Registration Policy

Purpose

This policy outlines the requirements which the School must meet for the registration of its pupils’ absences and attendances and the procedures it follows to meet those requirements.  The policy applies to all pupils who attend Rishworth, both boarding and day.

Requirements

• These are taken from The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 (Statutory Instrument 2006 No 1751) and the Independent Schools Inspectorate Regulatory Requirements (Effective Sept 2010) paras 83 to 90 inclusive,

• A pupil’s name must be included in the register from the beginning of the first day on which the pupil is to attend Rishworth.

• The register is to be completed at the start of each morning session and once during each afternoon session.

• The register must show whether the pupil is:

• A pupil must not be marked present at the point registration occurs unless (s)he is physically present.

The list of codes to be used to indicate attendance and absence are set out in the schedule appended; they are taken from the Absence and Attendance Codes Guidance.

• The designation N (No reason yet provided for absence) must never be allowed to remain in a register indefinitely:  it must be corrected to the appropriate symbol as soon as possible and always within two weeks of that symbol having been entered.

• Any correction to an original entry must distinguish clearly between the original entry and the correction, save when the symbol N is used, in which case overwriting is allowable electronically.

• The School is required by law to notify, in writing, the local authority of any pupil who (a) fails to attend school regularly, or (b) has been absent for a continuous period of not less than ten days, unless, in either instance, the absence is for reasons of sickness or leave of absence.  It is the Tutor’s responsibility to spot such patterns of absence, and report them to the Director of Administration.

• The School, through the Bursar’s office, operates a back up system for the storage of all electronic information by the daily copying of all data as to (i) a back-up hard drive in the Sports Hall, (ii) a cartridge which is kept for two weeks, (iii) monthly back-up discs are kept, and (iv) a printed copy is created monthly.

Procedure

• Registration takes place twice daily - morning registration at 8.40 am and afternoon registration at 1.30 pm.

• Registration will be taken electronically, save in exceptional circumstances (e.g. system failure) when it will be taken manually (see below).

• Before Registration Tutors will collect a labelled plastic folder for their Form from the Common Room table.  This folder will contain a Form list (for use when system failure occurs, etc), a list of codes to record pupil attendance and absence, and any other notices. 

• Tutors will need to attend their Form Rooms no later than 8.35 am each morning to log on to PASS and be ready to take Registration at 8.40 am prompt; this five minute window is needed to ensure that the system has time to become operational for morning registration; it is not envisaged that the same window will be needed for afternoon registration, but it is important that registration is always undertaken promptly.

• The list of codes to record pupil attendance and absence must be used at all times.

• Tutors will take their plastic folder to the Assembly Hall when there is an assembly or return it to the Common Room when there is not.  Any pupils arriving late for registration must sign his or her name in the ‘Late Book’, which is kept at the back of the Assembly Hall during whole-school Assemblies, or report to the School Office, where the Late Book is at other times located.  The Deputy Head is responsible for ensuring that the ‘Late Book’ is in the Hall at the beginning of each assembly.

• The Director of Administration is responsible for taking the plastic folders and Late Book to the School Office after each morning registration and returning the plastic folders to the Common Room by 12.15 pm each day in readiness for afternoon registration.

• If a pupil has failed to arrive by 9.30 am, and no explanation for non-attendance has been received from the parents or guardian, the School Office will make enquiries of the parents or guardian as to the reason for the pupil’s non-attendance.  The School Office will amend the electronic register when information about a pupil’s absence has been obtained or verified.  In any event the School Office will add to each Form’s plastic folder a printed absence list for that Form by 10 am each day; this information can then be used for fire procedures (see below). 

• On the day that a pupil returns to school, he/she should bring a note of explanation for their absence from a parent or guardian.  This note should be sent via the plastic folder, to the School Office to make any necessary amendment to the electronic register; the note will then be returned to the Tutor, via the plastic folder, to be added to the pupil’s file.  If a note of explanation has not been received by the second day after a pupil’s return from absence, the Tutor should telephone the parent/guardian concerned and inform them that the absence will be counted as an unauthorised absence unless a note is received the next day; any such note, once received, should be dealt with in the manner just outlined.

• Afternoon registration will follow the format used for morning registration, save that the Tutor will be responsible for returning the plastic folder to the School Office. 

• Any unaccounted for absence at afternoon registration must be acted on immediately by the School Office, and a member of Senior Staff informed as soon as possible.

• When for any reason registration cannot be taken electronically, Tutors should use and complete the form list contained in the Form’s plastic folder; this will then be transferred on to the electronic system by the School Office as soon as possible.

• For the purposes of the Fire Procedures, a member of the School Office will take to the designated assembly point all the plastic folders containing each Form’s registration sheet and a printed absence list for that Form for that day, together with the Late Book (if needed); the folders will then be distributed to Tutors for a roll call to be taken.

• Registration is to be used by Tutors as an opportunity to check uniforms and deal with other pastoral matters and to ensure that pupils attend lessons in a tidy and orderly manner.

• A copy of this policy is available to Tutors and the School Office at every registration via the labelled folder.

• A written profile of each pupil’s school attendance is provided to parents or guardians termly

IS  Reviewed Michaelmas 2011
Next Review: Michaelmas 2013

CODES TO RECORD PUPIL ATTENDANCE AND ABSENCE