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Overview
Going to school regularly is important for children and youth to learn and to build friendships. Missing just two days of school each month can make it harder for students to get the full benefit of their education.
Did you know:
- research shows that missing just two days a month negatively affects a student’s academic performance
- poor attendance will often start in early elementary, from kindergarten to Grade 2 and normally won’t improve without intervention
- missing school a lot from kindergarten to Grade 2, can affect a child's ability to learn to read and impact important skills like remembering information and controlling impulses
- poor attendance in elementary school is a leading indicator of dropping out of high school
Giving our kids the best chance in life means getting them to school.
The following resources from Attendance Works have suggestions to help parents and guardians support their student’s attendance.
If school attendance is a problem for your child
Sometimes children and youth have problems attending school. These problems may be related to circumstances in the student’s life, concerns like anxiety or lack of engagement in school.
If your child is experiencing a school attendance problem, contacting your child’s teacher or school counsellor can be the first step in getting the support you need to correct that problem.
If anxiety is a problem for your child, it’s important to remember that avoiding school only increases the anxiety in the long term, making it more difficult for your child to attend school. Sometimes with younger children, anxiety may manifest as physical symptoms such as a stomach ache. When these symptoms are connected to anxiety, they will often go away once the student is at school. At any age, preventing the habit of missing school is important.
If you repeatedly have difficulty getting your child to attend school because of anxiety, it is important to reach out to your child’s school counsellor. Schools can offer suggestions, support, counselling connection to other resources and in some cases create specialized plans to support a student who is experiencing a school attendance problem.