HOME AND SCHOOL LINKS
The first and most important educators of children are the parents, and in response to parental feedback we have developed a range of home school link activities. Children regularly take part in home/school projects and shared home learning tasks where the children are given the responsibility to pick and choose their own activities to further support their classroom learning. Children are also given weekly homework which is related to their work in class. Meetings and Workshops are held throughout the year to support parents in their work at home.
Children will achieve more if parents and teachers work together towards commonly held goals. Within an active partnership each can work towards the potential of each child being realised. In order to encourage this, parents are free to come to St Ninian’s at any time to have an informal discussion about their child or any related problem.
Parents are kept up to date with school and community events by frequent newsletters and text messages, meetings and workshops. We regularly seek feedback from our parents through evaluation sheets and questionnaires throughout the year.
We analyse the responses and use this feedback to inform our school Improvement Planning. Parents, staff and pupils were consulted on the Home / School Agreement.
ATTENDANCE
Section 30 of the 1980 Education Act lays a duty on every parent of a child of ‘school age’ to ensure that their child attends school regularly. Attendance must be recorded twice a day, morning and afternoon.
Regulation 7 of the Education (School and Placing Information) (Scotland) Amendment, etc. Regulations 1993 requires each child’s absence from school to be recorded in the school register as authorised: i.e. approved by the authority, or unauthorised: i.e. unexplained by the parent (truancy) or temporarily excluded from school.
It should be noted that the Education Liaison Officer investigates unexplained absence, and that the authority has the power to write to, interview or prosecute parents, or to refer pupils to the reporter of the children’s hearings, if necessary. Parents are asked to inform the school by letter or telephone, if their child is likely to be absent for some time, and to give the child a note on his or her return to school, confirming the reason for absence.
Parents/guardians do not have an automatic right to take their child out of school without permission during term-time. The Head of Establishment can only authorise time off during term-time in exceptional circumstances.
Exceptional circumstances include:
· Short-term parental placement abroad
· Family returning to its country of origin for family reasons
· The period immediately after an illness or accident
· A period of serious or critical illness of a close relative
· A domestic crisis which causes serious disruption to the family home, causing
temporary relocation
Time off during term-time for the following reasons is not acceptable and will be recorded as unauthorised absence.
· Availability of cheap holidays or desired accommodation
· Holidays which overlap the beginning or end of term
Clearly with no explanation from the parent or carer, the absence in unauthorised.
School staff will phone each day to ascertain the reason for the child’s non-attendance at school.
Punctuality is also encouraged at St Ninian’s. Continual late coming may result in a dip in pupils’ attainment as children miss vital teaching time when they arrive late in the morning.
It should be pointed out that the Education Liaison Officer investigates unexplained absence, and that the authority has the power to write to, interview or prosecute parents/guardians, or to refer pupils to the reporter of the children’s hearings, if necessary. (see amended procedures in relation to school boards).