At Mayflower High School, we believe that good attendance is essential for student success. This section provides vital information and guidance for parents, carers, and pupils regarding school attendance. It outlines the school’s attendance procedures, the process for requesting holidays during term time, and the Local Authority's legal requirements and powers concerning attendance.
If your child is experiencing challenges that may affect their attendance, we encourage you to contact us to discuss potential support.

You can access information about your child's attendance, behaviour, and copies of school reports via the SIMs ParentApp. For tutorials and user guides to help you download and access the app, please see the resources below. A video user guide on how to download the app can be found here.
Attendance Team Contacts

If you have any issues related to school attendance, please reach out to our dedicated attendance team:

Mr. D Griffin - Assistant Headteacher
Mrs. M Ragon - Senior Attendance Officer
Mrs. L Elliott - Attendance Officer
Mrs. Evident - Year Manager - Year 11
Mr. Hurd - Year Manager - Year 10
Mrs. Woolley - Year Manager - Year 9
Mrs. England- Year Manager - Year 8
Mrs. Pierce - Year Manager - Year 7

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Contacting the School

If your child needs to miss school, please contact us each day of their illness. It’s important to keep us informed, as staff will be concerned if they do not hear anything. To inform us about your child's absence or lateness, please contact us before 8:15 am using the absence link below.

Absence Reporting Link

If your child is absent and we haven’t received notification, you will receive a text message and an email requesting information about the absence. Please reply to either message to inform us of the reason for your child's absence. This is essential for safeguarding purposes.

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Medical Appointments

We encourage scheduling medical appointments, such as dental, doctor, orthodontist, and hospital visits, outside school hours. If this is not possible, we expect students to attend school beforehand and return once the appointment concludes.

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Medical Evidence for Absences

At times, we may request medical evidence to authorise absences. Acceptable types of medical evidence include:

 

• GP/Dental appointment card with the date of the appointment attended

• Medical appointment letter

• Empty prescribed medication packet with the dispensing label attached

• Copy of a prescription

• White return page of a prescription (repeat prescription request)

• Medical letter/certificate from a GP or medical professional advising that the student is unfit to attend school

• Compliment slip from a nurse at the student’s medical practice confirming they are unfit to attend school

 

For ongoing conditions preventing a student from attending school, it may be necessary for us to request medical evidence confirming their unfitness to attend. Parents/carers are responsible for providing this evidence upon request, and the school will not chase medical evidence from healthcare providers.

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Persistent Absence

The link between school attendance and success is well established, with higher attendance correlating to better examination results. The national average attendance rate is around 95%, and we consider good attendance to be 97%. A student with attendance below 90% is categorised as having persistent absence.

To keep you informed, if your child’s attendance approaches the 90% threshold, the following actions will be taken:

 

• Below 92%: You will receive a letter confirming your child’s attendance and requesting that future absences be supported by medical evidence.

• Below 90%: You will be contacted to attend a meeting at school to discuss the situation further.

• If there is no improvement, it may be necessary to refer the case to the Local Authority.

 

While we recognise that medical conditions can cause absences, we encourage resilience against minor ailments, such as colds and sore throats. The Department for Education (DfE) defines "Persistent Absence" (PA) as 10% absence, meaning any student whose attendance falls to 90% or below is classified as PA.

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Punctuality

If your child arrives at school after 8:50 am, they will receive a “Late” mark on their attendance record. Arrival after 2:05 pm at afternoon registration will also result in a late mark.

An accumulation of four late marks during a half-term will result in a 30-minute lunchtime detention on the day of lateness. Any subsequent late marks will result in an additional lunchtime detention set for the same day.