Attendance & Punctuality Policy

Attendance

All our students are expected to attend 100% of their course.

• Students MUST tell the school in advance of any absences, which need to be authorised by the school’s student support team. If you cannot attend, please email, call the school or text/whatsapp on:
• Manchester: manchester@newcollegegroup.com, +44(0) 1612334290, +44 7535 816060
• Liverpool liverpool@newcollegegroup.com, +44 (0) 1512362749, +447774707622
• The college may not issue a certificate at the end of the course if a student’s final attendance is lower than 80%.
• Students with one-to-one lessons need to give 24 hours’ notice of cancellation. Students will be charged for non-attendance if 24 hours’ notice is not given.
• Action will be taken when attendance is below 85%. If the attendance percentage decreases, the following procedure will be followed:

Step 1 – Warning email

If the student’s attendance falls below 85% a warning email will be sent by the student support team as a reminder of our attendance policy.

Step 2 – First warning letter

If the student’s attendance is less than 80%, the student support team will send the student a first warning letter.

Step 3 – Second warning letter

If the student’s attendance continues to be less than 80 % and shows no sign of improvement in 3 weeks, then the student support team will send the student a second warning letter copying in the Principal/Centre Manager and the Director of Studies (DoS). The student’s sponsor and/or agent will also be informed. This letter includes a request for a meeting to be held with the student. A member of staff will discuss with the student how they can improve their attendance. If the student doesn’t reply, the student support team will keep trying to contact the student either by email or phone/ mobile.

Step 4 – Third warning letter

If the student’s attendance continues to be less than 80 %, and shows no sign of improvement 3 weeks after sending the second warning letter, then the student support team will take the following actions:

1. i) A third/final warning letter will be sent by email to the student and also to their parent, guardian, sponsor or agent. An urgent meeting will be scheduled.
2. ii) A meeting will be set up for the student with either the DoS or Principal/Centre Manager.

Once these actions have taken place, there will be a close follow up regarding the student’s attendance. The College’s Principal/Centre Manager and DoS, the student’s parent, guardian, sponsor or agent will be kept updated following feedback from the meeting.

Step 5 (if applicable) 

After the final meeting, if the student still does not attend, the Principal/Centre Manager assisted by the student support team will carry out a thorough investigation which may lead to the expulsion of the student from the college.

Students under 18 years of age

The attendance rules above apply to students under the age of 18 in the same way as over 18 year olds. There are additional measures in place for safeguarding purposes for U18 students taking face to face courses.

All students under the age of 18 are listed on the under-18 absence tracker, allowing for closer monitoring by the student support team.

Under 18 students are required to sign in when they enter the college. Additionally, any absences will be reported before or during the first break by teachers. If a student is absent, the student support team will check on their wellbeing with the following procedure:

1. Call/email/message the student  
2. Call Host family/guardian in the UK
3. If no reply: carry on calling though the day
4. Contact parents by call/email if within 2 hours
5. If by 4 pm still no news: involve the authorities

Authorised (planned) and unauthorised absences

The information below is intended as a guide for staff and students as to how absences will normally be classified. Note that the lists below are not exhaustive and each case will be considered on its merits. The college actively monitors all requests for authorised absence. These requests must be supported by appropriate evidence (doctor’s note, travel tickets, appointment confirmations, etc). Such evidence must be provided to the college’s reception, who will then take a copy for our records. The copy will be processed and kept confidentially by the student support team. Alternatively, students can send digital copies of the mentioned evidence via email. If in doubt of their authenticity we will inform the student to provide us with the actual document at their earliest convenience. Authorised absences are marked as present in our attendance system but listed as “authorised”, meaning the student is absent but it does not affect their attendance score. 

The following may be considered reasons for an authorised absence:

• Medical appointments that could not be made outside college hours 
• Attendance at a funeral or wedding of a close family member
• Severe travel disruption that leaves students with no means of getting to the college by public transport
• A meeting with a solicitor or request from the authorities to attend a meeting or event (for example, biometric enrolment)
• Genuine family emergencies
• Religious holidays
• Illness (evidenced by a medical certificate)

The following will normally be considered to be unacceptable as reasons for authorising absence.

• Holidays during term time
• Work related activities
• Leisure activities
• Birthdays or family celebrations
• Babysitting
• Driving lessons
• Home visits that can be made outside college hours

Holidays

Every student is allowed 1 week’s holiday (Monday to Friday) for every 12 weeks of course booked. Requests must meet the following conditions:

• Requests must be submitted at least 3 working days before the start of the holiday.
• The request must cover a period starting on a Monday and finishing on a Friday.
• If the booking is less than 12 weeks, or the holiday is not from Monday to Friday, the student must give a satisfactory reason to explain the reason why they need to take time off.
• An unsatisfactory attendance rate is enough reason to decline a holiday.

If accepted, a holiday letter will be attached as a pdf document. If a course extension is granted, this information will also be included on the confirmation letter with a reminder to contact the student support team in case accommodation has been booked through our College.

Once the holiday has been put through the system, the student’s name will not show on the register and therefore their attendance will not be affected by the authorised holiday.

If declined, the email will include an explanation including the reasons for its rejection. If further discussion is needed, the student can visit the Student Support Office or reply by email.

Lateness

Every student is expected to attend all their scheduled classes on time. Our college takes lateness very seriously both as disruptive to academic progression and lack of respect towards the teacher and classmates. For all these reasons we have a number of rules and policies in place to ensure our students have all the support to avoid arriving late to their classes.

• Students who arrive to their main classes later than 15 minutes may not be allowed in class.
• Students who arrive to their skills or focus classes later than 5 minutes may not be allowed in class.
• Students who return from break more than 5 minutes late may not be allowed to enter class.- Students with approved authorised absences are allowed into class late. They should be accompanied to the class by a member of the Student Support or Academic team or with a late slip from Student Support.