Attendance Matters
At Aberdare Community School we believe that excellent attendance and punctuality are fundamental in ensuring that children grow up with the correct work ethos for their future lives.
Children’s attendance is closely monitored by our Assistant Head-teacher, Mrs Emma Harris and the Family Engagement Officer, Mrs Sian Williams who are assisted by Mrs Debbie Allen in Years 10 & 11. They work closely with the local authority and RCT’s AWOs.
For your child to gain the greatest benefit from school, maximum attendance is necessary.
However, there will be times when your child is unfit for school or unable to attend school. The law enables schools to authorise absence for the following:
- Acceptable medical reasons
- An absence for which prior permission has been given
Other absences will be denoted as ‘unauthorised’.
What to do if your child is unable to attend school:
- Inform the school on the first day and if possible give the expected day of return
- Keep the school informed if the absence is to be longer than expected
- Send a note with the child when he/she returns giving full details of the reason for absence
An Attendance Welfare Officer visits the school regularly to check on the attendance of all the pupils. The number of unauthorised absences that your child has each year will be recorded on their school report. This is a legal requirement.
If you need to take your child out of school for any reason, please report to the school office and a member of staff will be pleased to assist you with your query. This is in the interests of the health, safety and well being of all the children.
Individual pupils should be aiming for at least 95%; this means that over the course of the year a pupil should only have a maximum of 9 and half days off school. However, we would prefer that all pupils targeted 100% attendance.