Attendance

By law, all children of compulsory school age (between 5 and 16) must get a suitable, full-time education. As a parent, you are responsible for making sure this happens, either by registering your child at a school or by making other arrangements which provide a suitable full-time education.

Once your child is registered at a school you are responsible for making sure he or she attends regularly. If your child fails to attend regularly - even if they miss school without you knowing - the Local Authority (LA) may take legal action against you.

The LA is responsible for making sure that parents fulfil their responsibilities. Parents are responsible for making sure that their registered children regularly attend school and any alternative provision arranged for them.

If you think you might need to take your child out of school, discuss the reasons with the school as soon as possible.

Reasons such as family bereavement or taking part in an agreed religious observance would be acceptable for short absences

Unacceptable reasons for missing school include shopping and birthdays

Being on time:

• Gets your day off to a good start and puts you in a positive frame of mind, so that you can make the most of your learning opportunities.
• Sets positive patterns for the future. You can't expect to keep a job if you're always coming in late;
• Leads to a good attendance record and means you don’t miss any morning notices;
• Leads to better achievement because you attend the WHOLE of all of your classes;
• Leads to understanding that school is important and education is valuable;
• Helps you develop a sense of responsibility for yourself and towards others and is a sign of good character;
• Is respectful to your teacher and to your classmates and builds good habits for later in life when your employer pays you to be on time;
• Is very important indeed. Research shows that attendance and punctuality are the single most important factors in school success

Being late for school reduces learning time.

If your child is 5 minutes late every day they will miss three days of learning each year.

If your child is 15 minutes late every day they will miss is 2 weeks of learning each year.

Your child’s school is responsible by law for reporting poor attendance to the LA. As a parent, you are committing an offence if you fail to make sure that your child attends school regularly, even if they are missing school without your knowledge. You run the risk of being issued with a penalty notice or being taken to court.

Research has shown that children who are not in school are most vulnerable and are easily drawn into crime. Those children who play truant are more likely to offend than those that do not.

Research also shows that:

• less than 40% of pupils in secondary schools with an average of 17 days or more absence get 5 good GCSEs (grades 5 -9) compared to more than 90% in schools with an average of less than 8 days absence.

Of course there may be times when your child has to miss school because she or he is ill. This is to be expected and for the odd day off sick you should follow the school’s procedures for notifying illness. Children may also have to attend a medical or dental appointment in school time. However, you should try to make routine appointments such as dental check-ups during the school holidays or after school hours. Any absence must be requested as far in advance as possible. Absences can only be authorised by the school.