ATTENDANCE AT SCHOOL
RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
All children and young people have an entitlement to an effective education. This is legally binding within the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which is incorporated into Scots Law.
PARENTAL DUTIES
Parents are legally required to ensure their child receives an education by causing them to attend school. Parents have a legal duty to notify the school of reasons for absence which are noted on the child or young person’s electronic records.
SATISFACTORY ATTENDANCE
Research shows that children and young people learn and achieve best when they attend school well.
Good attendance = 95% or above (up to two weeks absence per year)
Satisfactory attendance = 90% or above (up to four weeks absence per year)
Cause for concern = below 90% (more than four weeks absence per year)
Critical concern = below 85% (more than six weeks absence per year)
Occasional days off here and there can quickly add up to a cause for concern.
IF YOUR CHILD IS ABSENT
NOTIFYING THE SCHOOL
Please contact the School Office to speak to a member of the team, or leave a message on the answer machine, before the School Day if you know your child is going to be absent because they are unwell or if there are other circumstances. You should provide their name, class, the reason for absence and how long you expect them to be off for.
IF YOUR CHILD NEEDS TO LEAVE SCHOOL
Sometimes children and young people need to leave school during the day, for example for a medical appointment or if they take unwell whilst at school and need to go home. This must always be arranged by parents or carers contacting the School Office and not via pupils and parents or carers themselves alone. Students are not permitted to leave to go home during the School Day without parental permission and agreement with the School Office. This is to ensure good safeguarding and care and welfare at all times.
PERIOD-BY-PERIOD LATECOMING OR ABSENCE
Each School Day has either seven or six teaching periods and at the start of each lesson, staff will carefully mark the register and update this if it changes during the lesson. Any students who are more than two minutes without permission are marked late, and any students much later than this will be given a code for being exceptionally late. Any student who is absent when they were previously present will be followed up to either locate the student, and where necessary contact parents to alert them their child is not in class.
TRUANCY
Truancy is where students deliberately avoid or miss going to class. This is not permitted under any circumstances and, although this is very rare, when it happens it can often result in a great deal of time being wasted following up on students’ whereabouts. In these cases, we will make contact with parents and carers and expect appropriate measures are put in place to stop this form of misconduct.
SUPPORTING GOOD ATTENDANCE
LEARNING AND WELLBEING SUPPORTS
When a child is absent from school regularly or for longer periods of time, we know this can greatly affect their confidence and self-esteem. It can affect their opportunities to learn and achieve, and also to have important social and emotional development through positive relationships with staff and friends.
If you think that your child may need additional support in place because of attendance concerns, we have a wide range of strategies and supports available. Please speak with your child’s Principal Teacher of Pupil Support, or Principal Teacher of Communication Centre in the first instance.
CONTACTING PARENTS ABOUT ATTENDANCE CONCERNS
As a school, we are obliged to make sure we keep in contact with parents and carers if there are patterns of absence from school, if attendance drops below a satisfactory level, or if a young person is truanting. We will do so at key intervals and contact by telephone or letter or at a meeting at the school to discuss how attendance can be improved.
