School attendance is both a legal and a moral obligation. Unless parents have chosen to home educate their child\/ren and have followed the necessary steps to formalise this arrangement, then school attendance is compulsory. The legal position is outlined below and parents\/carers are reminded that poor attendance impacts a child’s capacity to learn and to socialise with peers. Pupils with good attendance\/punctuality are more likely to succeed than those with limited access to teaching. Please support your child to reach their full potential by ensuring punctuality and optimum attendance.<\/p>\n
Section 30 of the 1980 Education Act lays a duty on every parent of a child of \u2018school age\u2019 to ensure that their child attends school regularly.\u00a0\u00a0Attendance is recorded twice a day; morning and afternoon.<\/p>\n
Regulation 7 of The Education (School and Placing Information) (Scotland) Amendment etc Regulations 1993 requires each child\u2019s absence from school to be recorded in the school register as authorised: i.e. approved by the authority, or unauthorised: i.e. unexplained by the parent (truancy) or excluded from school.<\/p>\n
Parents\/guardians do not have the automatic right to take their child out of school without permission during term time. The Head of Establishment can only authorise time off during term-time in exceptional circumstances.<\/p>\n
Exceptional circumstances include:<\/p>\n
Time off during term time for the following reasons is not acceptable and will be recorded as unauthorised absence:<\/p>\n
Clearly with no explanation from the parent, the absence is unauthorised.<\/p>\n
Unexplained absence will be investigated. The authority has the power to write to, interview or prosecute parents\/ guardians, or to refer pupils to the Reporter of the Children\u2019s Hearings if necessary.<\/p>\n
If you child has an appointment during school hours \u2013 e.g. Doctor\/dentist, he\/she MUST be collected by a parent or guardian. <\/p>\n
If your child is going to be absent from school\/nursery, please contact the school office BEFORE 9am and give a reason for his\/her absence. You should confirm the reason for the absence and indicate when the child is likely to return to school\/nursery. If we do not hear from you, our monitoring system will mean that you will receive a call at home or work to check that your child is safe. This is recommended procedure in terms of Child Protection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
School attendance is both a legal and a moral obligation. Unless parents have chosen to home educate their child\/ren and have followed the necessary steps to formalise this arrangement, then school attendance is compulsory. The legal position is outlined below and parents\/carers are reminded that poor attendance impacts a child’s capacity to learn and to … Continue reading Attendance<\/span>