At Sprowston Community Academy, we are committed to ensuring that every student attends school every day. The only exceptions to this are when a student is too ill to attend, facing medical barriers, or experiencing extenuating circumstances.
Regular school attendance is crucial for students to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally, and plays a key role in helping them become the best version of themselves.
Good attendance is closely linked to:
Even missing just a few days can disrupt learning, impact success, and limit future opportunities. That’s why we take a partnership approach, working closely with families to ensure that our students can—and want to—attend school every day.
Did you Know: missing just 17 days in a year can result in a one grade drop at GCSE.
Attendance habits are built at home. You can help by:
Punctuality is one of our core virtues at Sprowston Community Academy — arriving on time every day shows respect, responsibility, and readiness to learn.
🔗https://www.sprowstoncommunityacademy.co.uk/parents-and-families/clubs-and-activities
Drop-Off Reminder: Please avoid stopping in the restricted zone outside school to help keep students safe and reduce congestion. Parking in this zone puts the safety of our students at risk. By working together we can help to keep them safe.
If your child is too unwell to attend, we will need you to report this before 8:30 am every day that they are absent. This can be done in several ways:
Please include:
If you need help using the Arbor Parent Portal, please Visit our website below:
🔗www.sprowstoncommunityacademy.co.uk/arbor-guide
Please note that for most absences a member of our team will phone you back later in the day to discuss your child’s needs and to ascertain any support that we can offer to promote a speedy return to school.
There will be incidents where your child appears to be unfit for school in the morning, but recovers as the day progresses. In these cases, we encourage parents to send your child in later — just let us know and we will implement any additional support required.
Need advice? Our attendance team is always happy to discuss concerns or offer guidance. You can also check www.nhs.uk for further information.
We kindly ask that parents and carers schedule medical, dental, and other necessary appointments for their child outside of school hours wherever possible, in order to minimise disruption to learning.
We recognise, however, that this is not always feasible and request that parents notify the school in advance, providing details of any appointment and supplying supporting documentation. Acceptable evidence may include a copy of an appointment card, hospital letter, or confirmation email/text.
Leaving School for Appointments:
We appreciate your support in ensuring that appointments are managed in a way that supports both the wellbeing and education of our students.
If you have a question or concern, there’s always someone here to help — here’s who to contact:
| Reason for Calling: | Who is best to help: | Contact details: |
| General worries about school: | Form Tutor | Surname and initial (e.g WiseA ) @sprowstonhighsch.org
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| Unresolved or urgent concerns: | Head of Year | Surname and initial (e.g WiseA ) @sprowstonhighsch.org
|
| Behaviour & Wellbeing worries: |
Behaviour Team
|
Surname and initial (e.g WiseA ) @sprowstonhighsch.org
|
| Specific Attendance queries: | Attendance team |
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| Questions about absence requests/holiday fines: | Attendance Improvement Officer:
Mrs Randall |
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| Attendance support and intervention, (e.g support first): | Attendance Officer:
Miss Mollicone |
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| Questions about our attendance policies/strategy: | Senior Attendance Champion: Mr Bidle |
|
We’re always happy to hear from you. Whether you’re unsure, concerned, or just want to understand more—please reach out. Working with families is at the heart of our approach.
As a school we recognise that major life events, or participation in sporting events sometimes require the need for a student to be absent from school for a short period of time.
Absence during term time can only be authorised in exceptional circumstances — and only up to 3 days unless there are clear extenuating/compelling reasons for further days. The school will individually judge each request considering the circumstances and background and the need to balance the student wider needs with negative impacts of absence from school can bring.
All requests for leave must be made by completing and submitting an Application for Absence of Leave during term time. These can be found here. Alternatively a printed copy can be requested via the attendance team (
The completed form should be returned to the attendance team no later than one month before the requested date. If you're unsure, please get in touch — we're here to advise and support.
Please note that, regardless of circumstances, holidays taken during term time can not be authorised and may result in a referral to the Local authority.
To find out more about Fixed Term Penalty Notices (FPN) please visit Norfolk County Council's school attendance webpage, which can be found here: 🔗https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/38236
We want all students to feel that attendance is noticed, valued and celebrated. We therefore seek to build a positive, inclusive culture where staff are encouraged to pot and celebrate effort and perseverance. This is achieved through our virtues points and awards but also through attendance recognition, these include:
We aim to help every student see attendance as a habit that opens doors — while ensuring no one is left behind.
We understand that attendance challenges can stem from complex family, health or emotional issues. That’s why we always begin with support. We employ a range of strategies including Form -Tutor Early Intervention, Formal Attendance Support Meetings and the Support First Approach. In all cases we will seek to listen to you and your child, identify the barriers and work together to agree on a plan.
In every case, our preference is to support first—and we’ll do everything we can to work with families before enforcement becomes necessary. We encourage all students to take pride in their attendance and speak to a trusted adult if they are struggling. Your voice matters.
As a school we are committed towards making reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities or medical needs under the Equality Act 2010 and recognise that in these cases absence is not a choice but a necessity and we seek to ensure that these students are recognised in other ways.
“Did you know? A child with 90% attendance has missed 4 full weeks of school in a year.”
If your child’s attendance falls below 90%, they will be classified as persistently absent (PA).
Research suggests that every day missed between Years 7–11 could reduce lifetime earnings by approximately £750 and that persistent absence correlates with earning £10,000 less by age 28.
If your child is a persistent absence, we will recommend considering an Early Help referral - a supportive, family-focused process that brings together professionals to provide practical assistance tailored to your family's needs. Alternatively, we can support you with a referral to the Family Networking Approach (FNA) - a framework that encourages supportive conversations and mobilises help through services available via Just One Norfolk.
In these cases, we will seek to offer additional support via our Form Tutor AttendanceIntervention and our Support First Approach, which may include Formal attendance supporting meetings.
“Year 11 students with near-perfect attendance are almost twice as likely to get a grade 5 in English & maths GCSEs compared to those with 90–95% attendance Educationhub.blog.uk”
If your child’s attendance falls below 50%, they will be classified as severely absent (SA). At this stage our safeguarding team will take the lead in managing their case. We ensure that we see all severely absent students at least twice term and there will be an expectation for your child to be available for home visits and/or meetings in school.
Where there are medical barriers affecting attendance, we can offer a Joint Medical Protocol, enabling us to work with your GP to put effective support in place.
We understand that our attendance expectations may need to be adapted for students with SEND or ongoing medical conditions. In these cases, our goal is to collaborate with families to create a plan that reflects each student’s unique circumstances.
Where attendance does not improve and/or engagement with support is limited, we may:
We know that mental health concerns can affect attendance. We take a family-centred approach by:
We encourage parents to reach out early if concerns are emerging. Together, we can ensure that wellbeing and education go hand in hand.
We strongly encourage parents or carers with concerns about their child’s mental health to seek support as early as possible. Our school website includes a dedicated self-help section with links to a range of external support networks. You can also speak to your GP, or contact Just One Norfolk for trusted advice and guidance:
🔗 Just One Norfolk
Further details can be found in our Attendance & Punctuality Practice Document and Trust Policy documents which can be found under the “Parents” > “Policies” section of our website.
Policies Page