Attendance is Everyone's Business

Excellent levels of attendance and punctuality are essential for our students to succeed at OAO, in fact research shows that there is a direct link between good attendance and academic progress and achievement.

Key Attendance Points

• Our school day runs from 8:30am-14:35pm so all students should be in the Academy for 8.30am at the latest and attend their given form in full school uniform and fully equipped.
• If a child arrives after 8:30am they will be marked as late and a same day 30 minute detention will be issued. If a student arrives after 9:10am, they receive a U code which means they lose one attendance session for that day- U codes can contribute towards being fined for attendance from the Local Authority.
• Students should strive to attend the Academy everyday, reasons such as buying new shoes, Christmas shopping, birthdays, looking after brothers, sisters and parents, it’s the last day of term etc are NOT reasons to be absent.
• If your child is absent from the Academy you should telephone or send a message on MCAS as early as possible with a reason.
• The Academy has the right to request medical evidence as proof of illness / appointments, however you should ensure that these appointments are booked outside of school hours so as not to impact your students attendance and progress at OAO. If medical evidence is requested and is not produced, absences will be unauthorised and a fine may be issued.
• No holidays will be authorised unless in exceptional circumstances and at the discretion of the Principal. Fines will be issued for all unauthorised holidays.

Attendance Graduated Response Model - January 2025

OCL Graduated response- Attendance

At OCL and OAO we understand the importance of a relational approach to attendance and have implemented a graduated response to attendance using four waves of support. At each Wave, all stakeholders including students, parents/carers, school staff, the local authority and outside agencies are made aware of their expectation for each wave of support.

Breakfast Club

We recognise that many parents and carers have work commitments or have children attending more than one school and need to make arrangements for their children to be looked after before the school day starts. We have an amazing breakfast club that runs every day from 7:30am until 8:15am. This is a FREE service which is staffed each morning where students can choose from a range of breakfast items and take part in morning sports clubs such as table tennis and badminton before their line up for forms! This is a fantastic way to ensure your child is in on time everyday, while also being provided with a FREE breakfast and socialising with fellow students.

Senior Attendance Champion

The Senior Attendance Champion at OAO is Mr S Edwards. The role of the Senior Attendance Champion is important in promoting that attendance is everyone's business. You can contact the Senior Attendance Champion or a member of their attendance team through the school office or MCAS if you need support with helping your child to attend school regularly. The attendance team will be able to identify barriers to attendance and support you with the difficulties you or child are encountering.

What happens when attendance is good?

At OAO we aim for all students to be attending the academy for at least 96% each academic year.

To reward good or better attendance we have a number of attendance reward systems.

The tiered reward system we follow at OAO is as follows…

Weekly awards - for ‘good’ attendance – these include vouchers, front of lunch queue passes, form breakfast and pizza rewards lunches!

Half Termly - Attendance raffle - opportunity for students to win a number of prizes which have included up to £50 vouchers, bikes, hampers and many more!

Termly Awards - A range of different attendance awards - Best Attenders Awards, Most improved attendance and 100% badges given out during rewards assemblies. We also award bigger prizes and trips for good or improved attendance, which have included Trafford centre visits and pantomime performances.

Our attendance rewards are inclusive and all students have opportunities to win attendance prizes or awards (students with absence due to medical - these days will count as not a possible attendance so will not prevent them from winning attendance awards).

Leave of Absence in Term Time

In exceptional circumstances, leave of absence in term time may be granted by the Principal. The Principal will take into account a student's previous record of attendance when making decisions. It is important to note that the Principal can determine the length of the authorised absence as well as whether absence is authorised at all.

This form should be completed to enable the Principal to decide whether to authorise the application for leave. Authorising leave from the academy is at the discretion of the Principal. If the leave is taken without the authorisation of the Principal, a Penalty Notice will be issued.

What is Persistent Absent and Severely Absent attendance?

Children who are registered at a school but regularly fail to turn up are officially referred to as being ‘persistently’ or ‘severely’ absent.

The school day is split into two sessions – one session counts as a morning or afternoon spent in school. Pupils who have missed more than 10% of school sessions are considered persistently absent, while children who have missed more than 50% of school sessions are referred to as severely absent. If your child falls into the persistently absent (PA) bracket, then you are at risk of a fine from the local authority. We will of course do everything possible to aid your child’s attendance assist you with getting them in school consistently.

It’s encouraging that the number of absent pupils has fallen since the pandemic, but there is still work to do. That is why we’re introducing measures to improve school attendance.