From the Counselling Suite

School Attendance, Everyday Counts

We hope that your son has made a positive start to the 2019 school year and that he has settled well into the daily routine of the school year. Being at school and on time every day is crucial to the academic and social development of your child. For some students attending school regularly can be challenging, and as a result they may miss many of the important academic and social benefits from being at school.

Regular school attendance is not only compulsory for all students aged 6-16 years it is also one of the most powerful ways you can prepare your son for success, research indicates that there is a direct link between school attendance and achievement later in life. Key findings indicate that regular school attendance is important because students are more likely to succeed academically when they attend school consistently. Students also more likely to develop better healthy life habits and less likely to be involved in risk taking behaviour.

There is no safe number of days off school, a day off for their birthday here and a day before the long weekend there all add up. Each day missed is associated with lower achievement in numeracy, writing and reading, in fact if a child misses one-two days per month this equates to three weeks off per year and half a year of school by the end of year six. This can compound to almost two years of learning by the end of year 10. Even being half an hour late for school each day from year 7- 12 is equivalent to missing six months of learning during this time.

What can parents do to help?

One of the best ways to encourage your child to go to school every day is to talk about school in a positive way, value their education by making school a priority over other events such as a day off for birthdays, holidays and appointments that can be scheduled out of school hours. Talk to your child about their future goals and the role that school will have in achieving these goals. Treat days off school for unavoidable situations such as illnesses only, whilst at home, the aim is to recover, rest should take preference over playing computer games and so on. If they are too sick for school, they would also be too sick to attend club sports training or catch up with friends afterschool.

Setting and maintaining a regular evening and morning routine also assists young people develop positive school attendance habits and future life skills, you can assist your child by:

Having a set evening routine, including regular meal times, homework and bed time
Having a set morning routine, including regular wake up time and time for breakfast
Have their uniform and school bag ready the evening before
Having their lunch organised the evening before
Setting a weekly routine which accounts for homework completion, extracurricular activities, social activities and down time

At times school absences are unavoidable but try to make them the exception rather than the rule. If your child has an appointment that can not be scheduled out of school hours, try to schedule it for either end of the day and either arrive at school after the appointment or attend school prior to the appointment. If your child is unable to attend school for any reason, advise the school as soon as possible.

For some students school avoidance is an issue that requires further investigation and support. If you are having difficulty getting your child to school, please let your child’s teacher know or contact either myself on 8169 3904 or Lucinda on 8169 6907 as soon as possible so that we can provide you with advice and support and help address issues that may be preventing your child taking full advantage of their education.

Dianne Bucciarelli

STUDENT COUNSELLOR