St Mary's Catholic College

All around the college are posters saying

“All school days are equal. Some are not more equal than others”.

For students to learn and make significant progress they need to attend college. Our most successful students always have very high attendance.

We have a number of staff, Form Tutors, Heads of Year, Heads of School, Attendance Coordinator, Lay-Chaplains and Education Social Workers, who support young people to maintain full attendance. We expect students to copy up any work missed due to absence.

The college actively discourages students from taking holidays during termtime. Whilst sympathetic to those parents who work in the leisure industry, an increasing tendency to go on cheap holidays during term time comes at a high cost in terms of lost education. The college is unable to provide work for students going on holiday during term time as it wishes to focus teachers’ energy and commitment towards those students in college.

College starts promptly at 8.35 a.m. and we ask for parents’ support in ensuring young people arrive in good time for the college day. Students will be required to maintain very high levels of attendance and punctuality if they are to be considered for the rewards trips.

Attendance and Punctuality

All schools and colleges keep registers of students’ attendance. These registers are legal documents and are retained at St. Mary’s long after students leave. These registers provide vital information for future employers who always want to know if their potential employee has a record of good attendance!

If your child is ill then you should contact the college’s Main Office (01253 – 396286) to inform us of their absence. On their first day back at college a written note, explaining the absence, must be sent into the form tutor. We operate a first day response system whereby a member of the college’s office staff attempts to contact the parents of all children who are absent without a known reason. Please note – it is not always possible to contact every parent on the first day of absence during times of peak illness.

St. Mary’s have a number of pastoral staff who will work with parents to help them maximise their child’s attendance if there are difficulties. This work is led and managed by the college’s Attendance Co-ordinator, Mr D McLaughlin. The College is supported in this task by Education Social Workers.

In extreme cases court proceedings are brought against parents whose children’s attendance is below an acceptable level. In law parents are responsible for ensuring their child attends school.

Punctuality Procedures
The college starts promptly at 8.35 a.m. All students are expected to arrive prior to this time to ensure a smooth start to the college day.

Any student who arrives after this time but before the start of the first lesson will be recorded as late by the senior/pastoral staff on duty. If a student arrives after the beginning of period one they should report to the main office, to ensure they are registered, and then go straight to their lesson.

If a student is late twice in a week (includes morning and afternoon registration) s/he will not meet the criteria for the Rewards Trips/Leavers’ Ball unless there is an improvement in punctuality.

If a student as 3/4 lates in a week a detention letter, for the following Thursday until 3:45 p.m., will be sent home and a copy given to the student via their Form Tutor.

If a student has 5 or more lates in a week a detention letter, for the following Tuesday until 4:15 p.m., will be sent home and a copy given to the student via the Form Tutor.

Failure to attend this detention will lead to an automatic exclusion the following Friday with the student returning to do the missed detention at 3:15 p.m. If a student has had a medical appointment, and has brought the appointment card to college, they will be excused their lateness. This system resets at the beginning of each new week.

In extreme cases court proceedings are brought against parents whose children are continually late. Although this is very rare the law does not differentiate between absent and late – both involve missing College and damage young people’s education.