Attendance update

Dear Families 

Attendance Update 

We would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your support with your child’s attendance last academic year.  

Attendance is critical to your child’s attainment, well-being and wider development, and our target is for the attendance of all students to be 97% or above. This means taking no more than 5 days absence in a full academic year.  

Please familiarise yourself with the term’s dates for next academic year: Dixons Unity Academy | Term dates 2025-2026 

Improving student attendance is a national priority, and as such, the government and the local authority have made changes to attendance fines and thresholds for 2025/26: 

From August 2024, the local council has increased the fine for each parent to £80, which rises to £160 if not paid within 21 days. If the fine is not paid within 28 days, this can lead to a prosecution.  

There will be a national threshold of 10 sessions (5 days) of unauthorised absence within 10 weeks triggering a penalty notice. For repeated offences, the local authority will introduce a flat rate of £160 for a second penalty notice within a 3-year period. After this, an alternative route (prosecution) will be taken.   

Legal proceedings will take place via the magistrates’ court for a student who takes two or more periods of unauthorised leave in a 12-month period, or when a period of four or more weeks (20+ days) of unauthorised absence is taken.  

The local authority must be informed by the school when a student has, or will, miss 15 days due to illness.  

We will always support families first before we issue a penalty notice and prevent absence becoming entrenched. From September 2025, if your child has multiple instances of unauthorised absence, we will be in contact with you to discuss how we can work together to improve attendance. This could entail, but is not limited to, home visits, phone calls and meetings. 

Please also be aware of the following: 

Morning registers must be closed by 09.00 am daily. If your child arrives after this time, they will be marked with an unauthorised absence code for the morning session, and this will affect their attendance figure. 

All appointments should be made outside of school hours. If an appointment must be made within the school day, please ensure you only remove your child for the appointment time and return your child back to school once this is completed. For example, if your child has a dentist appointment at 10:30am, they should come to school at 8:20am, leave later that morning for their appointment, and then return for the afternoon.  

Dixons Unity is committed to working in partnership with families to support students to be successful at school and in their futures. Thank you for your ongoing support in this area.  

Yours faithfully 

James Higgins 

Assistant Vice Principal