A north-east school has urged parents to stop taking their kids on holiday during term time.
Peterhead Academy’s head teacher, Shona Sellers, launched her plea after receiving a “large number” of letters stating that children would be missing classes to go on family holidays.
Ms Sellers, who joined the secondary in 2014, maintained a two-week holiday meant a child would miss over eight hours of teaching in each of their subjects.
She said: “This causes great difficulty for pupils trying to catch up and can hamper progress.
“I urge you to consider carefully taking your child out of school.”
If attendance falls below 85%, the school could also impose bans on youngsters taking part in after-school activities including sports and the annual Rock Challenge events.
And Ms Sellers has encouraged parents to weigh the value of a trip against exam results.
She added: “We feel that if they have less than this attendance, their time would be better spent catching up with work missed.
“If our youngsters have any chance of achieving their potential, they need to be here and working with staff to do the best they possibly can.”
“If we are to prepare our young people for the world of work, then we need to instil in them the importance of coming to school regularly.”
The school has also exhorted parents to get their children to class on time.
Earlier this year, Education Scotland told Peterhead Academy that more work needed to be done to improve attainment within the campus.
Local councillors signed off on an improvement scheme for the school in September.
This included allowing non-promoted staff to take on leadership roles to work with senior pupils, improving the attendance and attainment of pupils, and promoting volunteer opportunities for youngsters within the community.
