At St Julie's we expect all students to have minimum of 100% attendance. This is the minimum figure at which your daughter can gain her best possible achievements. A low attendance can have a huge effect on final grades throughout school, leading to a loss of at least one grade for every 10% drop in attendance when it comes to GCSEs.

Typically students in Year 11 with 97% or above attendance were twice as likely to get top 9-7 grades in their GCSE as those with attendance between 94 and 96.99% and over ten times as likely to get top 9-7 grades as those with attendance between 87 and 93.99%. No students with attendance of below 87% achieved a 9-7 grade in any subject.

The drop-off in attainment really starts when students' attendance falls below 97% (so not having 100% attendance is not a guarantee that performance will dip - but it does show that our minimum expectation is 97% for a reason)

In Year 13, students with the best attendance can typically achieve an average 15 points - equivalent to a grade and a half - better in their A Level qualifications than students with attendance of below 91%.

Good attendance is also so important in building relationships and friendships in school. It means students do not feel under pressure or at a loss if they have missed work. While our staff will work hard to help students catch up, it will never be the same as being present at the missed lessons.

Employers greatly value good attendance and punctuality and getting into the routine of learning at school each day is a good grounding and sets up habits which will last for life and increase the future opportunities for your daughter.

We understand that students do have to take time off school for illness but ask that Parents/Carers do not allow their daughters to miss school for minor ailments. As a rule of thumb, if your daughter is ill enough to require a doctor then she needs to stay at home. We always require a telephone call to school and a follow up absence note which explains the reasons for the absence. In cases of low attendance we will also request medical evidence. The guide below may prove helpful to you in making the decision as to whether or not you really need to keep your child off school. Please click the image to download the PDF file.

We work closely with our Educational Welfare Officer to support students and parents with low attendance with the aim of improving the outcomes for the student. In some cases, however, the school will use legal action for persistent absentees.

This year, the figure for persistent absentees in 90%.  This equates to 3.5 days per term.  If your daughter’s attendance falls to 92%, this will trigger a referral to the Educational Welfare Service who may proceed with fines or refer the case to court.

Holidays in Term Time

The school will not authorise holidays taken by students in term time. It is no longer at the school's discretion to grant holidays and we will follow Local Authority guidelines, which do not count holidays as authorised absence. There are ample school holidays throughout the year and we cannot sanction parents/carers jeopardising their daughter's chances at good achievement. We hope parents/carers will support us in this.

The school needs to be informed by letter if parents are planning to remove their daughter from school for a holiday so the registers can be completed with the correct coding. This will appear as a G (unauthorised holiday).

The school needs to be informed by letter if parents are planning to remove their daughter from school for a holiday so the registers can be completed with the correct coding. This will appear as a G (unauthorised holiday).