If your child has an unavoidable reason for not attending school, please report the absence via 01206 413813, or email absence@paxmanacademy.school. Please report absence before 8.20am on the first day of absence and clearly state your child’s name, tutor group, your name and the reason for absence.

When providing a reason for absence, please give details. If you only state ‘unwell’ or ‘ill’ or ‘same as yesterday’, this will be recorded as unauthorised absence. You must continue to report absence daily for any continued period of absence, leaving full details of symptoms, as above.
The academy closely follows advice from the NHS and guidance from the Department for Education. The message is clear – it is ok to send your child to school with some common or minor illnesses. Common colds, coughs, sore throats and tonsillitis, or headaches alone do not mean your child is too unwell to attend school. Absences for these reasons will not be authorised at Paxman Academy.

Please arrange medical appointments outside of school hours, where possible. If your child must attend an appointment during school hours, you are required to notify the Attendance Department via absence@paxmanacademy.school in advance of the appointment date and provide a copy of the appointment in writing (eg, a letter, appointment card or screenshot). Please include the time your child is being collected or has permission to leave the school site alone, and the expected time of return.

Students are required to attend school for as much of the day as possible, both before and after their appointment – only reasonable travel and consultation times will be authorised by the school.

Please do not request leave of absence in term time. Paxman Academy complies with government legislation, which states that term time leave of absence can only be taken in ‘exceptional circumstances’. For example: Forces personnel on leave from a foreign posting or significant family events or circumstances such as a funeral. If this is the case, a ‘Leave of Absence’ request form must be completed; this can be obtained here. When completed, it should be accompanied by a letter/email of explanation and submitted to absence@paxmanacademy.school or handed to Reception, for the attention of the Attendance Department. If the school considers an application has not justified ‘exceptional circumstances’, approval will not be given. This is a school decision. If the leave of absence is then taken regardless, the school may seek to apply for legal action in accordance with Education Regulations 2004. Please note that any request for leave of absence must be submitted in advance of the date requested – applications received after this time cannot be authorised.

Application for Leave of Absence During Term Time & ECC Helping Parents to understand the changes to fines for term time holidays

The statutory marks for a student’s attendance are Registration (8.30am) and Period 4 (12.30pm) – these two sessions make up the 100% attendance mark for the day. 

If a student fails to attend before the registers close at 9:05am they will lose their AM mark and therefore only be able to achieve 50% attendance for the day. 

Students are also registered internally every day during the day for safeguarding. 

Lateness 

Our morning registers open at 8.30am

• The main student entry gate on Walnut Tree Way closes promptly at 8.25am. Students who arrive too late to enter this way must sign in at our Late Gate via The Food Plant with our attendance team.
• Students arriving late will receive an L1 sanction and year teams will monitor continued lates and address these accordingly.
• Students arriving after 9.00am must enter via the main Reception doors. Similar sanctions will apply and if registers have closed, they will receive an unauthorised absence mark. 
• The afternoon register will be marked by 12:40pm. Pupils will receive a late mark if they are not in their classroom by this time.
• Arrivals to school after 1.00pm will mean an absent statutory mark, as the register will have closed.

Department for Education defines Persistent Absence as:

A pupil enrolment is identified as persistently absent if 10% or more of possible sessions are missed, and severely absent if 50% or more of possible sessions are missed.

10% of sessions translates to around 7 days of absence across the term.

If a pupil ends the academic school year at 90% attendance this equates to four weeks off school, or 20 school days and over 100 hours of missed learning. Absence at this level is very likely to hinder educational prospects and we expect full parental cooperation and support to address such absence.Intervention steps may include an invitation to attend an Early Help Offer meeting with our attendance partners, Aquinas Ltd, and / or seeking to put an Attendance Contract in place.

All students should aspire to maintain at least 95% attendance. We continually reward good attendance as well as efforts made with improving attendance, in a number of ways.

Aquinas is an independent organisation that works with the Sigma Trust and other schools
across Essex, Southend and Suffolk. Aquinas’ role is to support the school’s pastoral and
safeguarding teams, specifically by identifying and attempting to resolve any barriers
their regular attendance at school through supportive measures.

Every Aquinas Team Member is Community Safety Accredited (CSAS) by Essex Police, is
child protection level 3 trained and is a member of the National Association of Social
Workers in Education (NASWE).