School attendance

By law, all children over five years old must have appropriate full-time education.

Since September 2015, all young people must continue in education or training until the end of the academic year in which they turn 18.

If you are the parent or carer of a child over five years old, you are responsible for making sure this happens. You should do this by:

• registering your child at a school
• ensuring that your child attends school regularly.

A parent is defined as the natural parent, the person with whom the child lives and or has day to day care of the child.

If your child is not attending school, you must make other arrangements to provide your child with an efficient education suited to their age, ability and aptitude, and to any special educational needs.

School attendance

Regular attendance at school will:

• give your child the best possible start in life
• enable your child to reach their full potential
• prove to employers that your child is reliable and assist him or her in getting a good job
• reduce the risk of your child becoming a victim of crime or abuse
• reduce the opportunity for your child to be drawn into anti-social or criminal behaviour.

What regular attendance means

Regular attendance means that your child must:

• attend school every day unless there are justified reasons
• arrive at school on time
• go to all lessons.

How to encourage regular attendance

If your child starts missing school or you are experiencing difficulties in ensuring your child’s regular school attendance, you are advised to speak with the Attendance Lead in your child’s school, to address any support needs.

You should start the habits of regular school attendance at an early age. If your child starts missing school:

• make early contact with the school
• work with the school to overcome any barriers to regular school attendance
• make sure that your child understands that you do not approve of them being absent

Your child must not be kept away from school for reasons such as:

• looking after others at home
• minding the house
• visiting relatives
• taking long weekends
• shopping trips
• birthday treats.

What to do if your child is ill

If your child is ill and you feel they are unable to attend school, you should contact the school as early as you can. Contact on the first day of absence and each day they are absent, to keep the school up to date on the situation.

You can contact them by phone, text, email or in person. 

When your child returns to school, please provide whatever medical evidence you have to show your child’s absence was due to ill health.

Dental or medical appointments

Please make routine dental and medical appointments out of school hours to avoid disrupting your child’s school day.

Other reasons for absence

If your child is ever off school you must tell the school why. If you want your child to miss school for a specific reason you must ask the school for permission well in advance and give full details. 

The school will give careful consideration to your application, and they may take your child's attendance record into account. If they do not agree to your request, any absence would be unauthorised. Only the head teacher or principal of a school can authorise school absence.

Read about School behaviour and attendance: parental responsibility measures