Wellbeing News
Every Day Counts
Why Consistent School Attendance is Key!
Going to school every day is the foundation of your child's education. Each day at school offers your child vital opportunities to learn new concepts, connect with friends, enjoy engaging activities, and build positive habits that set them up for life.
Consistent attendance and active participation directly help your child to:
Develop essential skills and knowledge: Each lesson builds on the last, ensuring a strong foundation for ongoing learning.
Grow socially and emotionally: School is where children practise crucial skills like good communication, resilience, and teamwork through daily interactions.
Forge strong friendships and a sense of belonging: Connecting with peers is vital for self-esteem and feeling truly a part of our school community.
It's important to remember that every day at school genuinely matters. There's no "good" number of days to miss; even being away for just one day a fortnight adds up to missing a significant four whole weeks of learning over a single school year!
To ensure your child benefits fully from their education, please help us by avoiding school absences whenever possible. We kindly ask that you schedule appointments outside of school hours and plan family holidays during term breaks.
What to Do If Your Child Can't Make It to School
As parents and carers, you're legally required to ensure your child attends school every day. If your child is away, it's essential to provide an explanation.
Here's how to notify us of an absence:
Please let the school know in writing before or on the morning of the absence via the online form on our website. We ask that you send this notification before 9:30 AM on the day of the absence.
If we don't receive a reason, our office team will reach out to you to find out why your child is away. If we can't make contact, the absence will be recorded as unexplained.
Should your child have a number of unexplained absences, you might receive a letter from the Principal. This is simply to let you know about the absences recorded and to offer wellbeing support to your family to help ensure your child is at school regularly.
Open communication with us about any absences is incredibly important. If you're facing challenges with your child's attendance, or if they need to be away for an extended period, please inform their classroom teacher as soon as possible. We're here to support you and your child.
Parent Support Programs
In our previous newsletter we announced that our Wellbeing Team had recently connected with a Senior Practitioner from The Children and Parenting Support Service (CaPSS) from The Salvation Army.
The Children and Parenting Support Service (CaPSS) supports people who are parenting by building parenting skills, fostering connections among families and enhancing interactions with other families. They support families living in the west of Melbourne, in the LGAs of Melton, Wyndham and some areas of Hobsons Bay (Laverton) and Brimbank - Sunshine.
Parenting Information Sessions & Potential On-Site Program!
Thank you to the parents who have expressed their interest in some parenting programs that may be able to be run in Term 4.
A reminder that If you might be interested in attending a program on-site, please take a moment to fill in the form below. This is just an initial check to see if we have enough interest to make a program happen. We'll be in touch closer to Term 4 if we can confirm a session.
Parent Support Program Interest Link
Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured.
Please refer to the link below for more detailed information.
FACT SHEET FOR PARENTS, GUARDIANS AND CARERS
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Kathy Blythe
Wellbeing Leader