Under provision of Section 444 of the Education Act 1996 parent/carers are legally responsible for ensuring their children attend school regularly and on time.

Parents are required to contact the academy absence line (0113 2739120) before 8.25am to inform the academy if their child will be absent.

Home visits will be conducted by members of the Attendance Team if a student’s attendance is of concern. The purpose of making home visits is to have a conversation with families about their young person’s attendance, complete a safeguarding check and offer support where applicable.

Please be aware that Bishop Young Academy works closely with Leeds City Council. We will transfer cases of persistently poor attendance for possible prosecution in either the Family or Magistrates court.

Persistent Absence

The government state that any student with attendance below 90% is as a Persistent Absentee. Schools will refer to these students as PA students.

Students with attendance below 85% are labelled as Entrenched PA. These students are 50% more likely to fail to achieve 5 GCSEs and are highly unlikely to reach the entry requirements for college and post-16 courses.

Both PAs and Entrenched PA’s are more at risk of:

• Significant academic underachievement
• Social isolation and difficulty making friends
• Difficulty developing social skills, team work, confidence and communication which are essential for employability in later life
• Suffering from anxiety, low mood and other mental health issues

PA and Entrenched PA students also miss out on the wide range of opportunities available to them as part of their school life. This, alongside their academic underachievement, means they leave school without having achieved their true potential.

At Bishop Young we are passionate about students being proud to be the best that they can be, and this is why we will tenaciously work with families and young people to combat persistent absence and support students to attend all day, every day, all the way through their school career.

If your child is classed as a persistent absentee then we will make contact with you to arrange a School Attendance Panel.