At Westbourne, we believe that both regular and punctual attendance are vital in ensuring that all our students can achieve their full potential.

Parents and carers it is your responsibility to notify the attendance office of your child’s absence at the earliest opportunity on the first day of absence and then for each subsequent day thereafter.

 

Telephone

Call the attendance office on 01473 466145 at the earliest opportunity to inform the academy if your child is going to be absent from, or is going to arrive late to, school. You are able to leave a voicemail if this is out of academy hours. Please state the following:

  • child’s full name
  • tutor group
  • reason for absence or lateness

 

MCAS Mobile App

To inform the academy of student absence, open the app and follow the instructions below:

 

  1. On the My Child dashboard, go to Settings (cog in the top right of the screen)
  2. Under the Bromcom category, select School Contact Information
  3. Add the word Attendance as the subject heading of your message
  4. In the body of your message, please state the following:

 

  • child’s full name
  • tutor group
  • reason for absence or lateness

 

Email

Email the attendance office on wes-attendance@attrust.org.uk at the earliest opportunity to inform the academy if your child is going to be absent from, or is going to arrive late to, school. Please state the following:

  • child’s full name
  • tutor group
  • reason for absence or lateness

 

Contact Information

Please assist the academy attendance team by reporting any student absence or lateness at the earliest opportunity. Failure to inform the academy of your child’s absence from school, will mean that we need to contact you, in order to ensure we are doing all we can to safeguard the students in our care.

This contact will be either through the MCAS app or by telephone. It is therefore vital that we have accurate and up to date contact details for parents/carers and any other priority contacts.

Please ensure that the academy is notified of any change of telephone number or address at the earliest opportunity through the MCAS app. To do so, open the app and follow the instructions below:

  1. On the My Child dashboard, go to the Data Collection Form module
  2. Make any amendments to the relevant sections, e.g. address, telephone number
  3. After all changes have been made, make sure to click Save

If you are unable to access the MCAS app, please inform the academy of any updated contact information by emailing wes-office@attrust.org.uk

 

Routine Appointments

We kindly request that routine medical and dental appointments for students are made outside of school hours, (8.30am – 3.00pm), wherever possible. Please contact the academy in advance to inform us of any absence of this nature by telephone, email or the MCAS app.

 

Leave of Absence Requests

The academy will not authorise absence for term time holiday, unless under exceptional circumstances, which will be at the discretion of the Principal.

Any leave of absence should be requested at least four weeks in advance using the following form, copies of which can also be collected from main reception or the attendance office.

WA Leave Of Absence Request Form MAR24

 

With the introduction of the new National Framework for Penalty Notices, which came into effect from 19 August 19 2024, the information sheet below details updates to the way in which Penalty Notice Fines will be issued for unauthorised absence.

ATT FPN Attendance Factsheet AUG24

Research is extremely clear that high levels of attendance to school, link directly to pupil outcomes, which is why we work with families to ensure that all our pupils are supported to attend school regularly. Westbourne Academy will always focus on a ‘support first‘ model, by ensuring penalty notices are only considered where offered support is either not engaged with, not working or not appropriate. Effective communication with parents and carers is vitally important for supporting the development and wellbeing of young people. Please contact us as soon as possible to discuss the support we can offer for any barriers to attendance for your child should these be present.

 

Attendance Team – Contact Details

All general queries regarding attendance should be emailed to wes-attendance@attrust.org.uk and we will endeavour to offer a response to these within 48 hours.

Should you need to speak to a specific member of the attendance team, please contact them using the details below.

Mrs J Wright Attendance Officer – jennifer.wright@attrust.co.uk

Miss N Wright Home Visits Co-ordinator – nay.wright@attrust.org.uk

Mr A Smith Assistant Principal (Attendance) – andyg.smith@attrust.org.uk

 

The ATT Attendance Policy can be viewed here on the Policy page.