Attendance

Why every day counts!

When students stay away from school, their learning and friendships are affected. There are many practical issues associated with absenteeism.

Students who are absent from school:

• miss the introduction of new work
• fail to complete work
• miss revision time
• miss homework explanation
• fall behind with their learning
• develop disjointed home-reading routines
• develop inconsistent homework returns/routines
• may lack confidence and feel embarrassed because they cannot do work the class has been studying
• feel left out from class discussion when they have missed a special class activity and cannot do the associated work
• miss specialist lessons because these lessons only occur once a week and so, for example, art work is not completed or is rushed in order to finish in the limited time available
• miss notices and newsletters to take home
• miss celebrations, for example student of the week, class awards, excursions, visitors, assemblies and special activities
• can find it difficult to break into established friendship groups and develop good friendships with their peers
• can develop a poor attitude towards school believing ‘I won’t miss much if I’m not at school'
• fail to realise that the teachers and students miss them.

Sometimes students stay at home for reasons that are not acceptable. For example:

• the child’s birthday
• too tired to come to school because of a late night
• staying home with a sibling or parent who is sick
• staying away for the whole day when an appointment is booked for a short time in the morning or afternoon
• weather conditions, for example too hot, too wet.

Please remember that if you are experiencing difficulty in having your child attend school, discuss the matter with your child’s teacher.