Supporting your child in attending the Academy every day is critical to their academic success. Students should arrive at the Academy in correct uniform equipped for the day by 8.25am. Students arriving after 8.30am will receive a late mark and will be given a detention.

• Please make all dentist and doctors appointments outside of school hours where possible. If your child has an appointment during school hours, please write a note for them to give to their tutor or reception.
• Parents/carers must telephone Merchants’Academy’s 24hr Attendance line 0117 301 5000 on the first and every day of their child’s absence by 10.00am, to inform the school of the reason for absence.
• It is the school’s decision whether they authorise any absence, and further evidence can be requested to cover medical absences.
• The attendance target for Merchants’ Academy students is 94%. Further action i.e. Penalty Notice or Prosecution may be taken if your child’s attendance falls below this and their absence is unauthorised. A Penalty Notice may be requested for any parent/carer of a student, that has 8 or more unauthorised absences within the previous 10 school week period.
• Please make sure that the Academy has your correct contact details, and that you inform us if you change address or telephone number.
• Merchants’ Academy runs an automatic communication system that will contact you directly if your child is marked absent at registration. This will ensure that the reason for the absence is known as soon as possible and alert you if your child is not in school when they should be. Post-registration absences can also be detected and reported to you. To allow you to familiarize yourself with this system, we have set up a special local rate telephone number 0845 225 0201 which you may wish to call. By introducing this service, our school is able to reassure you that we are meeting the Governments recommendations in contacting you on the first day of your child’s absence. It will also provide an early warning system should your child go missing from school. As always your child’s safety is our main concern.