Distortion of school attendance figures?

[RolliPop]

Just logged onto school app and it says that my sons attendance is 70%

I found that weird as he did have a few days where he was very poorly and stayed home but looking further it says

Authorised absence : 8%
Unauthorised absence : 0%
Late : 22%
Present : 70%

I know that's a lot of late marks but his sister is autistic and a school refuser and it's been a rough term so far and the school/HOY are aware of that and he doesn't ever get in trouble for being late/get detentions as they know it's not his fault. But they have to record it.

But when they are late it's 10/15 mins. So it seems unfair that it looks like he is only there 70% of the time when in fact he's only missed form time in the morning.
He's rarely late into lessons and his daily attendance is 92% because of a really bad D&V bug!

Please don't judge the lateness as we are working with a counsellor in school and other outside agencies to Tey and help her but even when in school she can't get into lessons so it's such a battle everyday yo get her out on time and it's too far for him to walk and there's no public transport that works (would be over an hour when DH is already going there!)

I just think it's weird that they say his overall attendance is 70% when infact he's been in 92% of term but missed 10 mins of the day that isn't lessons.

Does anyone know why they do it that way? And deduct lates off full attendance?

The guidance says 30 minutes not 10/15 I would point that out to them.

They start at 8.20 so it's very rare that they go in after 8.50!
A few times when its been snowing and the traffic is gridlocked but definitely not every single late mark.

how old is he? You mention HOY so I guess secondary age? Can he not go on his own? I know it's difficult with children with SN (have 2 myself) but if he doesn't have support needs and is old enough, I would let him go on his own. Not fair that he is consistently late because of the sister.

It isn't very meaningful to add the two numbers together to get 30% - clearly they need to apply just a wee bit more brain power to their stats.

It’s factually correct, so there’s nothing rally for you to complain about. It’s doesn’t matter anyway, how they record attendance data has no effect on your child.

Its good for the school to have accurate data because being late so regularly could have a negative effect on a child’s education and when schools are under so much scrutiny, they need to be able to give a reason if a child is under achieving.

How is it accurate that he is only in school 70% of the time when he has attended 92% of lessons but missed form because of lateness?

He's still had his full day of education?

I'm not thinking of complaining. I was just wondering why they don't that way?

Why not say late : 22%
But still keep the attendance at 92%

Because it's 2 different things.

Because at the time they take the register and send it off, they don’t know if you’re going to be late or absent.

As the child was not there for the register in the morning this is how it is done on the system. I know it's really hard with a school refuser (I have one myself) but you need to really try and get him in (even if you have to leave the other child in the car) so he doesn't get so many late marks if you want his attendance up. If you are happy with how it is then just carry on as you are.

I noticed this with my son too, he's autistic and struggling with school but this year his attendance has dropped drastically because of late marks being g counted as absence unlike last year

the cut off times are legally binding, the school has to report as it is.
Once the late time has passed, then they are marked as absent even if they arrive 1 minute later.

Someone up thread said 30 minutes, I actually though it was only 15 minutes, so not sure about that.

I know it makes parents really cross that lateness is marked as absent, but some kids roll up 1 hour late, or mid morning, or just before lunch, so it does make sense that there is a cut off at some point.

You have my sympathy though OP trying to juggle an SEN child with other kids needs is really hard

Being late after the register has been taken has to be recorded as an absence. That's the DfE rules and the schools hands are tied

Oh yeah, this seems the best solution all round.

This is a DfE policy and nothing to do with the school
He needs to start making his own way in, Form time might feel unimportant but it's when important messages are passed on either room changes or more important wole school ones and are an important grounding to the day.

There are two types of lateness but will look like one on communication home.
Lateness after the registers have officially closed, this will be recorded as absent for the morning session if he comes in after that time.
Lateness before the registers officially close, where he will get an addition to his lateness % but also registered present for the morning session.

The legally required registers for schools are am and pm registration.
These are the ones that are sent to county (or whoever).

NRTFT but just to say that a few absences in term 1 can make attendance look worse ie 2 separate weeks off for illness looks bad. This is often the term with most sickness absence. If there is little or no absence in the next 2 terms, the % attendance improves massively.

Late after register has closed counts as an absence.

If he is missing form time then he is late as that is part of the school day.

A couple of secondary schools where I live have actually moved tutor time to later in the morning to address punctuality as a lot of students (and parents) don't think form time is important/bother to get in on time. If it's a lesson they are missing then generally the child wants to be on time/parents are more accepting of this missing out.

Can your child get to school another way so they are not delayed by the school refused? Unfortunately registers have to be accurate, so even if the HOY knows and is sympathetic to your situation, they can only record what is happening (if he's not there, absent, if he then arrives he is late).

DfE guidance can be found at

It notes in section 291 that "Code L: Late arrival before the register is closed: The pupil was absent when the register started being taken but arrives before the register is closed. Schools should actively discourage late arrival and be alert to patterns of late arrival. All schools are expected to set out in their attendance policy the length of time the register will be open, after which a pupil will be recorded as absent. This should be the same for every session and not longer than 30 minutes. If a pupil is recorded with code N but arrives later in the session after the register has closed, the attendance register must be amended to record them as absent using code U or another absence code that is more appropriate."

Schools have to follow the DfE guidance on completing registers. The DfE also expects that students can generally travel to school independently at secondary age (obviously there are exceptions!) so you may need to consider if he is able to get to school independently?

Does it really matter? He's not there when they take the register. You seem more concerned about how they record this than the fact that he is late so frequently. I appreciate you have some challenges and are working on them but that's not a reason for them to alter the way they collect data.

Of course it matters, the op could end up with a fine or prosecution through no fault of her own,

Schools hand are not tied, they are closing the register to early.

How long do you expect them to keep the register open for? An hour? 2 hours?

At our school the register is taken at 9am. After that you are late and registered as missing that session. The school gates open at 0845 so that's a big window to get into school for.

This is the rule for code U: Where a pupil has arrived late after the register has closed but before the end of session. Schools should actively discourage late arrival, be alert to patterns of late arrival and seek an explanation from the parent. All schools are expected to set out in their attendance policy the length of time the register will be open, after which a pupil will be recorded as absent. This should be the same for every session and not longer than 30 minutes.

OP needs to know what her school's policy is and I suppose if it is shorter than 30 minutes could query why but they have no choice but to apply it uniformly.