School Absences/ Attendance Each child, to whom the School Attendance Act applies, is obliged by law to attend school every day on which the school is in operation unless there is a reasonable excuse for not attending. Bunscoil na Toirbhirte is obliged to notify the School Attendance Officer when a child is absent over 20 school days in a school year. The school authorities are further obliged to notify the School Attendance Officer when a child or is absent regularly and no reasonable excuse has been provided for the absence(s).If your child is unavoidably absent please inform the school on their return. You must indicate why the child was absent as per the categories laid down by the NEWB.