Attendance Policy

Students need to attend school regularly in order to participate fully and gain maximum benefit from schooling.

Monitoring of school attendance enables identification of students at risk and the early implementation of intervention strategies.

All members of the school community are expected to support regular student attendance.

Legal Requirement

A child who is at least six years old but not yet sixteen is of compulsory school age, irrespective of distance from the school or whether the student has a disability or not. These students are required to be enrolled at a registered government or non-government school and must attend the school on every day instruction is provided at the school for the child, unless the Minister has granted an exemption from school attendance.

The primary responsibility for meeting this legal requirement rests with the parent/guardian. The responsibility for enforcing school attendance is with the Department for Education and Child Development (DECD). The Department therefore has a legal responsibility to record and monitor attendance and take appropriate action to rectify problems of non-attendance.

Responsibilities

Parent Responsibilities

• • Parents/caregivers are responsible for getting their children to and from school. 
• • Children must arrive at school between 8.35 and 8.55 am. 
• • Children must attend school on every day when instruction is offered unless the school receives a valid reason for being absent eg. illness. 
• • Parents must provide the school with an appropriate explanation for the student's non-attendance. Usually, this comprises of a letter or telephone call from a parent/guardian or a medical certificate - after 3 days a written explanation is required. 
• • When a student is late for school (arrives after 8:55 am) this will be indicated on the roll. It is appropriate that the parent/caregiver explains the reason for lateness.
• • Parents/caregivers must let the school know if an extended absence is likely or if the school needs to arrange work at home for students.

Teacher responsibilities

• • Monitor each child's attendance/lateness.
• • Record absence and reason for absence and lateness on Sentral and submit to the front office by 9:05 am each day.
• • This information will then be recorded on EDSAS.
• • Send home standard note to parent if a reason for absence has not been given by the parent (provided in roll sheet folder).
• • Contact home on the third day of absence if there has been no contact from the parent/caregiver, or if there are any concerns about patterns of non-attendance. Record in notes section of roll sheet folder.
• • Document any strategies/interventions undertaken and send to the office for inclusion in EDSAS.
• • After contacting parent/s, alert the leadership team.
• • Alert the Leadership team if a student has missed more than 10 days within the calendar year.
• • Co-ordinate the collection of work for students who are unable to attend school for acceptable reasons and for whom work is requested.
• • Forward any letters received from parents indicating an upcoming long-term absence due to holidays etc to the office for consideration of temporary exemption by the Principal.

SSO Responsibilities

• • Enter the data on EDSAS.
• • Monitor students who are regularly absent.
• • Alert the class teacher and leadership team if a student has more than ten absences.

Principal, Deputy Principal and Assistant Principal Responsibilities

• • Ensure that the EDSAS Roll is accurately completed.
• • The leadership team will complete a standard letter regarding the ongoing absence of a student and send home to parent.
• • The leadership team should document interventions, strategies, home visits, phone calls and include in EDSAS
• • The leadership team will refer to an Attendance Counsellor if attendance issues are not resolved.
• • Principals have delegated authority from the Minister to approve applications for temporary exemption from school attendance for periods of up to one calendar month. Parents or guardians should apply in writing and Principals should also advise approvals and non-approvals on school letterhead. Copies of such advice are to be retained in school files, together with applications and are to be made available to appropriate departmental officers as required.
• • All applicants for temporary exemptions exceeding one calendar month, and for permanent exemptions, are to be completed and forwarded for approval.

Absenteeism Workflow

Attendance and Dismissal Times

All students found on school grounds after 3:35 pm without a supervising adult will be taken to the front office and parents contacted.

Policy update and review

The school council and staff regularly monitor and review the effectiveness of the Attendance policy (at least every three years) and revise the policy when required.

Policy last reviewed May 2020. Next review May 2023.

Responsibility - Resilience - Respect