Attendance Procedures

Further Education and Apprenticeships

Document title: Attendance Procedures
Audience: Students in further Education and Apprenticeships
Version: 1
Approved by: Senior leadership team
Date approved: 1 July 2020
Date of next review: 1 June 2023
Document Owner Assistant Principal Student Services
Equality Impact Assessment Yes
Student Friendly Version Yes

Revision history
Version Type Date History (reason for changes)
(eg replacement,
revision etc)

Monitoring and review

This procedure will be reviewed by the Senior Leadership Team every three years.
Purpose
The purpose of this procedure is to ensure that students are at the heart of everything we do,
therefore regular and consistent attendance at college is expected and is viewed as critical to
student success and achievement of their learning goals.

Poor attendance can be one of the main signs that students are disengaged with their programme of
study, and the college will try as far as possible to ensure that students remain fully engaged and
succeed on their programme. Therefore all attendance will be fully monitored throughout the
programme of study.

The College will:

• Encourage support for our students' success from parents, carers, employers and sponsors
and it is good practice for parents, carers and/or employers and sponsors to be informed of
persistent student absenteeism.
• Support a relentless focus on continually improving students’ attendance and Punctuality.
• Investigate the many causes of absenteeism and work with students on an individual basis
to best address the needs and wants of each student.
• Acknowledge the impact of caring responsibilities for Young Adult Carers and therefore we
will ensure that strategies are implemented in departments to minimise the disruption to
their education and support them to achieve their goals.
• Work to develop positive behaviours towards attendance and punctuality which will begin
during induction period and will be reinforced throughout their learning journey.

Attendance procedure
The Vice Principal, Curriculum and Quality is responsible for ensuring:
• That the Attendance Policy and Procedures is implemented, that student attendance meets
the College attendance target of 94% or above and delivers an outstanding student
experience over the period of this policy.

The Assistant Principal, Student Services is responsible for ensuring:

• The Attendance Policy is available and that the attendance procedures are followed, and
student attendance meets the College target of 94% or above.
• Heads of Curriculum Departments are briefed about the implementation of the Policy and
Procedures.

The Assistant Principal Curriculum FE is responsible for ensuring:

• The Attendance Policy is available and that the attendance procedures are followed, and
student attendance meets the College target of 94% or above.
• A rota is in place for the senior leadership team to meet and greet students at the start of
each day.

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The Students/Apprentices are Responsible for ensuring:
• Attendance at all scheduled classes, tutorials and work placements or employment on time.
• Informing their Personal Tutor/Course Leader/Assessor of any anticipated or unexpected
reasons for absence from College and intended return date.
• When they are not attending a work placement, they must inform a work placement officer
immediately so that the employer can be informed of non-attendance
• Taking responsibility for liaising with teachers/assessors in order to catch up with missed
work.
• If they have arrived late to the scheduled timetabled session, they enter quietly and without
disruption and provide a reason for lateness to a member of teaching staff at the end of the
session.

The Heads of Curriculum Departments are responsible for ensuring:

• Appropriate staffing and resources are identified to promote and support an outstanding
student experience.
• A meet and greet team of managers welcomes students to College between 8.30am and
9.30am. This will occur the first three weeks of the academic year and the first week back
after every half-term break.
• Expectations of attendance and punctuality are discussed with students at the beginning of
their programme of study or Apprenticeship as part of the student induction process.
Targets are set and reviewed throughout the year.
• Electronic registers are used once issued, ensuring all e-registers are completed within 15
minutes of the scheduled start of the session. In exceptional circumstances following
agreement with the HOD, registers are to be completed online within a short period after
the session
• Classes start and finish on time as per the published timetables, and in exceptional cases
arrangements are made if they are to be late or finish early.
• Paper registers for classes in the community are uploaded within 5 days
• Student attendance is monitored via registers and EBS agent reports to identity any
patterns of poor attendance. Where there are concerns about a student’s attendance or
punctuality, we will seek feedback from the student in order to develop strategies to
support improvement.
• Students identified in the following categories will have individualised attendance
agreements in place at the start of the academic year or at the point of disclosure:
o Young Adult Carers
o Care leavers
o Looked after children
o Unaccompanied Asylum Seekers children
o Students with Identified strategies in their Education, Health and Care Plans.
o Pregnant students
o Students with Childcare responsibilities
• Strategies are identified and shared with the teaching team to support students from the
identified vulnerable groups, including Maths and English.
• Student records are updated to reflect actions taken to address poor attendance and
punctuality with details of smart targets set and recorded, including Maths and English.
• Strategies are agreed in the department to address students arriving after the start of
lessons to avoid disruption to the flow of the lesson and other students’ learning.
• All staff involved with the learning programme including Maths and English are informed of
the student absence.
• Excellent attendance is a regular agenda item in curriculum area and course level meetings,
ensuring monitoring is analysed, strategies are reviewed and disciplinary procedures are
being followed. Where there are attendance concerns for students with Education Health
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 and Care Plans that lead to further action including disciplinary action, the Head of SEND &
ALS is consulted and appropriate support for the student is in place.
• An agreement is in place with the HOD of Maths and English about how they will be notified
about student absences or withdrawal.
• Resources are available on line for students to continue studies during periods of absence.
• Excellent attendance is recognised and celebrated.

Head of Department for Apprenticeships is responsible for ensuring:

• Appropriate staffing and resources are identified to promote and support an outstanding
Apprenticeship experience.
• Agreement is in place with the HODs of curriculum about how they will be notified about
apprenticeship absences and how they report apprenticeship absence from classroom-based
activity including Maths and English
• All apprentices are aware of the procedures to follow if they are unable to attend their
classroom delivery or employment.
• Attendance, punctuality and retention is a regular agenda item in department meetings,
ensuring monitoring is analysed, strategies are reviewed and disciplinary procedures are
being followed.
• Strategies identified to address attendance and punctuality issues for classroom-based
activity and employment are shared with all staff working with the apprentices to ensure a
consistent cross-college approach.
• Excellent attendance is recognised and celebrated.

Head of Maths and English is responsible for ensuring:

• Appropriate staffing and resources are identified to promote and support an outstanding
student experience.
• Electronic registers are used once issued and ensuring all e-registers are completed within 15
minutes of the scheduled start of the session.
• Classes start and finish on time as per the published timetables and in exceptional cases
arrangements are made if they are to be late or finish early.
• Paper registers for classes in the community are uploaded within 5 days
• The curriculum departments are informed about the absence of an English or maths teacher
on the first morning of absence and arrange short term cover through the success centre in
most instances.
• Student records are updated to reflect student’s progress with details of smart targets set
and recorded.
• Attendance, punctuality and retention is a regular agenda item in department meetings,
ensuring monitoring is analysed, strategies are reviewed and disciplinary procedures are
being followed
• Attendance, punctuality and retention is a regular agenda item in department meetings,
ensuring monitoring is analysed, strategies are reviewed and disciplinary procedures are
being followed.
• All students are aware of the procedures to follow if they are unable to attend their English
and/or maths classes.
• Resources are available online for students to continue studies during periods of absence.
• Agreement is in place with the HODs of curriculum about how they will be notified about
student absences or possible withdrawal from Maths or English.
• Excellent attendance is recognised and celebrated.

MIS and Registry are responsible for ensuring:

T h e removal students from the EBS system on receipt of withdrawal forms (paper or online) or
when identified by the Head of Department during data verification.

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Appendix 1: Barriers to Good Attendance and Punctuality

• Students are placed on wrong course or • Poor timetabling (e.g. a break of more than
programme and/or slow response to one hour between lessons is viewed as too
transfer onto a more appropriate much, and anything less than 15 minutes is
programme seen as too little)
• Failure of responsible staff to contact • Timetabling early starts for courses with
absentees promptly. high proportion of students with care
responsibilities or scheduling courses over
too many days
• Lack of encouragement and support from • Insubstantial induction which does not
parents who would prefer their son or thoroughly embed the correct behaviour
daughter to work for a living rather than from the start of the programme
continue with his or her education.
• Taking holidays in term time • Students unaware of how to report absence
• Transport difficulties – bus passes are not • Failure of staff to establish a good rapport
always appropriate with the students
• Failure of teachers and/or student • Sickness
experience staff to provide the necessary
and appropriate support
• Personal / family problems • Lack of learning support where needed
• Dislike of subject, lecturer or tutor • Work commitments
• Failure to praise good or improving • Boredom / lack of motivation / uninspiring
attendance, punctuality or behaviour. or passive learning
• Insufficiently close monitoring of students’ • Overly critical / inappropriate handling of
attendance during the winter term and lateness, poor punctuality or behaviour.
especially when students have completed
their first assignments before half term as
many students fail to return to the college
after the half-term break
• Students who start courses late are more • Financial hardship (especially among 19+
likely to have a poor attendance record students)
than those who joined them at the start
• Research demonstrates that student • As it is not always easy to impress upon
attendance that falls below 92% causes a employed, part-time students the
deterioration in performance. importance of giving due priority to their
college studies as well as their work
commitments, attendance rates may rise if
they are limited to a maximum of 10 hours
study time.
• Socialising taking priority over learning so • Attendance rates for functional skills and
the student is in College but not attending theory lessons tend to be lower than those
class for practical sessions

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Appendix 2 Strategies for improving attendance and punctuality
The table below includes a comprehensive range of possible actions departments may choose to
take depending on circumstances. Some actions have a financial cost and so their availability will be
subject to budget availability.

Outcome Actions

1. Students understand and • Meet and greet team of managers (HoDs/APs) welcome
believe that each day of students to College between 8.30 and 9.30. These to take
attendance matters place the first three weeks of the academic year and the
first week back after every half-term break.
• Teachers and support staff are role models – e.g. punctual
and ready to start each session with purpose, utilising and
engaging and interesting activity. It is vital students feel
that there is good reason to be there and to bond with the
group – inclusion is a major factor in retention.
• Students must feel they will miss out if there is any
assumption they can ‘catch up’ easily by reviewing
material on Moodle.
• Produce and display ‘league tables’ for course attendance.
• Ensure the review of students’ attendance is a routine and
critical part of the tutorial process, highlighting any links
between poor attendance and failure to achieve targets.
2. Early interventions take • Identify ‘at risk’ students and implement appropriate
place with at risk students strategies in class and in tutorials to re-engage students
3. Monitoring of attendance • Teaching and support staff must form good relationship
with their students.
• Teaching and support staff must make extensive use of
email and text messages and the ILP to help manage the
attendance of students
• Implement the use of student mentors to help motivate
students where appropriate
4. 100% staff commitment at • Strategies for improvement work best when improving
all levels seen attendance is seen as everyone’s responsibility.
• Use ‘Meet and Greet’ checks (HoDs/APs) at the beginning
of the day and departmental specific ‘corridor walks’
(CAMs/HoDs) in between sessions especially after lunch
break. Intensive checks for attendance carried out first
week back after every half-term.
• All staff should challenge lateness and any apparent lack
of purposeful activity.
• Consider the style of dealing with lateness. If too
confrontational it may have adverse consequences, and an
aggrieved student may then drop out altogether.
• It is preferable for students to turn up late rather than not
to attend at all and many students who are consistently
late for lessons may have sound reasons for being so.
Ensure the class profile is detailed and referred to
appropriately.

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 5. Extra support provided to • While good support is essential to students’ success, it is
students also necessary for students not to feel it is acceptable to
be absent and ‘catch up’ later.
• Good employability skills such as attendance and
punctuality must be a priority for development and, again,
the responsibility of every member of staff.
6. Targeted financial support • Increase flexibility and quality of childcare facilities (whole
available college responsibility).
• Increase staff knowledge of what additional support
funding can be used for.
• Precise targeting of hardship funds to students who are
experiencing financial difficulties.
7. Data used well to monitor • It is important to constantly monitor attendance data so
and drive improvements that actions and interventions can take place in a timely
fashion. It is also important the data being used is
consistent and valid and all staff and managers are looking
at the same data.
• Attendance data can be used to carry out a wide range of
interventions such as letters home, meetings with parents,
following the disciplinary process.
8. Celebration of attendance • Reward students with 100% attendance rates or most
through rewards and improved attendance and punctuality.
incentives • Competitions – by dept., campus, course.
• Enterprise activities
• Lunchtime activities
• Congratulatory letter/email from HoD/AP.
• Praise messages.
9. Sense of community, • Free tea and toast provided before 8:30am.
belonging and caring • Use of Student Union
apparent in the College. • Introduction of clubs, extra-curricular events.
• Whole group/dept/cross-college enrichment activities.

10. Use of external/industry • Regular external speakers to add further interest and a
speakers different prospective.
• Reaffirm the importance of punctuality and attendance as
essential employability skills.

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 Appendix 3: Guidance for register mark up
MARKS USED FOR EBS REGISTERS
MARK DESCRIPTION USE THIS WHEN Effect *
/ Present The student attends the session and is on time for the start Positive 

L Late The student attends the session and arrives after the start Positive 
The teacher/assessor have agreed in advance that the
Authorised student can be absent from the session for activities relating
A Positive 
Absence * to their programme of study, which can be evidenced, e.g.:
projects or distance learning
External work
P experience/pl Student is on external work experience / placement Positive 
acement
External trip,
Student is on external trip, visit or residential related to their
V visit, Positive 
study programme
residential

The student does not attend the session, and notifies you
S Sick Negative 
that they were ill.
The student does not attend the session and you have been
O Absent given no reason for their absence, or the reason is not one of Negative 
the categories below.

The student is not expected due to personal appointments

such as hospital, doctors or dentist or an agreed religious
festival. −
− Not Expected Neutral
Students have been directed not to attend in the event of
snow disruption of college closures, including college TAP
days.
The student does not attend the session and has completed
their study, while the session is continuing (e.g. where more
Finished
than one teaching group attend the same session, with −
F studies on this Neutral
different attendance dates)
register
NB please check that the end date for the relevant curriculum is
correct.
The student does not attend the session and has transferred
from the session (e.g. where the transfer/withdrawal forms for
a student have not yet been processed, or where a student has
the option of attending different sessions and transfers −
T Transferred Neutral
between them)
NB please ensure that the correct transfer/withdrawal form
has been completed, where the student has transferred from
the course.
The student does not attend the session and has withdrawn
from the session (e.g. where the transfer/withdrawal forms for
Withdrawn a student have not yet been processed) −
W NB please ensure that the correct transfer/withdrawal form Neutral
from register
has been completed, where the student has withdrawn from
the course.
*see further guidance below

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Authorised Absence (A)
Authorised Absence is recorded when a student is absent, or not expected, at the session due to
undertaking activities related or contributing to their programme of study. Examples of this could be
carrying out market research, project work, (agreed distance learning).

A separate mark is to be used to record external work experience or external enrichment.

Not Expected (-)

Wherever possible, students should try to arrange non-College activities outside of their course
timetable. Where this is not possible, the following is a list of reasons for absence which may be
categorised as ‘not expected’ by the Head of Department:
• A medical or dental appointment which cannot be arranged outside College time
• A particular need to look after a family member or another person for whom the student
has caring responsibilities
• A family bereavement of a close family member
• A religious holiday, (for a maximum of 3 days in an academic year), this is in addition to
the normal allowance (i.e. Eid, Diwali etc.)
• A visit to a University, either to attend an open day or an interview (external trip)
• A careers interview
• An appointment with a Connexions personal advisor
• Attendance at a funeral of a close family member
• Service disruption to the student’s mode of transport. The student must follow the same
procedure for informing the College as for illness.
• Moving house
• A job interview
• Driving test (excludes lessons)
• Attendance at an exam.

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