St John's C of E Primary School
Attendance
Did you know?
- 5 minutes late every day means around 3 ½ days of education are missed
- a score of 90% in a test would be a good result but 90% attendance means that a child will have missed around 100 lessons over a school year.
| Attendance during one school year | equals this number of days absent | which is approximately this many weeks absent | which means this number of lessons missed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 95% | 9 days | 2 weeks | 50 lessons |
| 90% | 19 days | 4 weeks | 100 lessons |
| 85% | 29 days | 6 weeks | 150 lessons |
| 80% | 38 days | 8 weeks | 200 lessons |
Regular school attendance
Good attendance shows secondary schools and future potential employers that your child is reliable.
St John's Primary school records details of all children’s attendance and absence at school. We must do so at the beginning of morning and afternoon sessions. If your child is absent, you must tell the school why immediately. The school will record the absence; the Local Authority will receive this information for each child. The Department of Education also receives annual attendance data for the school.
Your responsibilities as a parent
By law, all children of compulsory school age must receive a suitable full-time education. For most parents, this means registering their child at a school – though some choose to make other arrangements to provide a suitable, full-time education.
Once your child is registered at St John's Primary School, the parent is legally responsible for making sure they attend on a regular basis. If your child does not attend school on a regular basis you could get fined or be prosecuted in court.
How to prevent your child from missing school
You can help prevent your child missing school by:
- making sure they understand the importance of good attendance and punctuality
- taking an interest in their education – ask about school work and encourage them to get involved in school activities
- discussing any problems they may have at school and letting their teacher or one of the leadership team know about anything serious
- not letting them take time off school for minor ailments – particularly those which would not prevent you from going to work
To avoid disrupting your child’s education, you should arrange appointments and outings:
- after school hours
- at weekends
- during school holidays
- You should not expect St John's Primary School to agree to your child going on holiday during term time.
Support on school attendance
A child’s school attendance can be affected if there are problems with:
- bullying
- housing or care arrangements
- transport to and from school
- work and money
If your child starts missing school, you might not know there is a problem. When you find out, ask your child and then approach their teacher or Mrs O'Keefe - there's lots of support we can offer.
