Attendance Reporting Explainers for Principals and Parents

Attendance reporting often causes confusion and stress for Principals and parents. Here are explainers are the mechanisms for Principals, and a template to share with parents to ensure they also understand the process.

For Principals: Attendance Processes & Legal Requirements

The Legal Requirements

There are two mandated reporting mechanisms for attendance where attendance is reported to TUSLA.

School Attendance Reports

• This is the one where 20 days matters
• There are two reporting periods in the year, September to December and January to June. 
• You have to submit the school attendance returns in January for September to December and again in June for the whole year (within 6 weeks of the end of the school year). Aladdin will produce the reports for you. You log into the Tusla portal and upload them.
• You're required to list any pupils, over the age of 6, who have missed 20 school days for any reason. These figures are used for statistical purposes only. No human reads them.
  

Discretionary Referrals

• Discretionary referrals are the ones where you're worried about a child's attendance. They are screened to go to an EWO.
• This can be due to a lot of unexplained absences, a pattern of absence. It does not need to be 20 days, 20 days isn't relevant here.
  
• The form is lengthy enough, and the online version (on the Tusla portal) is received and processed quicker.
  
• Make sure there is detail in the form. You need to outline the measures the school has taken to support the family around attendance so far and that they are not working. I'd suggest giving your EWO a call before sending in the referral. They can help with the language so you don't waste your time on the form and it gets screened out and never makes it to an EWO.
• Contact parents before referring to the Education Welfare Officer and support where possible.

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For Parents: Attendance & Punctuality - Explaining Processes and Terminology

* An editable version of this explainer is available here. Feel free to take and edit it for your own context.

This explainer outlines processes and terminology around attendance and punctuality for families.

School attendance and punctuality is correlated with better learning outcomes and a stronger sense of community and happiness for children in school. There will always be situations where a child has to stay home, due to illness and other unavoidable situations. It's important to note that where a child has been vomiting or has diarrhea, they must be kept home until 48 hours after the last episode. Outside of this, wherever possible pupils should be in school each day.

School starts at 8:40am each day. Attendance is recorded daily by the class teacher on our online roll books via Aladdin. If the child arrives later than 8:40, the time of arrival is also recorded here (this is calculated by Aladdin into learning time missed at the end of the year).

The Legal Requirements

There are two mandated reporting mechanisms for attendance where attendance is reported to TUSLA, the child and family agency.

School Attendance Reports

There are two reporting periods in the year, September to December and January to June. We submit the school attendance returns in January for September to December and again in June.

On this form we are required to list any pupils, over the age of 6, who have missed 20 school days for any reason. You will be informed if your child is included in the report. These figures are used for statistical purposes only.

The reports are not something to be concerned about in themselves,. While attendance is hugely important there are also very valid reasons for children to miss school and this is understood. Where the school has concerns about your child's attendance, we will be in touch to discuss with you separate to this. Please be mindful that missed days do add up quickly, and 20 days in a year is a month of learning time the child has lost, so it is important to minimise absences that are within a families control.

Discretionary Referrals

Discretionary referrals are made where a school is worried about the attendance of a pupil. This might be due to a lot of unexplained absences, a pattern of absence, significant ongoing issues with punctuality leading to a lot of missed learning time etc. A school will refer a child to the Education Welfare Officer where they have these concerns. The role of the Education Welfare Officer is primarily to offer support to families to improve attendance.

The school will always contact parents before referring to the Education Welfare Officer and support where possible.

Key things to note

• The aim of attendance and punctuality procedures are to ensure the child gets the best experience of education and maximises learning time. We are available to support as needed.
• There is no need for concern if you get a letter saying your child has been included on the attendance report. Explained absences are recorded as such.
• Be sure to enter your absence reason on Aladdin each time your child is absent, to keep that on record.
• Aim to have your child in school for 8.40am each day. We understand this isn't always possible, and understanding is always there for extenuating circumstances. Chat to Trina if it's an ongoing challenge and a note can be made of it.

The Tusla Education Support Service have more information for parents/guardians on their page here.