Principal

Student Attendance and Educational Outcomes: Every Day Counts

Welcome back to Term 3! We are all feeling refreshed and renewed and ready for the next semester of learning. Year 11 are gearing towards the end of their Preliminary year; Year 12 is two weeks off undertaking their HSC Trials.

Over the break, I took some time to review our students’ attendance patterns, and some of our students’ attendance rates are a cause for concern. Let us exclude all the boys who were home because they were genuinely ill (authorised absence) or those who were on leave for a family matter (funeral). We have many students who are now habitually late (with no reasonable excuse) and who are taking days off for reasons that are not compelling or urgent.

We are receiving requests for students to have leave to go on vacation with family etc and others are staying home to “catch up” on work. 

The research is clear. School attendance impacts students’ academic achievements and other long-term outcomes.

• Higher rates of absences have been associated with lower NAPLAN scores (Hancock et al. 2013; Daraganova et al. 2014).
• Unauthorised absences have a greater impact on achievement than authorised absences (Hancock et al. 2013; Gershenson et al. 2017).
• In NSW, students who report positive attendance behaviours in Year 7 are on average three months ahead in their learning by Year 9, compared with students who have poor attendance behaviours (Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation (CESE) 2017).

• Students’ prior attendance is a strong predictor of their future attendance. A student’s attendance patterns may be established in early primary school, with school readiness being an important protective factor.
• Students with chronic absenteeism are more likely to drop out of school and experience poorer long-term health and social outcomes.

The data I reviewed showed that:

• Attendance was lowest on Fridays compared to the other days of the week.
• Attendance declined significantly in the last weeks of both Term 1 and Term 2.
• The students who were absent from school due to illness or other excused reasons were still be engaged with school and were able to catch up more readily than the students who were absent because they were disengaged.

This term, the Wellbeing Team will have a sharp focus on reviewing and improving student attendance. What can you do to assist?

• Recognising that every day and every lesson counts. Boys need to be here on time every day, each day, unless they are ill or have an important commitment that requires leave.
• Do not plan vacation breaks outside of the published calendar dates.
• Contact us if your son is unwilling to come to school. The team here will work at a plan to address his anxiety and/or disengagement.
• When logging your son’s absence in the TASS Parent Lounge, please supply medical evidence where possible. It will save us all an enormous amount of time.
• Ensuring that your son catches up on any work missed.

The studies I have referred to can be accessed at these links: Western Australian study 2013; NSW Research 2022.

Supporters' Day: Saturday 22 July 2023

This Saturday will be a big one for the College. We are hosting St Stanislaus College, Bathurst and we have Open Day for prospective Year 5 (2025) students.

Year 5 and Year 11 will all be required to attend and support. Firstly, up at SPC2 for the First XI Football and then down at the new Scientia Building stands for the First XV at 3:15 PM. We are all very excited.

We will be running barbeques up at the Powell Pavilion (for our Football teams) and also out of the new space in the Scientia Building (for our Rugby teams).

In addition to our students and the visiting sports teams, we expect over 400 prospective families and boys to visit and enjoy our community.

Now that you are all aware of what time your son has his sporting fixture, we would love for you to volunteer some of your time to assist in serving our visitors. It may only be for an hour or so, but we would be grateful. You can sign on at this link.

I welcome anyone who has time to visit the new Scientia Building. Come in and have a look around! No need to book. All of our parents should be proud of their achievements in bringing this new building to fruition. It is your dedication to paying school fees and especially committing to the Building Levy, that enables us to have the best learning spaces for our wonderful boys.

Parking will be available in our shared ACU/SPC carpark (entry is easiest via Barker Road and you can exit easily at Edgar Street, just near Kiss and Ride. The carpark under the Scientia will also be available but no doubt will fill up fast. 

Staff Changes

We are still struggling to fill roles in the College both permanent and temporary. Please understand that we are doing our very best to fill roles as they occur, and this means making changes to teaching allocations. We understand this can be disruptive to learning but we are intent on recruiting only the very best of applicants, and this takes time.

• Mr Matthew Morrison has left the College and that took immediate effect at the end of Term 2. 
   
• Ms Karen Spires has joined the Diverse Learning Team as a Learning Support Teacher. Her role is to take on the leadership of our Literacy Strategy. In the interim while we are in recruitment to replace Mr Morrison, she will be taking on some parts of his load (but not the 2nd XV Rugby team!). 
   
• Ms Kate Smith is Receptionist for Terms 3 and 4 to cover Mrs Michelle Barr while she is in the Interim Enrolments Officer role. 
   
• Ms Catherine Economos has joined our Uniform Shop staff as an Assistant (Mondays/Thursdays). 
   
• Ms Christabel Mascarenhas joins our College Counselling team replacing Ms Harkin. 
   
• Mr Esslam Atia joins us as a Science Teacher (0.6 FTE) for Term 3. 
   
• Ms Venetia Triantafyllia is the new Aministration Assistant, Co-curricular Cultural Program. She replaces Mrs Kwong and is located in reception at the Duffy Building.
   
• Ms Frances Saad commenced on 18 July as Religious Education Teacher, covering Mrs Lisa Dib’s Parental Leave. 

Community News

• Congratulations to Mr Glenn Stephenson and his wife who welcomed their third child, Cameron during the holidays. He will be here this week to start the term and will take his Parental Leave a little later. 
   
• Mr D­­avid Dunne and his wife became parents in the holidays to baby Thomas, born on 3 July 2023. David will return after his two weeks of parental leave from the start of Week 3.
   
• We also give our best wishes to Ms Constance Apostolou who married Panayioti and became Mrs Lukas during the holidays.
   
• Keep Ms Rebecca Duff and her family in your prayers. Her father suffered a serious brain bleed at the start of the break but following surgery, made a recovery. He is in rehabilitation with things progressing slowly (like speech and mobility). He is up in Newcastle, so this has placed a great strain on Ms Duff, but she knows we are all here to support her. She has been unwavering in her support of her Year 12 Drama students in the holidays.
   
• Ms Danielle Loulach is still overseas at present with medical issues. She cannot get on a plane until cleared by doctors but will be here as soon as she can be, so we pray for a swift recovery. 
   
• Ms Giselle Grape is still in recovery following a fall and subsequent surgery late last term. We wish her well and the speediest of recoveries, so she returns to us bigger and brighter than ever.

In Memoriam

Please keep Michael Sakr (Year 11) in your prayers. His father Bob died over the weekend after a long battle with cancer. For one so young, Michael has experienced much loss and bereavement in his young life: his sister Veronique in that awful accident that claimed her life and those of their three cousins at Oatlands, he has also lost his paternal grandfather, great-uncle and now his father. Many of our students and staff attended the funeral (today) at St Maroun’s Cathedral, Redfern.

We also keep in our prayers:

• Mr Alex Fox (Year 12 Coordinator) who lost his maternal grandfather yesterday. He was very close to him, and this is a devastating loss for Mr Fox and his family.
   
• Jules Renel (Year 10) and his family, whose maternal grandfather, Carmelo Abbate, sadly passed away unexpectedly during the holidays. Jules' uncle, Old Boy Adam Abbate ('99) was also a former staff member of the College.

Dr Vittoria Lavorato

Principal

SPC boys can do anything! 

**except divide by zero