Under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000 schools are obliged to submit a number of reports and notifications that relate to poor school attendance. Poor school attendance needs to be responded to early; otherwise, as research has shown, it can lead to poorer exam results, early school leaving, unsuccessful transfer from primary and poorer life chances for children. Currently schools report/notify the following categories of students to Tusla Education Support Services (TESS).
School Returns: Schools report all students who have been absent 20 days or more by submitting Student Absence Reports (SAR) twice each year.
Student Absence Reports (SAR)
Schools are required to submit Student Absence Reports twice each year on those students with serious attendance issues that have been identified during the current academic year i.e. students that have been absent from school for a cumulative total of twenty days or more falling within the following categories:
- Illness
- Urgent Family Reason
- Holiday
- Suspended
- Other
- Unexplained
