Attendance 

1. Contact details

There are times when we will need to contact you, including on the day if your child is absent and you haven’t informed the school as to why. Do we have your most up to date contact details? If not, please contact the school so we can update our records. Please include parent/carers’ name, address, phone numbers, email address and emergency contact details. Please remember to contact the school if any of these details or your circumstances change. 

1. Notify the school of your child’s absence 

Protecting the safety and well-being of children through the reporting and monitoring of absenteeism is the responsibility of both parents/carers and schools. 

Please remember to call the school on 5983 9590 or email at bittern.ps@education.vic.gov.au or log your child’s child’s absence using our school’s compass platform early in the morning if your child is going to be away or late for school so your child’s absence can be recorded correctly. 

For further information on the processes and procedures our school uses to record, monitor and follow-up student attendance and absence please read our Attendance Policy which can be found on our website https://bitternps.vic.edu.au/

2. Same-day notification of unexplained student absences

Our school will text and or call you as soon as practicable on the day if a student is not at school and you haven’t notified the school as to why. If you are notified by the school that your child is away without a reason, please contact us as soon as possible using the compass platform to let us know where your child is. If we cannot reach you because we don’t have your correct contact details (i.e.: message notification fail, disconnected number), then we will make contact with any emergency contact/s nominated on your child’s file held by the school, where possible, on the same day of the unexplained absence.

Please remember it is your responsibility to contact us to provide an explanation for your child's absence from school, and where possible, please inform us in advance of upcoming absences.

Save this number! Our school will contact parents/carers as soon as practical on the day on an unexplained student absence. Save this number 5983 9590 into your phone so you know it is the school contacting you if you receive a text. 

3. New Attendance Requirements

If your child is sick or absent, you are required to notify the school as soon as possible on the day of absence, through Compass or a phone call to the school office. 

Notifying the school of your child’s absence either prior to, or on the day that they will be away, helps ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and will fulfil your legal responsibility.

From the end of Term 2 2018, all Victorian government schools are required to contact parents/carers as soon as practicable on the same day of an unexplained student absence. If your child is absent on a particular day and you have not contacted the school to explain why, the absence will be marked as unexplained.

This system also promotes daily school attendance. Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education, they learn new things every day – missing school puts them behind.

The Bittern Primary School Attendance Policy which outlines the school’s processes and procedures for monitoring, recording and following-up of student absences is available on our website https://bitternps.vic.edu.au/