Newcastle City Learning
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Attendance policy for adults and apprentices

By accepting a place with Newcastle City Learning learners agree to the following regarding attendance: 

  • Learners must commit to attending all the lessons which make up their programme of study.  Missed lessons are an opportunity for learning missed.  However, we recognise that our adult learners have busy lives and family commitments, which in some instances might make coming to class not possible.  In those instances, Newcastle City Learning will endeavour to ensure that any missed learning is caught up, wherever practical to do so.
  • Learners must register at every lesson. Learners should familiarise themselves with their learning programme timetable and the details of their learner contract, which includes expectations in relation to attendance.  Learners are responsible for engaging and attending all aspects of their programme.  Registration will be taken at each lesson to provide evidence that learners are on time, are engaging well, and progressing on their programme of learning.  However, if you are running late to class, please let us know so that the tutor can minimise disruption to other learners in the group.
  • Apprentices are expected to attend all scheduled off-the-job learning sessions. Details of session dates and times will be provided in advance and shared with both line managers and workplace mentors. Employers must ensure that apprentices are released and allocated sufficient time within their normal working hours to attend these sessions regularly. This requirement is in line with apprenticeship funding rules.

  • Remember employers look for people who are on time and can be relied upon to turn up regularly.

Authorised and unauthorised absence

  • An authorised absence (also referred to as a known absence) – when the tutor is informed of the reason for the absence, the request is deemed to be a reasonable one, and the learner agrees to review the learning materials for the lesson missed and cover the learning objectives independently. 
  • An unauthorised absence (also referred to as an unknown absence) when the tutor is not informed of the reason for absence.

In some cases, NCL will consider an absence to be authorised. In these instances, tutors will provide learners with an alternative way of completing the learning and work for the session/s the learner has missed, to not disrupt their learning and progress where practical.  This should be an exception, rather than the rule.

Extended periods of support from a tutor beyond planned learning sessions may be limited due to financial and time constraints. If a learner is likely to miss several lessons due to illness or other commitments, they should seek a break from learning which is permitted in some circumstances as an alternative.

Reporting an absence

If learners know that they are going to be absent or late, they should let the tutor know as soon as possible, for example, they could gain authorised absence for a hospital appointment or might need to tell their tutor when they cannot get away from work early enough to make the start of class. 

If learners know that they need to be away, but do not apply for a known absence mark on the register, and they miss one of their classes, we will assume they don’t have permission to be away, and the absence will be marked down as unauthorised/unknown. 

Learners need to contact their tutor to let them know of any absences or if they may be late to class. This can be done via email. Adult Learners can also phone NCL on Telephone number 0191 277 3520 to pass a message to their tutor to advise that they will not be attending class. Apprentices should ring 0191 277 3506.

Tutors should be contacting adult learners after two consecutive missed sessions to identify any barriers to learning and offer support.

  • Where adult learners have missed three consecutive sessions and no contact can be made with the learner, the learner will be withdrawn from their programme to ensure timely withdrawal in line with funding rules.
  • In ESOL, where attendance is more regular, where adult learners have missed eight consecutive sessions (or two weeks), the learner will be withdrawn from their programme.
  • In Maths and English, learners will be withdrawn from programme if they miss three consecutive sessions without successful contact or when attendance levels are insufficient to progress towards examinations.

Learners can refer to their own Individual Learner Contract for further information as this may vary from course to course.

Updated June 2026