Attendance & Engagement
Lunchtime Clubs at Saltwater College
A Closer Look at Our Lunchtime Clubs
At Saltwater College, we’re proud to offer a range of lunchtime clubs designed to support student interests, wellbeing, and engagement across the week. These clubs provide students with the opportunity to connect with their peers, explore new skills, and enjoy positive social experiences in a supportive environment.
Our current lineup includes:
Monday: Boardgame, Puzzle & Chess Club
Tuesday: Coding Club
Wednesday: Wellbeing & Crochet Club
Thursday: Construction Club
Friday: Dance & Yoga Club
All clubs run from the Admin Library Space at the beginning of lunch, with the Dance Club held in teacher classrooms (see timetable for details). We also have Art Clubs running throughout the week from the student art rooms.
Each of these clubs is supported and guided by our enthusiastic Year Six student leaders, who play a key role in setting up activities, welcoming younger students, and helping to create a fun and inclusive atmosphere. Their leadership and teamwork have been a fantastic example of our IB Learner Profile attributes in action.
These activities are open to students across year levels and are designed to be flexible — students may join in on different days and try new activities each week. Whether it’s building a strategy through chess, creating a calming art piece, coding a mini game, or winding down through yoga, there’s something for everyone at Saltwater.
We’re proud of the enthusiasm our students have shown for these lunchtime opportunities, and we encourage families to chat with their children about which clubs they’ve explored or might like to try next.
🌟 Active Travel Decal Competition Celebration 🌟
A huge congratulations to all the students who entered our Active Travel Decal Competition! Every design was bursting with creativity, colour, originality, and imagination. It was fantastic to see how many students captured the spirit of staying active - walking, riding, and scooting safely to school.
After much deliberation, our judges selected the following talented winners - each receiving 50 house points for their amazing designs:
Prep – Alannah (PD) and Ren (PK)
Year 1 – Ava (1E) and Tulip (1E)
Year 2 – Ashar (2J) and Harvin (2I)
Year 3 – Celine (3H) and Shanaya (3G)
Year 4 – Dahamsa (4C) and Myra (4B)
Year 5 – Harper, Preetish, Sydelle (worked together, 5E) and Agaaz (5E)
Year 6 – Mollie (6J) and Francesca (6J)
And a special BONUS award goes to Ojas (5E) for designing an incredible stencil decal!
We’re also excited to announce that the winning designs will be shared with the council, who will use them to create new decals for our school sidewalks. These vibrant artworks will help brighten our paths and inspire everyone to stay active every day!
A Closer Look at Attendance at Saltwater College
Part 2: Students with 10–19.5 Days of Absence
In our ongoing series exploring student attendance at Saltwater College, we are taking a closer look at how we respond to different levels of school attendance. Each level helps us better understand how we can work together to support every child to reach their potential.
This edition focuses on students who have been absent for 10–19.5 days across the school year.
Why This Matters
This level of absence is considered to be emerging concern. While these students may still attend most days, the learning time missed begins to have a noticeable impact. Missing the equivalent of two to four weeks of learning time can:
Disrupt learning continuity and confidence.
Affect skill development in core areas such as reading, writing, and mathematics.
Impact social connections and classroom engagement.
Lead to increased difficulty settling back into routines after time away.
At Saltwater College, we recognise that every day counts — and small, consistent absences can add up to lost opportunities for learning and connection.
Our Response at Saltwater College
For students in this attendance category, our staff:
Monitor patterns – Attendance data is carefully reviewed to identify trends or reasons behind absences.
Engage early – Teachers or team leaders may contact families to check in, understand any barriers, and offer support.
Collaborate – The Assistant Principal and Wellbeing Team may begin working with families to develop strategies for improving attendance consistency.
Support re-engagement – Staff ensure returning students are supported to reconnect with their peers and catch up on missed learning.
The aim at this stage is prevention — ensuring attendance concerns are addressed early before they become more serious.
Working Together to Support Attendance
We know that family circumstances, health, and other factors can affect attendance. If your family is finding it hard to maintain regular attendance, please reach out.Supports available include:
Speaking with your child’s teacher about any ongoing challenges.
Contacting your Assistant Principal for support and guidance.
Accessing our Wellbeing Team for emotional, social, or family-based support.
Contacting Orange Door or local community agencies for additional family assistance.
Together, we can create strong routines and partnerships to help every child attend, engage, and succeed.
Supporting Student Learning During Family Holidays
New Process Now in Place at Saltwater P-9 College
At Saltwater P-9 College, we understand that families occasionally take holidays during the school term due to personal or cultural reasons. While we encourage holidays to be planned during term breaks to avoid disruption to student learning, we have introduced a new process to ensure that, when term-time holidays do occur, student learning remains supported and documented in alignment with Department of Education guidelines.
This new process is part of our recently endorsed Family Holiday Notification Policy, approved by our School Council. It ensures that both families and staff are working together to maintain continuity in learning and accurate attendance records.
What Families Need to Do...
If you are planning a holiday during the school term, please notify the school in writing at least two weeks in advance. Notifications can be sent via:
Email: saltwater.p9.co@education.vic.gov.au
Xuno: Message the school via the parent portal
Phone: Contact our Attendance Officer, Alison Lee, on (03) 8366 7700
Please include your child’s name, year level, and the dates of the intended absence. If your travel plans change, we ask that you inform us as soon as possible.
How Will the School Support Your Child?
Once a holiday notification is received, your child’s classroom teacher will prepare an Absence Learning Plan. This plan outlines:
The curriculum areas and units that will be covered during the absence
Suggestions for learning activities that can be done at home or while travelling
A meeting will then be arranged with the family to go through the plan in detail, just as we would with other learning or support plans.
Recording Absences
In line with our new policy, holiday-related absences will now be recorded as either:
Family Holiday (Approved) – when the school is notified and the process is followed
Family Holiday (Unapproved) – when no notification is received
This helps ensure transparency and consistency across our school community.
We appreciate your support in following this new process, which helps us keep student learning on track, even when they’re away from the classroom.
If you have any questions about the policy or the process, please contact the school office.
For further information on the policy please see the policy itself:
Thank you,
Brent Syme
Assistant Principal