Attendance Matters
Why it is important to attend school regularly?
– To give your child the best possible start in life.
– They will be able to keep up with their work.
– They will achieve better results.
– They will develop friendships and social skills.
Children of compulsory school age must, by law, receive a full-time education.
Each person with day to day parental responsibility could be taken to court and fined for each child who is not attending school regularly or who is persistently late.
The Education Act 1996 states that all pupils should attend school regularly and punctually. ‘If a child of compulsory school age, who is a registered pupil at a school fails to attend regularly at the school, his parent is guilty of an offence.’
Some key attendance facts:
- Attending 90% of the time or less will have a serious effect on learning.
- One day’s absence every two weeks will give 90% attendance.
- Up to the age of 16, 90% attendance will mean losing over a year of school – more than half.
