St Mary of the Angels Scoop

School Attendance: Attendance Matters

School Attendance 

With us approaching the end of the year, the accumulating absences of students is flagged within the Catholic Schools Office.  Students who have been absent for 20 days and 40 days will receive a letter from the school highlighting the number of absences the child has had over the course of the school year. 

Sustained absence from school is certainly a cause for concern for parents and teachers, however please note it is a requirement that we send these letters from the school.  If your child's teacher was concerned about your child's social/emotional or academic wellbeing they would have been in contact prior.  

We also understand the content of the letter does not read well in our current context, when we are asking parents to keep children home with flu like symptoms etc.

 

At St Mary of the Angels we will continue to expect and encourage all students, to stay home if they are ill.  

 

Change to bell times

In order to fully support our students' learning.  We have acknowledged the need for adequate breaks for our students. We are altering our bell times for recess and lunch times. This will provide an even break time for our students for both recess (Break One) and lunch (Break Two), these break times will be followed by an allocated eating time.

Research has shown an increase in student food intake and calmer behaviours if provided an eating time that is second to play.

This is due to students not rushing to eat/ or neglecting to eat due to the desire to head to sport and gives students a cool down time after play to regulate their emotions.  We will trial this change for Term 3 and reevaluate.

 

Please note that if you are dropping off a student after 8:50am you must accompany your child in and sign them into the school at the office.

 

What if my child has to stay away from school?

If your child has to be absent from school, you must inform the school and provide a reason for your child's absence.

A small number of absences may be accepted by the Principal. For example, if your child has to 

  • Attend a special religious ceremony
  • Is required to attend to a serious and/or urgent family situation (e.g: a funeral)
  • Is too sick to go to school or has an infectious illness.

How can you provide a reason for absence?

There are a number of options available to notify the school: 

School Supervision 

Supervision hours commence at 8.30am in the morning and conclude at 3.20pm each afternoon. Please ensure that your child is not arriving to school prior to 8.30am or being collected from school after 3.20pm. Outside of these hours, school staff will not be available to supervise students. 

 

For students arriving earlier then 8.30am there is NO supervision available meaning that there is a significant risk with cars and the school buses pulling into the grounds. Please ensure that your child is not walking, riding or arriving to school prior to this time.