Attendance and Absence

At The Cornerstone Academy we are committed to ensuring the best for all our students. At The Cornerstone Academy we aim for 100% attendance with a minimum expectation of 96%. All schools are working hard to promote excellent attendance and have common systems in place to work with families when attendance looks like it could drop below this level, or drops below this level.

Daily school attendance is a habit and one we support through a strong culture of success, rewards and sense of belonging. We value students being on time and prepared for the school day and we look to provide to support and challenge for all of our students.

To report your child’s absence, you can email absence@cornerstoneacademy.org.uk

Alternatively, you can call 01202 676789 and select option 1.

Please state your child’s name, year group and reasons for their absence. Please ensure you do this each day of their absence.

The attendance team or Head of Year will be in touch with you to discuss your child’s absence and to offer support if necessary.

We follow the Governments statutory guidance around absence requests. A holiday is generally not considered an exceptional circumstance. You cannot usually take your child away during term time.

Any leave of absence request, such as, funerals or religious observances should be requested using the leave of absence form which you can find in the link below.

The Principal, will then consider whether to give permission for the absence. Absence requests will only be granted in exceptional circumstances. It is up to us as a school to decide which circumstances are ‘exceptional’. There is no obligation for schools to grant leave, and the absence will be recorded as unauthorised, should you take your child out of school without permission.

Attendance and school absence involves all parties involved with the child. Should you be concerned about school absence for your child, we are here to support and work with you as parents and carers to overcome any barriers that are present. Our attendance policy details some of the support offered. Our skilled and dedicated attendance team will happily meet and work with any parent, carer and child to promote and support daily school attendance.

You can find out more about the rules around term-time absence in the following sources-