Unauthorised absence

[purpleme12]

I've just got my report for my child.
It says she's had 9 authorised absences and 10 unauthorised
I mean both seem more than what I thought but more concerned about the unauthorised absence
I didn't even know that she had that many unauthorised absence

Would school have noted down why they put her down as authorised on some days and why they put her down as unauthorised on others? If I ask school would they have this information?
I just don't really understand

I think they count one day as two unauthorised absences ie AM and PM

You can ask them to run a report off for her attendance, I'm surprised you don't get one anyway as most schools send them out once a term.

Each day is two sessions so she's had 5 unauthorised and 4.5 authorised - presumably they sent her home once.

It's quite a lot of unauthorised absences, what do you tell them when you call them and tell them she won't be in? Are you remembering to call in everyday?

In the school I work at the only absences that are authorised are illness/medical appointments. Unauthorised absences cover everything else so holidays/days off but also if children are late after a certain cut off they count as missing the session rather than just being late. 10 absences is 1 school week, as there are two registrations per day and both count towards overall attendance.

For my school unauthorised absence would be if you took them out for a holiday/wedding/most events/did not ring them to report it.
Authorised is mainly if the child is unwell and this is reported as per their policy.

You could always ask if they keep a record I'm sure they would at least have the dates which your DC was absent.

Also as there are 2 registers my DC school counts one day absent as 2 absences. Perhaps a reason why your DC record sounds higher than expected.

Oh wow that's really interesting I never knew they counted the morning and the afternoon as two separate sessions for the attendance!
That makes it really easy to fall below!

I took her out of school for 3 days to go to her granddad's funeral. (We stayed overnight it wasn't near) They told me they authorise one day at standard so it might go down unauthorised if headteacher doesn't agree. I guess that did go down as unauthorised. ,,(think this is harsh but there you go)

I can account for one other day that they might have put down as unauthorised.. Don't know about the rest really.

It doesn't sound as bad knowing that it's the morning and afternoon session as two different attendances

Yes, as above the morning and afternoon registers count as 2 separate attendances (you'd be surprised how many people collect their child several times throughout the year at lunchtime, for a doctor's appointment here and a dentist appointment there etc, then act surprised when they find out their child doesn't actually have the 100% attendance record they believed they did). Part of the reasons for 2 separate attendance marks is discourage this habit of parents sending children in and then collecting willy nilly throughout the day for this that and the other. If they're not in school when the afternoon register is taken, they will be marked as absent.

School can only authorise one day for a funeral. It's unfortunate if you had to travel and decided to split it with overnight stays, but they can only authorise the funeral date itself so school are not being unreasonable on that one.

If you ask for a full break down through they should be able to provide a printout with all absences recorded (and reasons for this absence). They have to keep a record (and must have one in order to collate her overall attendance). You are entitled to a copy of all records school how on your child as part of GDPR. I highly doubt a mistake has been made though, these are official documents and the number of absences and attendance percentage will be calculated by computer software rather than a person. There is really no room for error. It's surprising how quickly absences add up though and how easily individual ones get forgotten (for example, a week's holiday will result in 10 unauthorised absences).

You won't be the first to be caught out by this and you won't be the last but at least it's a wake up call to try and improve her attendance next year.

There was one instance where she wouldn't go to school. (Was truthful with school, not happy with how they (didn't) follow it up but that's another story)
I wonder if they put that as unauthorised.

And the two days they must have put unauthorised for funeral.

So that's 6 then if we're counting morning and afternoon.

Other days I guess might have been too late for register?? No idea.

Only other thing would be them not believing me or something if I called in and said she was poorly!

Would just be helpful to see at the time I guess what they're marking her down as

They would not be allowed to mark unauthorised if you phoned in sick for her, whether they believed you or not. It's not up to their opinion as to whether it's genuine or not, if you phone in sick it's authorised.

The refusal to come to school would have been unauthorised I'm afraid. I agree there should have been a follow up on her welfare, but they can't authorise a child who doesn't want to come to school, regardless of the reason. Sounds like they could have handled the follow up better, but that would definitely be unauthorised.

If you are often late enough to arrive after the register has closed you have your answer to the other unauthorised absences. If a child is so late they arrive after the register has closed, they receive an unauthorised absence for that session even if they attended part of it. Persistent lateness plays a big factor in poor attendance.

Ok

Perhaps it was two instances where we were later than the register.
Don't know from what time that counts.

It doesn't look so bad now I know it's two sessions anyway

I thought it meant 10 days

I have another question then.
If any absence can be classified as coming in too late for the register so an authorised absence.

Then how do they class lateness?

Because there's another section for lateness in the report.

So now I'm confused

For us, registers close at 9am (school starts at 8.35).
So, if you are in form for 8.35, you are present.
If you get there between 8.35 (more realistically 8 40) and 9am, you are late. If you are there after 9am, you are absent for that session.

Each school has their own policy on 'lateness' I think.

Where I am, I think it's a 15 minute period of grace. School opens at 8:45 and we shut the doors at 8:55. If they arrive via the office between 8:55 and 9:10 they get their attendance mark but are marked as 'late'. The register then closes at 9:10 and once the absent mark is submitted, any pupils arriving after that session are marked as absent for the whole morning session. Obviously we have a sign in book for those who arrive after the registration marks have been submitted, so we know of numbers for fire drills etc, but if you sleep in and get to our school after 9:10 it's tough, it's an unauthorised absence all morning. It soon adds up for families who are persistently late.

After 9:10, the office start ringing the parents of children who aren't in who haven't phoned in yet, to establish why they are off (safeguarding). If there is no answer or the explanation isn't authorisable, they get an unauthorised absence. You wouldn't believe how many families are woken by this call:- "oh sorry, we've slept in. We'll be there in half an hour!". No way a child rocking up at 9:45 should get their attendance mark for that morning. They've missed a whole lesson!

Ok I think I get it now.

I didn't know how it all worked

@purpleme12 if you look on the school websites all the policies should be there. It's likely you were also given the information in a big pack when she first started.

No weren't given a pack about that but I understand more from this thread now.