Attendance/Absence procedure - New processes

Regular attendance is one of the most important factors in ensuring students achieve their best at school. Each day in class provides valuable learning, continuity, and connection with teachers and peers that can’t be fully replicated later. When students attend consistently, they build strong learning habits, stay engaged with their coursework, and feel more confident and supported in their school community. Every day really does count—being at school sets students up for success not just academically, but socially and emotionally as well.

New absence processes

We understand that students will be absent at times for various reasons. If students have been marked absent in period 1 and 2, an SMS will be sent to parent 1 to advise of there absence and request that contact is made to identify the reason for absence.

You can record your child’s absence in any of the following ways:

Log in and record the absence on compass
- Please note that any notes uploaded or written by parents/guardians on compass do not get flagged with staff. If you have information that you would like to pass on regarding the reason for absence please also email the absence email so it can be forwarded to the appropriate Engagement Team for follow up.
Email the student absences to the relevant attendance email address
- Junior School Years 7 – 9 JuniorSchoolAttendance@kambryacollege.vic.edu.au
- Senior School Years 10-12 SeniorSchoolAttendance@kambryacollege.vic.edu.au
Call the school on 9707 7600
- Our recorded options menu has been updated to include option 4 - student absences. Please follow the prompts to be put through to the relevant attendance officer in either Junior School, Year 10 and Year 11 & 12.

If you or your child has a medical certificate, they can be emailed to the relevant email address above or handed in at the following places:

Year 7-9 - Front office or Admin office in the Gwonawa Building

Year 10 - The black letterbox outside the Year 10 office

Year 11-12 - Study room in Snr8

If you have any attendance enquiry at all please reach out using the relevant phone or email options listed above.

Late Sign In Procedure

All students that are late to school must sign in at the front office on their arrival at school.

Parents/Guardians should notify the school in one of 4 ways if their child is going to be late:

Call the school on 9707 7600 and speak to the front office.
Put an attendance note on Compass yourself (pay particular attention to the times you are putting in).
Give your child a handwritten note to pass to us on arrival – this needs to have the date and be signed by parent/guardian with an explanation.
Come in to the front office with your child on arrival.

Please note that students that are late without any of the above correspondence from a parent/guardian will be issued with a recess detention as per our school policy.

Early Leavers Procedure

A reminder to parents/guardians to notify the college prior to students leaving school early for any of the following reasons:

• Leaving school early for a planned appointment - if prior knowledge is given, our front office staff can arrange for your child/ren to be waiting for you to collect them at the front office – please let the office know as far in advance as possible.

• For emergencies/unplanned appointments or other reasons for your child/ren to leave school early - please contact the front office via phone as soon as possible so that we can arrange for your child/ren to be waiting for you at the front office to be picked up.

• Parents/Guardians/Emergency contacts must have their photo ID on them when collecting their child/ren and sign students out in the Early Leavers book at the front office. Please note that if the person collecting the student is not on their emergency contact list you must advise the office of the person’s name and give authorisation for them to collect the student.

Absence Procedure/Attendance Enquiry

If your child will be absent from school for any reason please notify the school in one of the following ways:

Put an attendance note on Compass yourself (pay particular attention to the times you are putting in).
Call the school on 9707 7600 and select number 4 from the menu options for student absences; and then select the relevant menu option for the year level of your student:

Junior School - Years 7-9
Year 10
Years 11-12

Email the relevant attendance email as below:

Years 7-9 - JuniorSchoolAttendance@kambryacollege.vic.edu.au
Years 10-12 - SeniorSchoolAttendance@kambryacollege.vic.edu.au

If you or your child has a medical certificate, they can be emailed to the relevant email address above or handed in at the following places:

Year 7-9 - Front office or Admin office in the Gwonawa Building

Year 10 - The black letterbox outside the Year 10 office

Year 11-12 - Study room in Snr8

If you have any attendance enquiry at all please reach out using the relevant phone or email options listed above.

Using an Interpreter to contact the school

Financial Support for Families

Kambrya College understands that some families may experience financial difficulty and offers a range of support options, including:

State Schools Relief support is also available for Health Care or Pension card holders for uniforms, footwear, calculators, textbooks.

If you would like to discuss support options, are having difficulty in making the requested contributions, or would like to discuss alternative payment arrangements, please contact Student Accounts on 03 9707 7635 or 03 9707 7639 for a confidential discussion.

Respectful Communication

Our college takes pride in our positive environment for students, parents and staff. This extends to the way that we all communicate with one another, both verbally and in writing. Please respect the reciprocal expectation that we all communicate politely and respectfully. There may be times where systems fail or need improvement, disagreements exist, difficult conversations have to take place, and frustrations build. We are here to work with you, and to find a way forward constructively, so before you send an angry and aggressive email, or speak rudely to the front office receptionists or other staff, please pause and take a breath. Under no circumstances will any aggressive, threatening or rude behaviour ever be tolerated at this college. If it occurs, you will be asked to leave. Thank you to the vast majority of families who do always engage respectfully.

Child safety and wellbeing at Kambrya College: information for families and the school community

Kambrya College is committed to providing an environment where students are safe and feel safe.

Our child safety framework includes policies, codes and procedures that explain how we support and maintain the safety and wellbeing of our students and protect them from harm. These documents are available on our website:

http://www.kambryacollege.vic.edu.au/

We are also committed to continuous improvement of our child safety framework. We are currently reviewing our child safety policies and practices to ensure they are up-to-date and effective.

Our students and families are important partners in this process. We welcome your feedback or ideas on ways we can improve our approach to child safety and wellbeing.

If you have any suggestions or comments, please contact Kambrya College at

kambrya.co@education.vic.gov.au subject line Policy Feedback.

Privacy reminder for our school community

Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy and the Schools’ Privacy Collection Notice.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages: Amharic, Arabic, Dari, Gujarati, Mandarin, Somali, Sudanese, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese.

Personal Insurance

The Department does not hold insurance for personal property brought to schools and it has no capacity to pay for any loss or damage to such property.

Parents or guardians of students, who do not have student accident insurance, are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for injured students, including the cost of ambulance attendance or transport as well as any other transport costs.

Parents or guardians can purchase insurance policies from commercial insurers.

Environment and Sustainability Committee