Attendance

Every Day Counts, It's Not OK to Be Away!

Regular attendance at school is very important for your child's learning and social development. Good attendance is 93% and above.

Of course, sometimes children are sick and need to stay home to get well - and that's OK! But other than that, children need to be at school as much as possible to ensure the BEST opportunity for learning.

Absence Notification

It is a requirement of the Department for Education that accurate records of student absences and explanations of the absences are kept by the school. We appreciate parent/carer support in notifying the school of their child’s absence.

If your child is going to be absent from school, you must provide notification as soon as possible. There are a number of ways you can let the school know about the absence:

• Notify absence via the DayMap Parent Portal. The school will receive a notification with the information you have submitted.
• Call the school on 8523 2400. Follow the relevant prompts. When leaving a message, please advise your child’s name, class, reason for absence and expected duration of absence.

Write a note in your child’s diary. Your child can show this note to their homecare teacher.

Having trouble getting your child to school?

Here is what you can do to help!

 First contact the school to talk about it. You can discuss your concerns with your child's teacher, wellbeing leader, year level manager, deputy principal or the school principal. If you do not cooperate with the school and your child to improve their attendance, you could face a penalty.

Create a daily routine

Children and adolescents respond positively to having a routine for all aspects of life, e.g. Bedtime, dinner time etc. This is also relevant to all aspects of schooling including getting ready for school, having breakfast, getting lunch ready, arriving to school, class etc. To encourage a routine can take some time but proves to be a successful tool in helping students improve and maintain good attendance.

Positive Encouragement for attending

Children and adolescents thrive off positive reinforcement. Developing a positive connection to attendance at school by rewarding your child is a sure way to see their attendance improve which will positively impact on their grades. Rewards can include; positive verbal acknowledgement, sticker chart which results in a reward at the end, an extra hour of internet use for the week etc. This is something you could discuss with your child and come to an agreed outcome. Always be sure to discuss all positive behaviour and show your child that positive actions generate positive environments.

Be actively involved in their schooling

A great way to keep on top of any decrease in attendance is to ensure you are involved in your child’s schooling. This can be managed in a number of ways. For example, talking to your child daily about their day, asking questions, checking your child’s diary regularly, accessing the Parent Portal on DayMap to read class notes and bulletins, check their daily attendance etc., and calling the school if you have any concerns you wish to discuss. This is a very powerful method. When students are aware that you are involved in what is happening in school, they become more vigilant and take more ownership on their behaviour.

Be aware of the signs of decreasing attendance

There are a range of different signs that can indicate that your child’s attendance may be decreasing. Here are a few tips on behaviours to look out for:

 -          Sleeping in, refusing to get ready – often when a child is reluctant to get out of bed and get ready for school there are often reasons for this behaviour. Try talking to your child about this and offer help where needed. The option of speaking to a school counsellor is always there if you need.

-          Giving short answers or getting defensive when asked about school – This could indicate that your child is not enjoying their schooling which could be for a range of reasons. In order to change this, we need to ensure that communication is occurring to make us aware of any situations.

-          Grades dropping, receiving zero letters – It is very common for poor grades to relate to poor attendance. If you receive a zero letter from the school or they have failed classes on their reports, this could indicate that your child may be skipping classes.

-          Other signs could include; suspensions, phone calls from the school, refusal to go to school etc.