are known, seen and supported by adults who care about their welfare.
We want every child to feel they belong. We will work with you to remove barriers and make attendance possible.
Our attendance work is rooted in Embark's core beliefs: Family, Integrity, Teamwork and Success. We work as a team with families to support every child with honesty, care and ambition.
Attendance is about more than a percentage. Small amounts of missed time add up over a school year, and we look at the whole picture rather than a single number. The next page sets out what different attendance levels mean; here we explain how even short absences mount up, and how we look at attendance overall.
We don't rely on percentages alone. We consider four things together:
Overall percentage and total days or sessions missed
How many separate episodes of absence there are
When absence happens — particular days, times, proximity to holidays
What we know about the child, their family and the circumstances
We are aiming for 100% attendance of all possible sessions. We know some absence is unavoidable, and we are always here to help. The table below shows how attendance percentages add up to days of learning over a year, and what each level means.
In a typical Year 7 fractions topic, the lessons build week by week. Lesson 4 is the key step — it is the bridge from simpler work to real problem solving.
The pupil learns the method: find a common denominator, convert the fractions, then add. They can carry it into Lesson 5 with confidence and tackle problems independently.
Without the method, the next lesson can feel much harder. A common mistake is to add the tops and bottoms — and a gap appears that often makes problem solving difficult.
One missed step can ripple forward, because the same skill is used again and again:
Embark's expectation is that every pupil attends school every day that the school is open, arriving on time and ready to learn. We understand that some absence is unavoidable — what matters is that we work together.
| Detail | Anthony Gell School |
|---|---|
| School day start and end time | 8:55am – 3:30pm |
| Expected arrival time (gates open) | 8:30am |
| Morning register | 8:55am (closes 9:25am) |
| Afternoon register | 1:30pm (closes 2:00pm) |
| How to report an absence | Call 01629 825577 ext 1 (or leave a message on the absence line), use the Arbor app, or email enquiries@anthonygell.co.uk before 8:45am |
| When to report | First day of absence and every subsequent day, unless agreed otherwise |
Pupils arriving after the register opens but before it closes will be marked late (L). Pupils arriving after the register has closed will normally be marked absent for that session (U) — this counts as an unauthorised absence and affects overall attendance. Persistent lateness will be addressed through supportive, proportionate action.
Medical and dental appointments: please book these outside school hours wherever possible. Where this is unavoidable, tell us in advance and, wherever reasonably possible, send your child to school before and/or after the appointment to minimise time missed.
Eleanor Wood
01629 825577 · enquiries@anthonygell.co.uk
Please contact us if your child will be absent or late, or if you have any concerns about attendance.
We know it is not always easy to tell whether your child is too unwell for school or is just feeling a little under the weather. If your child is only a little unwell, coming into school with some agreed support is usually better than missing the whole day.
Before deciding that your child needs to remain at home, please contact us and tell us how they are feeling. We can talk through what may help your child feel more comfortable in school and agree how we will support and monitor them during the day.
If your child is genuinely too unwell to attend or may pass an infectious illness to others, they should remain at home and recover.
This is general guidance and does not replace medical advice.
Tell us what is wrong, when it began and anything you think we need to know.
Talk to us about any practical support or temporary adjustment that may help your child feel comfortable and take part in the school day.
Where your child is well enough to attend, reassure them that school knows how they are feeling. We will provide the agreed support, keep a close eye on them and contact you if they become too unwell to remain.
Depending on your child's needs and the school's arrangements, the support agreed with you might include:
Please contact us as early as possible and tell us:
If, following the conversation, your child remains at home because they are genuinely too unwell to attend, please follow the school's usual absence-reporting arrangements.
Thank you for working with us. Letting us know how your child is feeling gives us the opportunity to help them attend safely and comfortably where possible. If they become too unwell during the day, we will contact you. When they are genuinely too unwell to attend, home is the right place to recover.
Embark takes a support-first approach. We understand that barriers to attendance are often complex, and we will always seek to understand before we act. Our response is graduated — we start with conversation and support, and only use formal routes when support has not been effective or has not been engaged with.
If we notice a change in your child's attendance or punctuality, we will get in touch to understand what is happening and offer help. This might be a phone call, a chat at the school gate, or a meeting with your child's form tutor.
Where attendance concerns continue, we may agree an attendance support plan with you, make reasonable adjustments, involve pastoral or SEND teams, offer mentoring, or connect you with external support services.
If support has not led to improvement, or has not been engaged with, we may move to formal monitoring, attendance contracts, or involvement of the local authority attendance support service.
Legal routes — including penalty notices and prosecution — are a last resort and are only used when earlier support and formal steps have not been effective or appropriate. Legal action is never a substitute for safeguarding.
Government regulations are clear: headteachers must not grant leave of absence during term time, including holidays, unless there are exceptional circumstances. The law does not give parents an automatic right to take their child out of school during term time.
A penalty notice may be issued where a pupil has 10 or more sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence in a rolling 10 school-week period. This applies per parent, per child. Penalty notices must be paid within 21 days at the lower rate, or within 28 days at the higher rate. Unpaid penalty notices may lead to prosecution. A penalty notice can only be used once per pupil in an academic year before prosecution is considered.
Everyone in school plays a part in supporting attendance. Here are the people you are most likely to work with, and how to reach them. If you are worried about your child's attendance, please contact the attendance team or the member of staff who knows your child best — we would always rather hear from you early.
