Pupil expectations at Holy Trinity, including attendance, punctuality and behaviour
Attendance
At Holy Trinity we are dedicated to providing your child with a high standard of education and social wellbeing. As part of this work, we are committed to improving attendance and ensuring good habits around punctuality. This is an integral part of the work we do around Character Education.
Good attendance is crucial for our students to enjoy and achieve both whilst at school, in further education and the world of work.
At Holy Trinity, we use the Sol Attendance tracker to monitor our student’s attendance on a weekly basis. This is a useful tool, used to inform students about their attendance and helps them to set targets. Students who attend school regularly are recognised and rewarded using our ‘Going for Gold’ attendance initiative.
Our expectations
We support the government’s expectations for all students to attend school, with a minimum attendance of 96%. Anything below this is not acceptable. As a staff we will continue to work tirelessly towards a goal of 100% attendance for all students; every opportunity will be used to convey to students the importance of regular and punctual attendance. We ask for the support of our parents and carers, so that we can work together to achieve this goal and the best outcomes for your child.
We want to work with our families to remove any barriers that exist, enabling all students to be in school every day. We understand that there will be times when your child will be too unwell or genuinely unable to attend school. In these circumstances, please contact the school office and follow the ‘reporting absence’ procedures.
If there are more complex concerns, please contact the attendance team or your child’s Head of Year:
Associate Deputy Headteacher- Ms Hodson (SLT Attendance Champion)
Attendance Leader- Mrs Mallett
Attendance Administrative Assistant- Mrs Qamar
Home Liaison Worker and DSL- Mrs Finn
Behaviour Support Leads- Mr Mahmood and Miss Backhouse
Head of Year 7- Mrs Hayle
Head of Year 8- Mr Elia
Head of Year 9- Mrs White
Head of Year 10- Mrs Chan
Head of Year 11- Mrs Smith
Early help can be provided if support is needed.
Persistent absence
We work with the Birmingham Education Legal Intervention team and follow the fast track for attendance and leave in term time process.
If your child’s attendance is under 90% this is known as persistent absence. This means that they have missed 10% of their education. You will be invited into school for a meeting under the fast-track process, this is to see how we can work together to support your child and to see if early help or any other type of support would be beneficial to raise your child’s attendance.
If your child has persistently poor attendance or if leave in term time is taken, this may result in a referral to the Birmingham City Council Education Legal Intervention Team. The outcome could result in prosecution and a penalty fine.
Holidays or leave in term time are not permitted by law in the UK, unless for exceptional circumstances. Each request is considered carefully by the Head teacher and in most cases will be declined. If you are considering a request for leave in term time, please collect a form from reception.
Only one day is allowed for religious observance during term time.
Protocols for reporting absence
Absence must be reported to the school office by 9am. Please call 0121 772 0184 and select option 1.
If no contact is made by the parent/carer then the school will make first day contact via text message and or a phone call from the school’s attendance team, the information will be recorded and the register altered accordingly.
First day absence calling forms part of our safeguarding procedures. It is vital that the school is kept informed and up to date with accurate emergency contact details for all students. Please contact the school office if your contact phone number or address changes.
Students who are absent for 20 school days could risk losing their place at Holy Trinity. The Local Authority will be informed of any child who has been absent without explanation for 10 consecutive days. If deemed appropriate, the school will submit referrals to external agencies, including the IFTS team (Integrated Family Support Teams) and Children’s services. School is obligated to record all actions that have been taken.
The attendance and pastoral team will carry out home visits as part of our keeping in touch and wellbeing checks.
Punctuality
It is important that we maintain high expectations with regards to punctuality.
- Students must arrive to tutor time or assembly by 8.30am
- Student arriving after 8.30am, are late and will be issued with a late mark and L1 detention
- Please inform the school office as soon as possible if you know that your child is going to be late
- Students who arrive late, and after the gate has closed should report to main reception or to the Attendance Office depending on the circumstance
- Any pupil arriving after 9am without a valid reason will be marked as unauthorised (U). This will have a negative impact on their attendance record.
Please read this important update for all Parents/Carers regarding school attendance for the new academic year, please see below:
Whole-school-attendance-letter-24-25
Useful links for parents and carers:
BCC-letter-to-parents-re-new-PN-framework-July-2024
Please read the attached link regarding important changes to the penalty notice legislation relating to poor school attendance. These changes come into effect August 2024, if you have any queries please contact the attendance team. Birmingham City Council national framework for penalty notices for school absence letter National Framework for Penalty Notices for school absence FAQ
Useful links for parents and carers:
Please read the attached link regarding important changes to the penalty notice legislation relating to poor school attendance. These changes come into effect August 2024, if you have any queries please contact the attendance team. Birmingham City Council national framework for penalty notices for school absence letter National Framework for Penalty Notices for school absence FAQ
Behaviour for Learning
At Holy Trinity we expect the highest standards of behaviour in and around school. It is extremely important that all members of the school community work together to create a safe, calm, and positive atmosphere where all can learn and are able to concentrate and focus on their lessons without interruption or distraction.
We have established a culture around praise, recognition, and reward. We believe that students who co-operate fully and demonstrate exemplary behaviours and attitudes should be rewarded. In response to this, we have a behaviour for learning recording system where students collect behaviour for learning (BFL) points. The points accumulate throughout the year allowing students to access the ‘rewards pyramid.’
If a student fails to follow expectations, they will be sanctioned using the C1-C6 consequence system. Negative behaviour events are categorised in levels with identities of C1 for minor issues through to C6 for the most serious. Each category has an appropriate sanction which includes detentions, loss of privileges and can result in exclusions from school for more serious events. Those issued with a C4 spend the remainder of their lesson in our Behaviour Support Unit. Those with a C5 spend at least a day in the Behaviour Support Unit.
All BFL points and Consequences are logged on to Bromcom (school Management Information System). Parents/ Carers are able to access the parent portal through MyChildAtSchool.
Heads of Year monitor the number of points associated with each pupil closely to identify where there are difficulties and steps are taken to discuss these difficulties with students. Appropriate action is then taken to remedy the situation.
How can parents support?
All behaviour comments, point totals and awards or losses are recorded in our management system which can be viewed by students and parents through the Internet at home. Every parent will be issued a log on for MyChildAtSchool and this gives access to the data. Parents should follow a student’s progress and behaviour by logging on regularly and by discussing the information with their children.
