Attendance

When a young person attends school on a regular basis, they take an important step towards reaching their full potential, and are given the greatest opportunity to learn new things and develop their skills.

Young People who miss school frequently can fall behind with their work and do less well in exams.

The more time a young person spends around others, whether in the classroom or as part of a school team or club, the more chance they have of making friends and feeling included, boosting social skills, confidence and self esteem.

While the parent is primarily responsible for ensuring their child attends school regularly, where school attendance problems occur the key to successfully resolving these problems is engaging the young person through collaborative working between the parent, the school and the support available through Dundee City Council.

Statistics

If you have 90% attendance each year from P1 to S4 this is equal to missing a whole year of school.

If you have 80% attendance each year from P1 to S4 this is equal to missing 2 whole years of school.

High attendance at school is linked to high attainment/achievement.

Lateness: ALL employers want their employees to turn up to their work on time. School is training for this.

Late coming disrupts teaching and learning, it hinders progress. Persistent late coming is a habit.

Schools inevitably have to write a reference …….. our comment is: ‘Unfortunately for ___NAME_______ persistent late coming hindered their progress at school.‘

Tools and Techniques

Strategies:

Parents/carers should encourage attendance at school, take an interest in school activates and tell their young person they want them to do well at school.
Don’t provide inappropriate excuses or let your child persuade you to make excuses for missing school.
Don’t allow time off for minor illnesses, the school nurse will be in touch during the day if your child is sick at school. If your child contacts you themselves from school to say they are unwell please remind them to go to the medical room.
Don’t let older siblings stay at home to look after younger ones.
Establish a routine in the evenings, check the school bag is equipped for the next day, homework is complete, make time to relax before bed and have a consistent bedtime/lights out time.
Always be positive about school, ensure your young person has a good breakfast and does not need to be rushed in the morning.
Establish a ‘leaving’ routine in the morning to ensure your young person arrives at school on time. Encourage them to walk to school with their friends.
If your young person does not want to attend school, speak to school staff who will provide support and solutions.
Avoid taking young people out of school for holidays. A 2 week holiday in term time equates to 5% attendance lost over a school year.

Who can help

School will always encourage positive attendance and timekeeping. This helps considerably when writing the references for employers, college and universities.

Please keep lines of communication with the school open, keep us up to date with any new phone numbers.

Let us know if a young person is a carer and this can affect their timekeeping and at times attendance. There are at times exceptional circumstances within any family, we are very understanding of this.
Guidance staff and tutor teachers monitor attendance and will be in touch if there are unexplained absences or negative attendance patterns. Please provide a note/contact the school, for any absences, in a timely manner, to prevent the inevitable call/text home. The school number to call is 01382 43 6800.
If you are having difficulty getting your child to school, support can be provided though our Education Resource Worker and our Family Involvement Worker.
Persistence non-attendance will be referred to the Attendance Review Meeting for further support/action to be put in place.
If a number of Medical absences appear on a young person’s attendance record they may be referred to the NHS school nurse.

This information can be downloaded as a pdf booklet from this link.