I am starting a series of blogs on education from A to Z, starting with the letter A and hopefully ending 26 blogs later with a topic in education that begins with the letter Z. I have set this as a goal, to find topics that start with all letters of the alphabet and write about it. Today, I am discussing the importance of attendance at school.
Attendance in school is important. Studies have shown that children who attend school regularly learn more and have higher grades than children who frequently miss school for whatever reason. Children who miss schoolwork for illness or appointments often don’t complete missing work, which causes him to fall behind in school.
What do you do if your child must miss school? If your child is sick, then obviously you don’t want him attending school. Teachers really don’t love it when a parent sends a sick child to school, because this child then passes the germs onto every other child and the teacher herself. Therefore, if your child is ill and must miss school, you need to notify the school immediately. The most important thing to remember is that you must also ask to speak to your child’s teachers so that you may pick up any work that may be missed during the duration of your child’s illness. Someone should pick up the work at school and your child can complete the work when he is feeling better.
If you have appointments your child needs to attend during the school year, and let’s face it, everyone does, please try to schedule these appointments for after school hours. If you absolutely can’t schedule appointments for after school, make sure that your child brings home any work he may miss while away for this appointment. Your child may even be able to complete the work while waiting in the waiting room for the appointment to begin.
Attendance is important; I can’t stress that enough. I realize, and teachers realize, that there are times children must miss school. What is crucial to keeping your child current in his schoolwork, is that any work he missed while away from school is completed by your child and turned in.