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Regular school attendance - why it's so important

Going to school regularly is important to your child’s future. For example, children who miss school frequently can fall behind with their work and do less well in exams.

Good attendance shows potential employers that your child is reliable. Research suggests that children who attend school regularly could also be at less risk of getting involved in antisocial behaviour or crime.

School attendance and absence: the law

By law, all children of compulsory school age (five to 16) must receive a suitable full-time education. For most parents, this means registering their child at a school - though some choose to make other arrangements to provide a suitable, full-time education.

Once your child is registered at a school, you are legally responsible for making sure they attend regularly. If your child fails to do so, you risk getting a penalty notice or being prosecuted.

• School attendance and absence: the law

Preventing your child from missing school: what you can do

You can help prevent your child skipping school by:

Arranging appointments and outings after school hours, at weekends or during school holidays will help to prevent disruption to your child’s education and to the school. Under normal circumstances, you should not expect the school to agree to your child going on holiday during term time.

• Term dates and school holidays

Support on school attendance

There are many different issues which can affect school attendance. Examples include problems with:

• bullying
• housing or care arrangements
• transport to and from school
• work and money

If your child starts missing school, there may a problem you are not aware of. Ask your child first, then approach their teacher or form tutor.

Support from the school

Your child’s school is the first place to go to discuss any attendance problems. The school should try to agree a plan with you to improve your child’s attendance (eg the fast-track to attendance programme). If you don’t follow the plan and things don’t improve, the school will take further action. 1,200 schools are currently using Parent Support Advisers (PSAs) to work with parents to improve children's behaviour and attendance. The government is expanding the availability of PSAs to allow them to reach 10 to 15 schools in each local authority.

Support from your local authority

Your local authority can also help if you are struggling to ensure that your child goes to school. Potential forms of support include:

• home tuition for children with long term and recurring illnesses, so they do not fall too far behind
• support to help reduce the burden on children where families are in difficulty (for example, if a child is spending a lot of time caring for someone)
• working with families and schools to overcome bullying and other serious problems
  

The following link will let you enter details of where you live and then take you to your local authority website. There you can find out more about support available from your local authority. You should also find contact details for their Educational Welfare Service.

• Find out about school absence

• Dealing with bullying

Parenting contracts

If your child is missing school without good reason, one option the school or local authority might suggest is a parenting contract.

A parenting contract is a voluntary written agreement between you and either the local authority or the school’s governing body. Parenting contracts aren’t a punishment - they’re used to help you and the school or local authority work together to improve your child’s attendance, and get you access to practical support. Under the contract you agree to do certain things - for example, ensure that your child arrives at school punctually every day.

If your child is not attending school regularly, however, and you refuse to agree to a contract or do not keep to its terms, this can be used as evidence if the local authority decides to prosecute you.

• School attendance and absence: the law

More useful links

• Parentchannel.tv (information videos for parents) Opens new window

Useful contacts

• Parents contacts

• Advisory Centre for Education Opens new window