Name

: Petagay Sewart
Subject

: Sociology

School

: Seaforth High

Date

: March 10,2015

Registration Number :
Teacher
Center number

: Mr. Rose
:

*In partial fulfilment of CAPE Internal Assessment*

TABLE OF CONTENT
Section 1
Intoduction1
Statment of problem2
Aim and objective....3
Literature review.4-8
Section 2
Research question9
Sampling.10
Data collection11
Section 3
Presentation of data.12
Analysis of data13
Disscussion of finding.14
Conclusion..15
Biolography16

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

 What are the measures that have been put in place to help reduce the
absence of student at the seaforth primary school.
How does seaforth primary school reduce absence amoung student.
What are the factors that has contributes to the learing of student at
seaforth primary school?

LITRETURE Review
Seaforth Primary School located in Seaforth, St. Thomas, was started by the
Methodist Church in 1899 with an enrolment of 33 students. The schools
enrolment has been declining in recent years, with the figure moving from 960
in 2003, to 521 in the last academic year. The current enrollment figure is 478,
comprising 260 boys and 218 girls. It is believed that this decline in the student
population is due mainly to the state of the physical plant, and the schools
poor performance in national tests and assessments. The majority of parents
are unemployed, while several are self-employed, relying mainly on farming
and vending. A few are employed at the nearby Serge Island Dairy farm and the
Canco Ackee Canning Factory, while others are engaged in other professions,
including nursing. In many cases, parents are unable to provide needed
materials to support their childrens learning and some show little interest in
their academic performance. Most of the schools intake is from early childhood
education centers located in the town. Others are from neighboring
communities of Soho, Whitehall, Middleton, Hillside, York, Danvers Pen and
Trinityville. Students entering the school usually perform below the national
average in the Grade One Readiness Inventory. Some students are heavily
dependent on assistance for school materials and meals and, there are 320 on
the PATH programme. School Satisfaction Survey .The National Education
Inspectorate (NEI), as part of its inspection process, analyzed responses to
questionnaires issued to a sample of parents, teachers and students. Forty
parent, 145 student and 19 teacher questionnaires were returned. Most parents
and students are satisfied with the school and believe that it is well led. Both
parents and students are proud of the institution and agree that teachers
encourage students to work hard. Only about half of the students and parents
are satisfied with the student behoviour.Leadership has a consultative style of
management and is committed to improving the academic performance and
social development of students. There is awareness of, and concern for the
schools weaknesses. Plans have been developed and some already
implemented to improve teachers skills and the learning environment. The
Board members provide adequate guidance and support. Relations with parents
and the community are good. The schools performance in all national
examinations in both English and mathematics has been below the national
level. While the gap has narrowed in all areas of Grade Six Achievement Test
(GSAT), with communication tasks being the same as the national average in
the past year, there is still much room for improvement in Grade 4 literacy and
numeracy. The use of the Revised Primary Curriculum (RPC), programmes to

enhance curriculum delivery, is limited to reading. The low performance and

slow progress in mathematics have not yet been addressed by the recently
established curriculum committee. The school provides a variety of extracurricular activities to foster learning and social development. Most teachers
display a good grasp of content and select appropriate strategies to suit
different lessons. Some regularly reflect on the impact of their teaching. Wellstructured plans guide most lessons and many classes come alive with the use
of various resources. There is continuous assessment during the delivery of
most lessons. Most students participate in class activities and demonstrate
their understanding of concepts taught. From the department of education and
the RT Hon Michael Grove MP. Primary school absence government adviser 16,
April 2012 .Evidence shows that as children move through the school system
from primary school onwards, the number of children who are persistently
absent grows-most significantly in the final years of school. By the time children
have reached their mid teens it becomes more difficult for parent to get them
to attend. Much of the work, these children miss when they are out of school
never made up, leaving them at a considerable disadvantage for the reminder
of the school career. The majority of the children whose parents are taken out
of court for poor attendance are in years 10 and 11 but by this time it is too
late to solve the attendance problems. Currently there is no nationally
collection data on childrens attendance in nursery and reception, as school is
not mandatory at this age .This means school is not held account for pupils
attendance until they reach the age of five. Many Schools do not take measures
to improve attendance until pupil reach statutory school age, but this is already
too late .Children with low attendance in the early years to come from the
poorest backgrounds. These children are likely to start school already behind
their peers, particularly in their acquisition of language and their social
development Charlie Taylor has called for:
The government to publish data on attendance in reception along with
local averages and this considered when ousted inspects.
Primary school analyses their data on quickly pick up on children who are
developing a pattern of absence.
Primary schools focusing on supporting parent in nursery and reception
who are failing to get their children to school.
What can the government do to reduce the absence of student at the primary
school level? Towards university Education. Published by Global Urban
development high levels of enrolment and longer, retention in school can be
stimulated in three(3) ways focusing on specific interactions to reach out-ofschool children, increasing the educational opportunities(formal, non-formal) for

girl and women, and increasing access to post-primary education. All of these
approaches take into account the powerful demand- side influences that affect
the propensity of parent to send their children to school. Reaching out-of-school
children will take special efforts beyond what is typically thought of as scaling
up. Expanding to and completion of primary schooling implies children from
households at margins. Most of the roughly 104 million schools-age children
who are not attending school are poor and have parent who are uneducated
and illiterate. In all countries poor children are less likely to start school, more
likely to drop out and more likely to engage in child labor or domestic chores
that keep them from schooling .In most countries, girl likely to be in school than
boys. Universalizing primary school cannot be achieve without addressing the
specific reasons that poor children and girls do not attend school, repeat grades
and, drop out. Some intervention target getting poor children and girls into
school an keeping them their by making school affordable, reducing the direct
costs for each children, and compensating of the added opportunity cost for
girls other measure do so by increasing demand for schooling though such
measure as conditional cash transfers and school feeding and health programs.
Schooling feeding programs this disproportionately benefits poor children by
creating incentives to enroll in and attend school and by improving health,
attentiveness, and capacity to learn. Offering meals at school is an effective
way to encourage children who are poor and chronically hungry to attend
classes.

TOPIC:
This is an investigation into the seaforth primary school and how it affects the
student performance.

INTRODUTION
Seaforth primary school has been contributing tremendously to the community
of seaforth and the surrounding communities for many years. Therefore they
are often recognized for their outstanding performances over the years, for
student to be absent at seaforth primary school this means they will have
improve on this problem by seeking whats the problem is and find a solution to
solve this problem, however student are being absent for various reasons and
this pose a problem for the academicals performance. Student face a major
challenges when they do not attend regularly also this has a bad influence on
their attitudes towards learning in high school.

ACKNOLWEDGEMENT
Firstly I would like to thank god for giving me the strength the knowledge and
the courage in the completion of this project .and also I would like to thank my
teacher Mr. rose for his help and his cooperation throughout this project. I
would like to thank the grade 6th student and teacher at the seaforth primary
school for their assistance in answering the questionnaire that which was
needed for the project to be completed.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

How do the absent of student impact on their GSAT performances.

 What can the government do to improve on the absence of the student of

the seaforth primary school?
What can be some solution towards the absent of student.

Questionnaire
DEAR, RESPONDENT

My name is PETAGAY STEWART; I am a sociology student currently in lower six

at the seaforth high school. I am conducting a research into the seaforth
primary school and how the absentee of student at the seaforth primary school
has impacted their performances. Please note that you dont have to give your
name, so what you say will be kept confidential.
Please put a tick

in the box that is provided.

1. What is your gender?

Male

Female

2. To which family group do you belong to?

Nuclear

Sibling house hold

Extended family
Single parent

3. How long have you been a resident in the seaforth community?

5 years

10 years

More than 15 years

4. What are some factors that has contributed to the absent of student at
the Seaforth Primary school?
Poor family support
Lazy and refused to go to school
Denied an early childhood education

5. What are some other causes that can lead to absence of student?

Parent migration

family problem

No financial support

6. To what age group do you belong to?

10-12

13-15

Older

7. Do you believe that crime affect the absence of children going to school?
Yes

No

8. What maybe some disadvantages that will affect a child who has been
absent?
They learn less

they miss out on a lot

Their grades are normally low

9. What effect does absence have on the student behavior?
Pay less attention in class
Been very disruptive within class
Often occupied doing nothing

10. How does a student been absent affect their performances?

The school is ranked below average
The school often gets less support

11. Do you believe that parent/guardian plays a key role in helping to reduce
the absent of student?
Yes

No

12. What else do you think can be done to help reduce the absence student?
Recommend them to the PATH program
Keep regular meeting with the parents
Advising the parents not to stop send the child

13. What are some other causes of been absent?

The child is often sick
Stop because of disability
Others

ANALYSIS OF DATA
In examining the effect of absence on student behavior in fig 1 majority of
respondents 40% believe that they are been very disruptive within the class.
Thirty five percent shows that they often occupied doing nothing, while twenty
five percent shows 25% that they pay less attention in class.
Fig 2. Has highlighted the factors that have contributed to the absence of
student at the seaforth primary school. Forty seven percent 47% believe that
they were denied an early childhood education, thirty seven 37% had poor
family, only seventeen percent are lazy and refuse-to-go-to school.
As it would have related to the disadvantages fig 3 shows the affect it has on
the children who have been absent. Forty five percent 45% they learn less,
thirty four percent 34% they miss out on a lot and 30% their grades are
normally low.
Fig 4 shows the other causes that lead to the absence of student. Twenty five
percent 25% had family problem, thirty percent they had no financial support
and forty five percent 45% their parent migrated

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
In society education is the key towards success and when a child is
persistently absent from school it grows must significant in the final years of
school ,and evidence shows that the researcher had discover that the effect
that, absence have on student behavior, a majority of 40% believe that they
are been very disruptive in class. Being absent is a disadvantage for a child by
the time the child miss out and will never be able to make up for the time
he/she lot. Now days there are other causes for a child to be absent. For my
opinion, there are three main reasons that are the children to be absent. In
today society, such as family problems, have no financial support and there
parent have migrated. Leaving them with other parent s or family member.
According to an online article the high-level of enrollment and longer retention
in school can be stimulated in their ways they should focused on a specific
intervention read-out of- school children. Increasing the educational
opportunities (formal and non-formal) and access to post-primary education.
Hence that the student who are mostly been absent are the ones who is of the
poorest background .therefore the factors that has contributed to the
absences of student at the seaforth primary school is believed to be that they
were denied an early childhood education this is a setback for the student. if
the government implements more programs like the school feeding program
this will help to reduce the amount of children been absent at the seaforth
primary school .

CONCLUSION
The absence of student is growing tremendously and it is up to us has a
society, parent, individuals and the school body to help to reduce the absence
of student rate. For any school to be developed and successfully they must
have a greater number of attendance that will enhance productivity. Much more
is needed to be done to decrease the absent rate and to address the specific
reasons that the children who cannot afford school.

REASEARCH DESIGN
In this research design information was carefully analyses and was being
studied by me, it had a variety of source from which the information was
retrieved. However, the sources have provided some valuable information on
this topic that was being reached on the different views and also these sources
help to broaden the knowledge, this which included the books, the internet, and
newspaper article the questionnaires.
The internet provided a good source of information and terms which was being
used carefully and very useful points to rely on. Other sources related
tremendously to these issues are of great benefit. In addition the
questionnaires a was used to collect information. In which a choice was made
due to the fact that it is much easier to administer also it is less costly and in
which it does not consume a lot of time.

SAMPLING
For I have choosen to use a random sampling to gather information on a
specific area being studied. The questionnaire was to gather information
through a system of sampling selection that would surely be useful for analysis.
And a total of 25 questionnaires were given to individuals, an estimated that
over a hundred students was going to the seaforth primary school. And both
males and females of a varied age, for this help effectively to collect
information.

The clustered cylinder showing other cause that can lead to the absence of student
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%

Series 1

Fig.4
The clustered cylinder showing some cause twenty five percent had family
problem, while thirty 30% they had no financial support and forty five percent
45% parent had migrate.

The virtical line graph reflect the disadvantages that will affects the child who has been absent
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%

Series 1

Fig 3
The figure showed that forty five 45% of the student they learn less, thirty four
percent 34% they miss out on a lot, thirty percent 30% their grades are
normally low.

The pie chart showing the factors that has contributed to the absence of student at the seaforth primary school

lazy and refuse to school; 17%

poor family support; 37%

Denied an early childhood education; 47%

Fig2.
In this graph it illustrates the measures geared towards the wider community
that 37% had poor family support along with 17% are lazy and refuses to go to
school, and 47% believe that they were denied an early childhood education.

The pie dividing chart showing the effect of absence on student behaviour

25%
40%

pay less attetion in class

often accupide doing
nothing
Been very disruptive in
class

35%

Fig.1
This shows the effect that absence had 25% hadsaid that they pay less
attention in class. 35% shows that they often occupied doing nothing , while
the majority of the respondent 40% thought they are been very disruptive
within class.