Attendance Policy

School: Carlow Educate Together NS

Attendance Policy

Version 2: 20th December 2012

Current Version: 12th May 2019

 

The National Educational Welfare Board, (EWB, now part of Túsla), requires all children to attend primary school from the age of six.  However, Carlow Educate Together National School encourage all of its enrolled children to attend school every day whatever their age.  The EWB also requires the school to report children who are frequently absent and this includes those that are under six years of age.

Rationale & Aims

The aim of this policy is to ensure that all children come to a school which is a happy, safe and learning environment.  When a child is absent or late for school, they miss out on both educational and social needs.  It is also difficult for children, who are frequently absent, to maintain relationships and to attain in their education.  By law, any child who misses 20 days must be reported to the EWB.  All absences are recorded and sent to the EWB three times per annum.

Content of Policy

1. Túsla and absenteeism

2. Structures in Place

3. What to do if your child is absent

4. Lateness and the Roll Book

5. Lateness after school

 

1.  Túsla and absenteeism

Túsla is the board responsible for ensuring that all children in our school are being looked after.  They work with our school to ensure that children are not neglected or abused.  Absenteeism is one of the most common issues that the organisation deals with.  The local officer in Carlow is Ann McCabe.  Schools are responsible for reporting absenteeism through a web site, www.schoolreturns.ie.  When a child misses 20 school days, Túsla may become involved in investigating the cause.

In recent times, due to services being cut, not all cases of children missing 20 days or more are investigated by Túsla. The school must now prove that they have put a number of steps in place before making a referral. Please see section 6 for more information.

2.  Structures in Place

 

2.1 Structure of Recording Attendance

Every day in school, children’s attendance is recorded on our online roll book before 10:25am.  This is an important document and, when transferred into the rollbook, it can be used in legal cases.  When a child is absent when the roll is called, he/she is marked absent.  A child is marked absent even if they arrive after the roll call.  This roll call should take place around 9:40am but must be taken before 10:25am.  An exception to this rule is outlined in parts 5, 6 and 7. If the roll call is taken later than 11am, a teacher must explain why this has occurred.

When a child is absent, it is the parent/guardian’s responsibility to write a note to explain the absence.  It is not sufficient to telephone or text the school.  However, our online form, email or written notes are acceptable.  These notes are stored in the child’s file until June 30th of each school year.  After this, all notes are archived.

By law, parents are required to submit a written explanation outlining the reason for their child’s absence. Usually notes are received within three days of the child returning to school following the period of absence. Every term, the school reports all absences to the EWB.  In this report, every child’s absence is recorded online with a reason.  There are 6 criteria for absence in the report.  Any absence, without a written note, will fall under the category “unexplained”.

 

If a child is absent for 10 days or more, an automated text message is sent to the families of the child. After 15 days, a second text message is sent to families to inform them that they have missed 15 days.  If a child has 20 or more unexplained absences, a final text message is sent and pending an attendance meeting, a letter may be sent out to the family.  It is our legal obligation to report any child missing 20 days or more to the EWB in the termly returns.

 

2.2 School Completion Programme and Home School Liaison Officer

As part of the Carlow School Completion Programme (SCP) and the school’s DEIS, the school is working as part of the SCP to monitor attendance issues with targeted children under the School Completion Programme. The school also has access to a Home School Liaison Officer (HSLO). The SCP will make contact with any families who fail to attend school as part of a structured plan to help the child come to school. The HSLO will also make contact with families on a regular basis. The HSLO will visit many families in order to establish links with the school and home. Both the SCP co-ordinator and HSLO have a supportive role rather than a judgemental role and both will have access to families’ names, phone numbers and addresses for the purposes of their jobs.

 

3.     What to do if your child is absent

If your child is absent, please write a short note explaining the reasons for the absence.  Filling out the online form, using the Aladdin App, written notes and emails are the only acceptable forms of communication.  The only exception to this is if the child is running late for school and will miss the roll call at 9:40am.  (See point 4)

Although planned holidays and other absences are not encouraged by the school, a note, online form or email must be sent in to explain the absence from school.  Please note that the teacher will not provide schoolwork for children for any planned absences.

 

The Board of Management agreed that any absence due to illness must be accompanied by a doctor’s certificate if a child have missed 20 or more days.

 

4.    Lateness and the Roll Book

School starts at 8:50am in Carlow Educate Together NS. Lateness is damaging for the child. A child who arrives only 10 minutes late for school misses over 30 hours of tuition per annum.  The first ten minutes of our school day can be the most important time as it helps the child to settle in to his/her routine.

Class teachers will monitor punctuality on a daily basis. Classes begin at 08:50am sharp. If a child arrives at school after this time, the class teacher will record the amount of minutes the child has missed. This information will be communicated to parents if and when the need arises. Any child who arrives later than 9:40am (when the roll is called) will be marked absent even if he/she arrives to school.  There are exceptions to this rule outlined in the next two sub-points.

 

4.1  What to do if you know your child will be excessively late

If the child is going to be late for school, a phone call to 059-9137541 before 9:30am will be accepted and the child will not be marked absent in the roll book.  Failure to produce the above will warrant the child being marked absent for the day.

4.2 Planned Lateness

If a child has a morning appointment, e.g. doctor, dentist, etc., it is acceptable to write a note or simply tell the teacher of the appointment.  In some cases, a certificate may be asked for.

 

5.    Lateness After School

School ends at 1:30pm for infants and 2:30pm for other classes in Carlow Educate Together NS. Being late to collect your child can cause undue stress for the child as well as inconvenience for the teacher. While teachers will in general act “in loco parentis”, in unforeseen circumstances, continuing or excessive lateness may result in further action from the school. This may be in the form of contact with the gardaí or social work team.

Although school ends at 2:30pm, teachers are responsible for the supervision of children until they are collected by an adult. Should a teacher be unable to supervise a child for any reason, it is their responsibility to ask a colleague to supervise that child and ensure that the child is aware of this situation.

Implementation Date

This updated policy will be implemented in the school from 21st January 2019.