Attendance and Absence

Attendance

Reporting an Absence

Student absence email -  studentattendance@ryecollege.co.uk

It is your responsibility to inform us that your child in not in school. 

Our expectations

As we are in school 190 days out of 365 - that’s 52% of the whole year we expect your child to be in school. We expect: 

• Students arrive each morning by 8.50am after 8.55am, all access routes will be locked and students will have to enter via the reception entrance.
• Students who arrive after 9.00am will be recorded as late. This will be monitored and families of students who are persistently late will be required to attend a support meeting to discuss this.

Rye College sets a minimum target of 97% attendance for each student and will not authorise any holiday absence during term time.

If a student's attendance drops below 97%, families will receive a letter to inform you of our concerns about your child's attendance at school. 

A copy of our Student Attendance Policy can be found on our Policies page.

Absence Reporting Procedure

On the first day of illness, we ask you to:

• Phone 01797 222545 option 1 by 08.30; or,

• Email studentattendance@ryecollege.co.uk

• Use the online contact form on our website, selecting 'Student Absence' from the drop down options. 

You are also required to contact us on each day of absence if your child is unwell for several days and provide medical evidence or an appointment card on the fourth day of illness. If we have not received notification of absence, we will contact you.

The absence will be authorised once evidence is received. Without evidence, the absence is classified as unauthorised. 10 sessions of unauthorised absence in a 10-week period may result in a £60 Penalty Notice being issued.

Planned Absence

To apply for a planned absence from Rye College please download, complete and return the Application for a Planned Absence form.

Medical appointments

Medical appointments should be made outside College hours. If this is not possible students MUST bring a note from their parents or carers in advance of the date along with a letter of appointment from their doctor or hospital to show to their Form Tutor and a staff member in the Student Hub. If the Student Hub agrees with the necessity to miss college they will countersign the letter and the student will present that at student reception where they will need to sign out. Reception will retain the letter.

What to do if your child feels unwell during the school day

If your child feels unwell in school, they must seek advice from our first aid team. The member of staff will make an assessment and decide, if the child is too unwell to be in school. 

If the illness can be managed with advice, the student will be returned to lesson. If the member of staff assesses the child to be unwell, they will be taken to the first aid room and a member of staff will contact you. 

Wherever possible, we will try to keep the student in school to reduce the impact on their learning, particularly when a student’s attendance is a concern. However, we will always contact home if a student is too ill to remain in school. 

Please work with us to support our procedures.  If your child feels unwell during the school day and contacts you, in the first instance please email the school office office@ryecollege.co.uk to explain that your child has made contact with you. We will then speak to your child and call you back, should your child need to be collected from school.  Please do not come to school to collect them unless we have requested you to do so. We have a number of emergency first-aiders on the school site. 

Please be assured our first aid team will always act in the best interests of our students and their wellbeing.   

Children Missing from Education

Children missing education are children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at a school. Children missing education are at significant risk of underachieving, being victims of harm, exploitation or radicalisation, and becoming NEET (not in education, employment or training) later in life. Here at Rye College, we understand effective information sharing between the school, parents/carers and external partner agencies is critical to ensuring that all students of compulsory school age are safe and receiving suitable education.