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Ireland Attendance Policy

Rationale & Scope of the Policy

The Attendance policy has been designed in compliance with the rules of INIS/ GNIB to ensure EC English Language Centres has clear attendance rules that are followed. For this policy we will use the following terminology:
A lesson is each 90 min section
Class is the group of students

Policy Statements

1.      Attendance

1.1         Students are expected to attend 100% of their lessons.

1.2         If a student is absent for two consecutive days or a pattern of non-attendance develops, teachers must inform the DoS by speaking to them outside lesson time. A member of the school team will then contact the student to find out why they are not at school and to remind them of the Attendance Policy.

1.3         The school reports any non-EEA visa student that misses more than 10 Contact Sessions (10 Days), or any student whose attendance is low with no possibility of reaching 85% before their course ends.

2.      Recording attendance

2.1         All teachers record attendance in two ways:

a) Digital recording : Teacher accesses daily, EC Dublin’s attendance management system on their classroom PC, access the relevant class and choose either P (present), L (Late) or A (Absent) from drop-down menu.

b) Paper recording: Attendance record forms are generated each week by the Director of Studies and added to the Teacher Class files. The teacher completes these during each lesson using the following indicators -  / (present), L (Late) or A (Absent)

2.2         The Academic Office is responsible for checking weekly, the online records against the paper-based records to ensure they are accurate.

3.      Sickness (See Sick Leave Policy)

3.1         Please see the Sick policy for how absences are recorded in the event of illness or injury.

3.2         If a student must return home due to a family bereavement, their session break / holiday may be changed in accordance to GNIB rules.

4.      Excused absences

4.1         Sponsored students are students whose course is being financed by their work or their government and whose sponsors require them to attend meetings during class time.

4.2         Excused absences are absences that are requested by a student’s sponsor.

4.3         Excused absences are counted as absent for the INIS attendance requirements and all students must maintain an attendance of 85%. If attendance is under 85% students cannot be given this option.

4.4         Excused Absences are only allowed for two reasons:

i)          For students who require time off for religious observation.

ii)        For sponsored students who have appointments to attend at their embassy, who have provided at least one weeks’ notice and written evidence of the appointment.

4.5         Permission for the absence must be sought in advance and cannot be back dated.

4.6         For sponsored students’ permission must be given by their sponsor in advance.

4.7         Excused Absences can only be approved by the Directors of Studies or the Centre Directors.

4.8          Excused Absences are counted as absences for the EC certificate.

5.      Punctuality and Leaving During Class Time

5.1         Students are required to come to class on time. If they are more than 15 minutes late they will be asked to wait for the next class as entering late disrupts the rest of the students. They can use the self-study room and the teacher or DoS will assign work to them. They will be recorded as absent for that lesson.

5.2         Students are required to attend the whole lesson. If students come between 5 and 15 minutes late or leave class for more than 5 mins, or before the end, they will be marked ‘Late’ and if they are late more than 3 times in a week this will count as one absence.

5.3         Students are required to attend the whole lesson. If students leave the classroom for more than 15 minutes, or leave the class more than 15 mins early, they will be marked ‘Absent’ for the appropriate class module(s).

6.      Attendance warnings

6.1         The following outlined actions can be triggered by low attendance or by sustained absence, the chart below shows which actions are prompted by poor attendance.

6.2         In addition to the below warning procedure, students are required to maintain attendance over 75% in the first 6 weeks of their course. Students whose attendance falls below this percentage will be contacted by the school to explain their absence, and GNIB/INIS will be contacted immediately.

All Students

 

If attendance falls below 87% (without permission and a letter) OR

5 days in a row are missed (without permission and a letter)

Verbal Warning, followed up by an email to the student.

If attendance does not improve after two weeks OR

5 days in a row are missed (without permission and a letter)

1st Written Warning

A formal letter also sent to the agent and parents (if appropriate).

If attendance does not improve after two weeks OR

5 days in a row are missed (without permission and a letter)

2nd Written Warning

A formal letter also sent to the agent and parents (if appropriate).

Final warning – A meeting with Director of Studies where students are informed they have to maintain 100% attendance until their attendance is above 85% or risk expulsionfrom school. The student is required to sign the Final warning letter detailing the agreed actions. If attendance does not improve the student will be expelled.

See Appendix Four.

Non-EEA visa students only

 

Further absences leading to attendance falling below 85%

The student is expelled.

Parents and agent informed in writing

If non-EEA visa student, GNIB informed and student informed they have to leave the country.

  Non-EEA Visa students

In addition to the above attendance warnings, non-EEA visa students will be reported to the GNIB in the following circumstances.

If you miss 10 days in a row (without permission and a letter)

If attendance falls to 75% or less in the first six weeks of course

If after following the above attendance warnings, attendance of 85% cannot be achieved by the end of your course.

GNIB LETTER. (Appendix Five)

Student reported to GNIB and agent and parents informed.

Sick Leave Policy Ireland