Attendance - Absenteeism

For all absences: A brief, written explanation from a parent/guardian should be forwarded to the school and addressed to the Care Teacher. This should be presented to the Care Teacher by the student immediately after the absence. Parents may find it more convenient to phone the school office (Student Absence Line - 4945 0103) before 9 am on the day the student is absent.

The importance of parental contact:  If students are going away on holiday, outside of normal vacation periods, the school should be notified before the event. Legitimate reasons for absence are very important for those students receiving Youth Allowance. Notes must be supplied to the school explaining absences as Centerlink withholds benefits from students if there are more than five unexplained absences per term.

Digital Communications:  As from 7 March, 2005, a new absentee communication system began operations.

Once our daily attendance data is entered into our school computer system, the parents of those students marked 'absent' will be automatically telephoned, and asked for the reason for the student's absence. The answer given will be digitally recorded and our records will be updated with these reasons the next day. In this way, it is hoped to dramatically reduce the number of unexplained absences we currently have on our system.

If the telephone number dialled is not answered, the system continues to call, and will also send SMS messages to mobile phone numbers. The system will persist in calling until 8 pm on the same day as the student's absence.

This immediacy of communication will greatly assist parents to be well informed of any inappropriate behaviour by their children regarding attendance, and will assist us as a school to achieve our goal in reducing unexplained absences.