Strategy for School Attendance

School’s vision, values and expectations in relation to attendance:

It is the aim of all stakeholders in St. Malachy’s Girls’ School that all pupils have full attendance at school.St. Malachy’s Girls’ School aims to provide a safe, caring and stimulating environment for all its pupils.The school strives topromote and encourage all pupils to fully attend school unless there is a valid reason that they are unable to attend school (i.e. illness or family bereavement.) Children who are unwell are not expected to attend school. The school rewards children who have full attendance each year by providing them with an attendance badge if they have not missed a day.

How attendance will be monitored:

The Roll is checked each day at 9.30am using the School Online system. Attendances and absences are recorded on this system.
If the child is absent the parent is asked to provide a note to explain the child’s absence.
These notes are kept in the teachers files and the teacher inputs the reason for absence on the School Online System.
If the child has been absent from school on 15 occasions a letter is sent by the principal drawing the parents attention to this.
Pupils who have been absent from school on 20 occasions or more are reported to the Education Welfare Officer. As a legal requirement forms are set in to them at the end of December and June. The Board of Management are informed of this procedure.

The school’s role:

Doors open at 8.40am every morning. Children are required to be in their classrooms no later than 9.05am. All Pupils and Staff are expected to be on time.
Parents will be contacted in the event of students being consistently late. Communication will be in a positive manner.
The Principal is obliged under The Education WelfareAct2000, to report children who are persistently late, to the Education Welfare Board.
Guidance for Parents Section [(21) (9)] of the Act states that “a pupil’s absence can only be authorised by the Principal when the child is involved in activities by the school or in which the school is involved.”The school Principal cannot authorise a child’s absence for holidays during school time however it is important that the school is informed of such plans.
All absences must be explained by the parent/guardian and communicated to the school in writing. The school will keep these on file. To facilitate this, the school has included a reason for absence section in the homework journal. These can be removed by the class teacher on the child’s return to school and kept for future reference. These notes form a record which may be inspected by the Education Welfare Officer.
In extreme circumstances if the child’s absence is thought to be as a result of neglect the principal after discussion with the class teacher may refer this on to social services.

Parents/guardians can promote good school attendance by:

Ensuring the child is punctual for school.
Notifying the school if the child cannot attend school for any reason.
Woking in partnership with the school and the Education Welfare Officer to resolve any attendance issues.
Ensuring they inform the school of any planned absences from school i.e. holidays during term time.
Refraining from booking holidays during the school year.
Showing an interest in the child’s school day and their homework.
Praising and encouraging the child’s achievements.
Informing the school in writing of the reason for the child’s absence.
Trying to arrange the children’s appointments outside of school hours if at all possible.
Contacting the school immediately if they are concerned about absence.
Notifying the school in writing if someone unknown to the teacher will be picking up the child from school.

Pupils

Pupils have the responsibility to attend school regularly and punctually for school.
They are responsible for promptly passing on absence notes to their teacher from home.
They are responsible for passing on school correspondence to their parents.
Pupils should inform school if there is a problem that may lead to their absence.

The Board of Management is committed to providing a positive school atmosphere which promotes school attendance.

In this regard the school curriculum is flexible and relevant to the individual child’s needs.
The school will strive to develop every child’s self- confidence and self -worth.
Support will be provided for children with special educational needs.
Internal communication procedures are in place to inform teachers of the special needs of pupils.
The assistance of the Education Officer will be used.
Pupil’s attendance rates will be monitored by the class teacher in the first instance. The class teachers will bring any concerns to the principal.
Pupils with a poor attendance record will be supported in an effort to help improve their attendance.

This strategy will be reviewed every year and amended if deemed necessary.

The strategy was approved by the B.O.M at a meeting on 22^nd January 2018

Date submitted to Tusla: 25^th January 2018