Attendance

At Stantonbury School, attendance is recognised as everyone’s responsibility and a vital protective factor, driven by our commitment to building an inclusive community where every pupil feels they truly belong and matter. Grounded in genuine kindness and intellectual curiosity, we approach attendance through proactive, empathetic relationships, seeking to understand and work collaboratively to remove each pupil's unique barriers, while being curious about absence data patterns to intervene early. Driven by noble aspirations and determined excellence, we maintain high expectations for every child, operating under the mantra "every absence, every time" to ensure every student is given every opportunity to achieve, thrive, and fulfill their potential. Finally, our commitment to authentic integrity ensures we communicate with direct transparency, consistently track data accurately, and carry out our duty of care to ensure our school remains a safe, supportive, and dependable environment for all.

To achieve this Stantonbury School commits to:

• Promoting good attendance, setting all students a minimum target of 95%
• Reducing absence, including persistent absence
• Ensuring every student has access to full-time education to which they are entitled
• Acting early to address patterns of absence

Report an absence today

If you think your child is not well enough to come to school, we ask parents to check against the NHS guidelines before contacting the school,  In the vast majority of situations, we expect that children will attend school. If in doubt, please send your child to school and our team can monitor them during the day. If you struggle to get a doctors appointment, please visit pharmacy first. More details here.

Is my child too ill for school?  https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

Please contact the school on every day of absence before 8:30am using one of the following methods:

• Submit a report directly through the MCAS (MyChildAtSchool) App.
• If you are unable to access the app, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
• Please state the students name, form group and reason for absence.
• Please do not telephone our reception, the student’s tutor or Head of Year as this may result in a delay in the information reaching our Attendance Team.

If your child is refusing to come into school, we want to work with you and your child to understand their barriers.  We realise that this might be difficult to work through, but we encourage you to work out whether the immediate issue is distress, health, safety, exhaustion or something practical, then take one constructive next step.

The National Attendance Portal has put together a diagnostic tool to help parents when children are refusing to come to school. 

Please click on this link: https://relaxed-jalebi-002fcb.netlify.app/ to help you avoid a battle, understand the barrier and make the next step more achievable. 

We are here to help you if find you are in this situation.  

Absence Requests

If you need to request an absence, please complete the online form below or print out the form and return it to the attendance team via School Reception or email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., who will inform you if the absence is approved.

Attendance policy