Attendance and Absence

BMGS Attendance Data:

BMGS understands that there is a clear correlation between, Wellbeing, Attainment at school and your child’s Attendance. We are blessed to have extremely dedicated students, supportive parents and support available for those that need it in school. The 2024-25 attendance data is as follows:

Term	School Average	National Average	Difference
Autumn1 End of HT1 (Sept - Oct)	95.9%	92.7%	+3.3%
Autumn 2 End of HT2 (Sept - Dec)	95.4%	92.2%	+3.2%
Spring 1 End of HT3 (Sept – Feb)
Spring 2 End of HT4 (Sept – April)
Summer 1 End of HT 5 (Sept – May )
Summer 2 End of HT 6 (Sept - July)

For a child to reach their academic potential a high level of attendance is essential.

As a parent, you greatly influence your child’s attendance which directly affects their performance in their GCSEs. At BMGS we classify good attendance as 97%.

From September 2024 new national guidance came into effect. The government Guidance can be found: Working together to improve school attendance (applies from 19 August 2024) (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Our Attendance Policy can be found: Bolton Muslim Girls' School - Policies & Publications (prospermat.co.uk)

Unplanned Absence:

The pupil’s parent must notify the school of the reason for the absence on the first day of an unplanned absence by8.30am or as soon as practically possible, by calling the school office staff, who can be contacted via 01204 361 103 and pressing 1 alternatively you can email office@bmgs.bolton.sch.uk, send a message through class charts or via the regular messages you receive from BMGS.  

We will mark absence due to physical or mental illness as authorised, unless the school has a genuine concern about the authenticity of the illness. 

Where the absence is longer than 5 days, or there are doubts about the authenticity of the illness, the school will ask for medical evidence, such as a doctor’s note, prescription, appointment card or other appropriate form of evidence. We will not ask for medical evidence unnecessarily. 

If the school is not satisfied about the authenticity of the illness, the absence will be recorded as unauthorised and parents will be notified of this in advance. 

Planned Absence:

Attending a medical or dental appointment will be counted as authorised as long as the pupil’s parent notifies the school in advance of the appointment. Medical appointments evidence should be sent to the school office email office@bmgs.bolton.sch.uk  

A parent should contact the school office to arrange this - 01204 361 103 or office@bmgs.bolton.sch.uk 

However, we encourage parents to make medical and dental appointments out of school hours where possible. Where this is not possible, the pupil should be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary. 

The pupil’s parent must also apply for other types of term-time absence as far in advance as possible of the requested absence. Go to section 5 to find out which term-time absences the school can authorise.  

If a child is late to school:

If a learner arrives once the 8:15am bell has rung, they need to report to the main office and sign in prior to going to their class.

Parents have an obligation to ensure their child attends school regularly, and on time. Please bear in mind the effect being late has not only on your own child, but the negative impact such disruption can cause on your child’s class too. If a child is 10 minutes late every school day they will miss a staggering 5 days of school over a year.

Failure to follow these procedures may result in disciplinary consequences.

Approval for term time absence:

The headteacher will only grant a leave of absence to a pupil during term time if the request meets the specific circumstances set out in the 2024 school attendance regulations. These circumstances are:

Taking part in a regulated performance, or regulated employment abroad

Attending an interview

Study leave

A temporary, time-limited part-time timetable

Exceptional circumstances

A leave of absence is granted at the headteacher’s discretion, including the length of time the pupil is authorised to be absent for.

Leave of absence will not be granted for a pupil to take part in protest activity during school hours.

As a leave of absence will only be granted in exceptional circumstances, it is unlikely a leave of absence will be granted for the purposes of a family holiday.

The school considers each application for term-time absence individually, taking into account the specific facts, circumstances and relevant background context behind the request.

Any request should be submitted in wrtting as soon as it is anticipated and, where possible, at least 2 weeks before the absence. The headteacher may require evidence to support any request for leave of absence.

Other valid reasons for authorised absence include (but are not limited to):

Illness (including mental-health illness) and medical/dental appointments (see sections 4.2 and 4.3 of the Attendance policy for more detail)

Religious observance – where the day is exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body to which the pupil’s parent(s) belong(s). BMGS has where possible, set the school calendar to accommodate both Eid celebrations. These are usually covered through Inset days.

Parent(s) travelling for occupational purposes – this covers Roma, English and Welsh gypsies, Irish and Scottish travellers, showmen (fairground people) and circus people, bargees (occupational boat dwellers) and new travellers. Absence may be authorised only when a traveller family is known to be travelling for occupational purposes and has agreed this with the school, but it is not known whether the pupil is attending educational provision

If the pupil is currently suspended or excluded from school (and no alternative provision has been made)

Other reasons the school may allow a pupil to be absent from the school site, which are not classified as absences, include (but are not limited to):

Attending an offsite approved educational activity, sporting activity or visit or trip arranged by the school

Attending another school at which the pupil is also registered (dual registration)

Attending provision arranged by the local authority

Attending work experience

If there is any other unavoidable cause for the pupil not to attend school, such as disruption to travel caused by an emergency, a lack of access arrangements, or because the school premises are closed

Hajj- (obligatory pilgrimage) and Umrah (non-obligatory pilgrimage)

Any request made for a substantial period of absence in order to carry out religious obligations may be considered on the same basis as set out in this policy. The purpose of this guidance is to set a framework for the school to manage and administer requests from parents wishing to perform the obligatory and non- obligatory pilgrimage.

The school recognises the difficulty which results from the academic year following the Gregorian and not the Hijri calendar, which means that Hajj-obligatory pilgrimage can fall during times when the school is in session. The school respects that Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and is an obligation upon Muslims once in their lifetime, financial/health conditions permitting. The school is committed to providing high quality education whilst having a balanced approach to the religious needs of its learners. Parental requests for leave for Hajj will be considered according to the following criteria:

To minimise any possible negative impact on the learning parents wishing to apply for the obligatory Hajj leave will notify the Head teacher in writing allowing minimum 6 months’ notice for the following Hajj.

To balance the needs of education and learning, and the need for learners/parents to make the obligatory Hajj pilgrimage, learners’ absence may be authorised for Hajj subject to the parent gave advance notice; and the pupil’s attainment, attendance and ability to catch up on missed schooling.

Applications will normally only be considered for the obligatory (first) Hajj. In exceptional circumstances requests made on compassionate grounds may also be considered by the headteacher.

Permissions / requests for Umrah or non-obligatory Hajj will not be considered during school term time except in exceptional compassionate grounds.

The decision on whether to grant exceptional leave for Hajj will be made by the headteacher who will consider the written application made by the parent/carer. In accordance with the school’s overall policy on leave of absence, parent/carer should not book tickets etc. before the leave has been approved.

Overstaying an approved absence may be considered as unauthorised absence (unless there are substantial grounds for having done so –parent/carer in this situation should contact the school providing an update as to how long the absence is likely to be and produce any evidence) and could lead to fixed penalty notice and losing the place at the school.