Attendance Matters
Regular attendance at school is vital to help children achieve and get the best possible start in life. Children who attend school regularly have been shown to achieve at higher levels than students who do not have regular attendance. The relationship between attendance and achievement may appear early in a child’s career, as early as 4 years old through fifth grade. I want every child at Marblehead to achieve to their best ability, and that begins with coming to school every day and on-time.
During the 2024-25 school year, the number of students who were absent more than 10% of the school year was at a critically high rate. Therefore, we need to work as a community to improve attendance, which will directly improve Marblehead’s academic achievement.
Arriving late to school and leaving early is also a chronic issue. We understand that this may be due to extenuating circumstances, but we are here to help all families work through these struggles.
Some tips to help your family with attendance:
- Talk to your child about the positive things at school. Ask them each day what their favorite thing was that day and what they are looking forward to the next day.
- Leave 5 minutes earlier to help with traffic and arriving on time.
- Bring your children to school to eat breakfast. Breakfast starts at 7:30 am and is FREE for everyone.
- Schedule your appointments after school on the Early Out Tuesdays. Every Tuesday dismissal is at 12:45 pm.
- If your child must miss school, try to bring them for any amount of time during the school day so they can catch some of the lessons. Students tend to get anxious when they know they have missed too much classwork.
Weekly, monthly, trimester, and yearly awards and incentives will be given to students who have great attendance and arrive on time. Plus, the classes will have daily and weekly incentives to motivate the students to come to school every day and on time. Students who are also showing improvement over time will be recognized for their achievements.
Please contact the school office if your family is struggling to bring your child to school or arrive on time. Attendance is very important to us and so is your child’s achievement – we are here to help!
