Attendance

In order that your children gain the greatest benefit from education, it is essential that they attend school regularly and punctually. Every day at Graham School we strive to ensure high quality learning experiences for all of our students. Whilst at school, students also benefit from spending time with their friends and engaging in a range of extra-curricular activities. If they are absent they are missing out, which could impact negatively on their learning and academic progress as well as their social and emotional well-being. We do not want any student at Graham School to be disadvantaged; please support us by ensuring your child attends school every day.

Did you know?

• A child who fails to attend school for one day every two weeks will miss an equivalent of one full year of their school life.
• The one day that they are absent every fortnight means that they will miss 10% of their possible learning opportunities over that period. This equates to missing around 19 school days per year, which is around 95 hours of learning time. At this point, it would be likely that the child would be falling behind peers and that they would struggle to keep up in their subjects. Their enjoyment of learning is also likely to be suffering.
• Absence from school can lead to children finding it difficult to build close friendships with peers and can lead to some children finding it difficult to socialise when they return from absence, often making them feel isolated and unhappy.
• Regular absence from school also means that the child would be likely to struggle to reach their potential in GCSE exams, and that they might fail to get onto their college course of choice.
• Statistically, 90% of young people with absence rates below 85% fail to achieve five or more good grades of GCSE, and around one third achieve no GCSEs at all.
• A child’s attendance percentage at school will be sent to prospective colleges and poor attendance can suggest to the colleges that these students are unreliable. As such, this may limit the course choices that the young person has.
• Poor school attendance is also closely associated with crime, with a quarter of school age offenders having truanted repeatedly.
• It is also the legal duty of those with parental responsibility to secure the regular and punctual attendance of their child at school. Failure to do so is an offence under the Education Act and may be dealt with by prosecution in a Magistrates Court.

Whilst it is clear then that poor attendance at school often has a very negative effect on an individual, there are many ways that parents can help their child to improve attendance, a few of which are set out below:

• Please avoid taking holidays in term time wherever possible. Children are only in school for 190 days out of 365 and holidays in term time have a devastating effect on their attendance levels. 
• Wherever possible, please make appointments out of school hours or in the school holiday. If you cannot avoid an appointment during the school day, please arrange it for before or after school. 
• Please don’t allow your child to take a day off on their birthday or for other occasions. Please let the school know when there is an occasion where absence is going to be unavoidable.

Please ensure that your child attends whenever they are able to, regardless of what the school day holds for them.