At Lancaster High School, we expect the very highest attendance of our pupils. FACT: Pupils who regularly attend school progress better than their peers who have inconsistent or poor attendance.
We work in conjunction with the Local Authority to monitor and support pupils with poor attendance. Since September 2024, all schools must report their school attendance data to the Department for Education.
‘Attend today, achieve tomorrow’
You can read our school Attendance Policy here: View / Download LHS Attendance Policy
Attendance @ LHS September 2025
In September we launched our new attendance platform Attend to support us monitoring pupil attendance through our six colour group stages and to enable regular and accessible communication with all parents.
Pupil’s attendance is monitored daily. Parents will receive fortnightly attendance group updates via our Attend software. It is our ambition that pupils are in the gold group however we understand that sometimes illness can keep pupils away from school.
It is our hope that parents will support us in encouraging school attendance rates for their child within the bronze, silver & gold categories. Blue and orange groups represent persistent absent rates and the red group represents severe persistent absence from school. Pupils whose attendance falls within these categories do not perform academically as well as their well attending peers and are impacted socially by being absent from school and their peers regularly.
You can read more about our Attend platform here.
Benefits of School Attendance
Good attendance at school is not just valuable, it’s essential. Attending school regularly and punctually is directly linked to improved progress and exam performance which should in turn lead to further learning opportunities and better job prospects. As well as this, going to school helps to develop:
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friendships
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social skills
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team values
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life skills
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cultural awareness
Reporting an absence
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Call the school 01524 32636, select option 1 to report a pupil absent
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Text our Absence alert text number 07943 107 504 (this is a virtual mobile number)
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Complete the online absence form https://www.lancasterhigh.lancs.sch.uk/absence-reporting
Punctuality
Our school day begins at 08:50. It is essential pupils are on time for school. Regularly arriving late to school means your child misses out on key activities at the start of the day including our PSHE and Careers curriculum, important messages and assemblies. Please support your child with their organisation in the evening and morning to ensure they can depart for school on time and are prepared for their day of learning.
In September 2024 we moved our school start time back to 08:50, from 08:40, to support pupil being on time to school and accessing the school site via local public transport.
Rewarding Good Attendance
As part of our daily practice we celebrate good attendance to school. School assemblies and form time powerpoints have slides that include a focus on attendance and celebrate the attendance of form/year/house groups attendance figures weekly/half termly/ termly and annually.
Rewards for forms and individuals for good attendance include:
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Postcards home- 100% attendance for half term
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Praise postcards/emails/phone calls- for pupils with improved attendance
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Certificates for 100% attendance each half term
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Prize draws for Love to Shop vouchers in every termly Achievement Assembly
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Pupils compete to win the House trophies for best form attendance each term and best House attendance of the academic year.
Requests for Leave of Absence
Holidays should not be taken during the term time. If leave is required during term time, a ‘Leave of Absence Request Form' should be completed and submitted to the School’s Attendance Officer. Please note that these are only requests and should be returned at least 2 weeks prior to the intended first day of leave.
Parents do not have a legal right to take children out of school on holiday.
It is important that parents are aware that formal action in the form of Fixed Penalty Notices and fines where pupils are absent from school for 10 sessions or more over a ten-week rolling period. Details from the Local Authority can be found here, Local Authority Information.
Did you know?
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There are 189 statutory school days in one year.
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There are 175 days including weekends and holidays available to use for holidays.
