Going to school regularly is important for your child's future. Parents are responsible for making sure their children receive full-time education. Parents are legally responsible for making sure that children attend school. If your child doesn't go to school, you could get fined or prosecuted.
Benefits of school attendance
Good attendance at school is not just beneficial, it’s essential. Attending school is directly linked to improved exam performance which should in turn lead to further learning opportunities and better job prospects. As well as this, going to school helps to develop:
- Friendships
- Social skills
- Team values
- Life skills
- Cultural awareness
- Career pathways
Absence from school
All schools must record details of pupils’ attendance and absence at school. They do this at the beginning of morning and afternoon sessions meaning that each day your child receives two half day marks.
If your child is going to be absent from school, (e.g. for an unavoidable appointment) then you should let the school know as soon as possible. If your child has been absent due to an unexpected event such as bereavement or illness then you must also let the school know on the first day of absence in accordance with the school’s attendance policy.
The school will then record the absence. If you fail to notify the school as to why your child has not been present then the school may record that period of absence as being unauthorised.
The Education Welfare Service (EWS) has access to all attendance information for each pupil and if your child is missing school without good reason, schools and the EA have the authority to find out why.
Attendance in figures
Schools will advise parents of a child's attendance levels at least once a year. This will usually include a percentage attendance figure.
Achieving 90 per cent in an exam or test is a fantastic result but if your child is at school for only 90 per cent of the school year then they will have missed 19 days - almost four whole weeks of school.
For primary-age children, this can mean almost 120 guided learning hours. This is a big gap for any child to make up.
This is especially true when pupils are being educated through the medium of Irish. For the vast majority of our pupils this is not the language of the home, therefore by missing school they are missing out on language acquisition skills, opportunities to practise and improve their Irish as well as other educational knowledge and benefits.
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