Principals Message

Dear parents and carers,

We have a fabulous program called the Data Ecosystem which is used in every school throughout the Diocese. At a glance we can see every piece of data related to every child in our school. We can track growth in academic areas and attendance and wellbeing. 

This year we have looked closely at attendance and we have some concerns. Obviously with covid and flooding some students have rates of attendance that show they are at risk. We understand this. What worries us are the students who regularly have days off for a variety of reasons, sometimes unexplained. It is a legal requirement for us to follow up on all unexplained absences. 

“Every day counts and there is no ‘safe’ threshold for absences” – Hancock et al., 2013

“There are many factors that influence student achievement, including teacher quality and student engagement. Attendance is also an important contributor to a student’s academic achievement – all school days matter. The correlation between absence and achievement is consistently negative and declines in achievement are evident with any level of absence. Although authorised absences and smaller amounts of absence were associated with only small declines in achievement, all absences count, and the impact of absence increases with the number of absences (Hancock et al., 2013).” Attendance Matters AITSL  

Current figures for St Xavier’s;

Critical Risk-14 students

High Risk- 59 students

It is vital that our children are at school unless there is a very good reason for not being here. Missing school develops habits that become increasingly hard to break and the figures show that children who miss school in infants and primary generally have poor attendance in secondary school. The life long impact is worrying. 

Please remember this information is not being shared with you in regards to things out of your control. It is for those families who may think a day a week or a fortnight or a month does not hurt, it does! 

If you have any issues with attendance we are more than happy to help with strategies and ideas to support you.

Kind regards,

Jen