Student Wellbeing

Making the most of every day!

Attendance has become a major focus across the state, this year. We know that throughout a school year students will miss days of school due to illness or being in the fortunate position of being on holidays. Our focus is shifting towards the other unexplained absences that occur throughout a school year.

Last year our students at Greenhills were absent on average 17.4 days for the year. Whilst we are pleased that the average is less than state and like school figures, we still aim to do better. If a student misses 20 days of school a year for their entire primary school, it will mean that they miss almost 3 terms of learning. If you keep the same averages for Secondary School, then it equates to almost 1.5 years of schooling missed.

What we do know is that going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education. Students learn new things at school every day. Attending and participating in school will help your child develop important skills and knowledge to help them learn social and emotional skills such as good communication, resilience, and teamwork. These learning opportunities allow for better opportunities in their future lives. There is no safe number of days for missing school. Each day a student misses puts them behind in their academic learning, which will then impact their personal wellbeing.

To help your child make the most of every day, we encourage you to support your child’s attendance through sending them to school when they are well.  This year, we are tracking our student attendance and if your child misses a lot of school (especially unexplained), we will be getting in touch to develop an attendance plan. Please ensure you mark the reason (e.g illness) for your child when they are absent. 

Lastly, if your child is having challenges with motivation towards school, please reach out to your child’s classroom teacher or email us, as we would love to work alongside you to support you and your child.

janine.hough@education.vic.gov.au 

bradley.ryan@education.vic.gov.au

Thanks

Janine and Brad.