United Teaching

Medical Appointments

Medical appointments should be made outside of normal school hours. The Academy must be notified of any medical appointments taking place during school hours. Proof of the appointment must be shown to attendance prior to the appointment, this can be in the form of a medical appointment card, appointment letter or text from the medical surgery at which the appointment will take place.

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NB:  Please note that all policies are PDF files and therefore will require you to have Adobe Reader installed.

If you require any copies of the information included on our website please contact Chelsea Boddy on 01226 284606 or enquiries@barnsley-academy.org, this information will be provided free of charge.

Attendance Matters!

We can only teach your child when they are in school. There is a direct link between achievement and attendance.

It is vital we work to teach our students the value of attending the Academy at 8.15am each day. We do understand that on some occasions children may be ill and unable to attend the Academy. 

There is a clear link between academic outcomes and school attendance. We want all students to achieve excellent outcomes to give themselves the very best chance in life.

There are 175 non-school days per year for holidays, shopping and appointments. There is no need, except in extreme circumstances to miss a day’s education. If you miss one session in a week (remember, there are two sessions per day) your attendance is 90%. This means you miss 19 days of education in a year and risk dropping one grade in your GCSEs. 

We take absence very seriously. We target intervention with students whose attendance falls below 95%. This has a positive effect on attendance at the school.

We therefore:

  • Regularly monitor attendance and punctuality and contact you about concerns
  • Support children who are having difficulties which impact on their attendance by looking for the best person/organisation to support your child
  • Reward good attendance through our rewards system
  • Will not authorise requests for holidays unless there are exceptional circumstances.
  • A member of the attendance team may visit your home to discuss your childs attendance 

Any exceptional circumstances must be put in writing to the Principal.

 We ask that parents/carers:

  • Inform us promptly of any absences and return children to school as soon as they can
  • Try to make medical appointments out of school time
  • Avoid holidays in term time
  • Do not take time off for shopping trips, family events such as birthdays and outings
  • Parents/Carers have a legal responsibility to ensure regular and punctual attendance
  • All parents/carers should encourage their children to attend everyday..

Should you wish to discuss any issue with attendance please email our Attendance Team at attendance@barnsley-academy.org or 01226 574117

Attendance Documents & Information

United Learning