Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education. Children learn new things and they are in school every day – missing school puts them behind.

Why it’s important

We all want our children to get a great education, and the building blocks for a great education begin with children coming to school each and every day.

If children miss school regularly, they miss out on learning the fundamental skills that will set them up for success in the later years of school.

There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a child misses school this puts them behind, and can affect their educational outcomes.

Each missed day is associated with progressively lower achievement in numeracy, writing and reading.

Getting in early

Attendance patterns are established early – a child regularly missing days in nursery or in the early years of school will often continue to miss classes in the later years, and receive lower test scores than their classmates. It’s vital that students go to school every day – even in the early years of primary school.

What we YOU can do

The main reasons for absence are:

Sickness – There are always times when children need to miss school, such as when they’re ill. It’s vital that they’re only away on the days they are genuinely sick, and setting good sleep patterns, eating well and exercising regularly can make a big difference.

It's vital that holidays are planned during school holidays where possible, and not during term time.

"Day off” – Think twice before letting your child have a “day off” as they could fall behind their classmates – ‘Every Day Counts’.

If for any reason your child should miss school, there are things you can do with your school to ensure they don’t fall behind:

• Speak with your classroom teacher and find out what work your child needs to do to keep up.

Openly communicating with your child's school about all absences is a good way to prevent attendance issues being escalated to a meeting with our Education Welfare Officer (EWO). The EWO has authority to follow up attendance issues and do home visits. Attendance issues that are escalated can lead to an Infringement Notice. If you’re having attendance issues with your child, please let your classroom teacher know so we can work together to get your child to school every day.

Further information

For more information on to help address your child’s attendance issues, please contact the school office.