Principal's Update
Angelika Ireland
Child Safety and Wellbeing at Greenvale Primary School
Information for families and the school community
The Victorian Government announced new Child Safe Standards in July 2022 to further strengthen child safety across organisations, including schools. The new standards recognise the critical importance of families and the broader school community in maintaining and promoting child safety and wellbeing.
Greenvale Primary School reviews and updates our child safety policies and procedures to ensure they meet the requirements of the new standards. These are available to view on our school’s website or available upon request at the school’s front office.
We are committed to continuous improvement in our approach to child safety and wellbeing and welcome feedback from families and members of our school community on ways we can further strengthen our child safety policies, procedures and practices.
If you have any suggestions, comments or questions, please contact Greenvale Primary School at greenvale.ps@education.vic.gov.au or by phone on 03 9333 2500.
Student Attendance - Every Day Counts
SCHOOL IS BETTER WHEN YOUR CHILD IS THERE
Why it’s important……..
We all want our students to get a great education, and the building blocks for a great education begin with students coming to school each and every day. If students miss school regularly, they miss out on learning the fundamental skills that will set them up for success in the later years of school.
There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind, and can affect their educational outcomes. Each missed day is associated with progressively lower achievement in numeracy, writing and reading.
Attendance patterns are established early – a child regularly missing days in kindergarten or in the early years of school will often continue to miss classes in the later years and receive lower test scores than their classmates.
It’s vital that students go to school every day – even in the early years of primary school.
SAME DAY NOTIFICATION OF UNEXPLAINED STUDENT ABSENCES
If your child is absent, you are required to notify our school as soon as possible on the day of absence using one of the following methods:
- Online: log the absence directly onto Compass. Do not adjust the times - 9:00am-5:00pm is correct.
- Telephone: Call 9333 2500 press 1 and leave a message on the absence line, or alternatively, speak to the office staff and let them know your child’s name, class, date of absences and reason.
Email: the school and provide your child’s name, class, date of absence and reason.
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.
Why do you need to notify the school if your child is absent?
Schools need to know when and why a child is absent and you need to know if your child isn’t at school.
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.
What is the school’s responsibility?
We must notify you of an unexplained absence in relation to your child as soon as practicable on the same day. This will be done via a compass notification (if notifications are not turned on it will come via email) which you will receive at 10.30am on the day of your child's absence.
What is a parent’s responsibility?
You are legally required to ensure your child attends school every day or you must provide an explanation for their absence. You should let the school know in advance of any upcoming absences or let them know in the morning before 10.30am if your child won’t be at school. In order for schools to implement the same day notification requirement, it’s essential that you provide the school with your most up-to-date contact details.
The notification will be sent to the parent that has indicated they would like to receive communication from the school on your child's enrolment form. If you would like this changed, please contact the office.
If a student reaches five days of unapproved or unexplained absence in the preceding 12 months, and after it is shown that appropriate supports or interventions to assist them to attend school every day does not improve their attendance, the principal may decide to make a referral to the School Attendance Officer. This person is the Regional Director of the Department’s Regional Office where you are located.
BEING AWAY FROM SCHOOL FOR ONE DAY A FORTNIGHT EQUALS MISSING
1.5 YEARS OVER 13 YEARS OF SCHOOL
Food for Thought:
Regards
Angelika Ireland