My son's school recorded his absence as unauthorised

[user400]

My son is in lower sixth and due to anxiety and other issues he already has low attendance, I believe it is currently sitting at 80%. The school have agreed that he can stay at home and study in his free periods but must attend all his timetabled lessons.

All his frees are mostly in the afternoons straight after lunch which is when afternoon registration is done and he told me he signs himself on the sheet in the study centre so he gets himself marked present despite not being there, I doubt the school would allow that if they knew but they haven't said anything.

However, on Tuesday morning he had a free double first 2 periods and he usually goes in as normal if he has frees in the morning but on Tuesday he didn't go in for the free lessons and decided to go in after break. He said he emailed his form teacher and told her that he would be in late and would it be possible for them to record him as study leave for the morning as the home study was agreed, he then signed the late book as home study that was agreed. He then said he got one of his subject teachers to check the register to see what he was marked as for the morning and he told me they marked him using code N - no reason provided for absence.

I'm in NI so the study leave code counts as approved educational activity here which counts as a presence, although he isn't on study leave am I right In thinking that since he had a free period on Tuesday morning and it was agreed he could be at home that they should have recorded him as code S for study leave instead of code N?

[noblegiraffe]

No reason provided for absence is usually a place-holder code until the appropriate code is entered. Unauthorised absence would probably be U. He just needs to make sure that his form tutor goes back and puts the correct code in.

[user400]

Yes I will get him to mention it on Monday morning. Do you not think if it was a study period and it was agreed that he could be at home that the school should record that using code S?

[UserSnoozer]

Is it written down so he can prove it? And often the person taking the registration for those frees may not have known the reason so put an N, only to be corrected by the member of staff he sent the email too at a later date

[noblegiraffe]

He wasn’t in, so the teacher recorded an N. This is fine. Ns are then reviewed and changed to a more appropriate code - S if that’s what’s been agreed for home study, U if it was unauthorised absence. Give the teacher a chance to change it, they have other things to do apart from updating registers!

[DrEustaciaBenson]

he signs himself on the sheet in the study centre so he gets himself marked present despite not being there,

He really shouldn't do that, for safety reasons. If the site has to be evacuated for any reason, staff will use that sign in sheet to check that everyone is accounted for. When he's not there at the assembly point, they'll think he's still somewhere in the building.

[user400]

Yep, I completely agree. I've told him but he says if he doesn't they will just mark him absent which counts as half a day of absence

[trinity0097]

In England and Wales’s so probably there are other countries that have similar) there are strict rules about using the study leave code, most form teachers are not authorised to code absences and just code as n, which means they are not in when the register is taken and an admin person deals with the codes.

[trinity0097]

This is a helpful document and states that study leave can only be granted in Year 11 as a code.

www.rbkc.gov.uk/pdf/Absence%20Data%20-%20Absence%20and%20Attendance%20Codes%20Jan09.pdf