Attendance and Absence

Attendance Matters

Why is regular attendance at school so important?

• Research shows that there is a close link between attendance at school and a child’s achievement.
• Your child will achieve better when they go to school all day, every school day.
• Children learn better, they make friends, they are happier, they have a brighter future.

As a parent, it can be difficult to decide whether or not your child is well enough to go to school.
To help avoid unnecessary school absences, Islington School Nursing has produced this leaflet as a general guide to help you decide whether your child is well enough to attend school when they have a minor illness. Missing lessons is upsetting for children and disruptive for the whole class and there is good evidence that children achieve better at school when they have good school attendance rates. Parents have a duty to ensure their child is not absent where this can be avoided.

Please view the minor illnesses and school attendance guide for parents and carers:

Minor Illnesses and Attendance Guide

Absence Procedures

• If your child is absent, you must contact us as soon as possible on the first day of absence.
• Please continue to stay in touch with us if your child continues to be off.
• If we do not hear from you, we will telephone you. Please make sure that we have more than one working and up to date phone number that we can reach you on.
• If appropriate, we will invite you into school to discuss your child’s attendance and any problems you may be experiencing with our School Home Support Practitioner.
• If we feel that the school nurse may be able to help, we will ask for your permission to make a referral to this service.
• We also offer support through our School Home Support Worker, Lisa James, who you can contact through the school office.
• If your child’s attendance falls below 90%, then the matter may be referred to the local authority.

See our Attendance & Punctuality policy