Principal's Message

Dear Students, Parents, Carers and Families,

Congratulations and thank you to all of our students, parents, carers and families for all of your effort in ensuring you are supporting each other to engage and learn together. Mums and Dads, we know this is not easy but hopefully it is easier than it was last year. Thank you for giving it your all – we know it is not an easy job! 

We appreciate your patience and support as we strive to provide the very best for all of our families and give the support needed.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AND LEARNING EVERYDAY

A student’s absences accrue over several years, the effect on a student’s academic achievement is cumulative with as little as 10% a year having an ongoing impact on their learning growth. Therefore, regular school attendance is an important factor in school and life success. Research shows a direct correlation between good attendance and student achievement. Poor attendance has been linked to poor academic achievement, which starts from their very first year in Foundation. 

In fact, the EARLY YEARS of school are the most important due to a child’s rate of development.

Did you know that: 

• a child who is absent a day of school per week misses an equivalent of two years of their school life 
• 90% of young people with absence rates below 85% fail to achieve five or more good grades of VCE and around one third achieve no VCEs at all 
• poor school attendance is also closely associated with a percentage of early school leavers

VCE may seem a long way off for you and your child but all absences at any stage leads to gaps in your child’s learning. 

This in turn can: 

• mean that they fall behind in work 
• affect their motivation 
• affect their enjoyment of learning 
• lead to poor behaviour 
• affect their confidence in school 

Non-attendance is not clear cut as there are many contributing factors. Especially now, I know it is really hard in so many different ways for all of us, but it is important we make sure our children continue to learn. 

In an ideal world, it would be great if all students completed every learning activity every day, but we are very aware and realistic that our situation is not ideal. It just means that we need to make sure our children have a really good go at it and do the best that they can every day. 

Take care and stay safe!

Kind regards,

Darren Wallace

Principal