Education is a sequential process. Absences often mean students miss important stages in the development of topics, causing them to find ‘catching up’ difficult. Absenteeism contributes significantly to student failure at school.
All enrolled students are required to attend school unless reasonable and valid grounds exist for them to be absent. Illness is reasonable grounds for an absence – shopping excursions, birthday parties, staying home with mum or dad are not.
Parental Responsibility
Parents have a legal responsibility to ensure that their children attend school regularly.
Parents have a further responsibility to send a Compass message to the school on the day of the absence before 9:30 am explaining why an absence has occurred. Parents have a responsibility to provide the school with a doctor certificate for a child’s absence in excess of 3 days. Parents have a responsibility to notify the Principal via email advising of an upcoming child absence due to holiday outside of term break.
In general, it is expected that principals would excuse absences for:
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Student is sick
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Medical and dental appointments when out of hours appointments are not possible or not appropriate
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Bereavement or attendance at the funeral of a relative or friend of the student, including a student required to attend Sorry Business
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School refusal, if a plan is in place with the parent to address causes
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Cultural observance, if the parent notifies the school in advance
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Family holidays, where the parent notifies the school in advance and the student completes any Student Absence Learning Plan agreed by the school, student and parent.
In general, principals would not be expected to excuse absences, where:
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Approval had not been sought in advance or in accordance with school policies
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the student was absent due to participation in leisure or social activity without approval
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The conditions of approval have not been met (e.g. Student Absence Learning Plan for a family holiday
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not completed)
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The parent has provided no explanation for the absences.
All student absences recorded in both the morning (before 9:30 am) and the afternoon (before 2:30 pm) by teachers, are aggregated on our SAS database and communicated to the Catholic Education Office. The principal has a responsibility to ensure that attendance records are maintained and monitored at school