Pre-reading questions:
- What time do you usually go to school or work?
- How do you record your attendance in school or work?
- How do you manage to avoid tardiness in school, in work, or in meeting?
Parents could face court action or even jail for their children’s habitual tardiness. In the recent newsletter sent by Catherine Stalham, parents were advised that the school will be issuing penalties of as much as £60 if their kids missed the 9:00 am registration. Constant tardiness will lead to the issuance of a fixed penalty notice.
If penalties aren’t settled within 28 days, parents or guardians may then be arraigned in court. It was mentioned by the Department for Education that schools should actively discourage the tardiness of the students, be alert to the patterns of late arrival and should look for an explanation from the parents or guardians since it was their obligation to ensure their child’s regular and punctual school attendance.
Vocabulary:
tardiness [noun] – the quality of being late
issuance [noun] – the act of providing an item for general use or for official purposes
penalty [noun] – a punishment or consequence for doing something wrong, such as having to pay a fee
arraigned [verb] – call or bring (someone) before a court to answer a criminal charge
punctual [adjective] – acting or arriving or performed exactly at the time appointed
Comprehension Questions:
- How much will the parents be fined for tardiness?
- At what time do students need to be in school?
- How is constant tardiness penalized?
- What will happen if penalties were not paid within 28 days?
- Why does the Department for Education encourages the schools to be alert on students’ tardiness?
Express Your Opinion:
- Why do you think it is vital that a student should attend class regularly?
- What are the benefits of going to school or work on time?
- Do you think that a person’s punctuality and tardiness can affect his/her productivity?