St Joseph's School Glen Innes Newsletter

Student Attendance

What if my child has to stay away from school?

If your child has to be absent from school, you must inform the school and provide a reason for your child's absence.

A small number of absences may be accepted by the Principal. For example, if your child has to 

  • Attend a special religious ceremony
  • Is required to attend to a serious and/or urgent family situation (e.g: a funeral)
  • Is too sick to go to school or has an infectious illness.

How can you provide a reason for absence?

There are a number of options available to notify the school: 

 

Following is information on attendance from Mr McManus. This information was also sent home via Compass last week.

 

As everyone is aware, we are a school that actively promotes and encourages positive attendance to ensure growth in academic outcomes and positive well-being.

 

The NSW government also mandates the administration routines that schools MUST follow to record student attendance.

 

Consequently, from Monday 20 May parents of students who have not explained their absence for the day will receive the following message at 10:00 each day -

 

“We note that {studentFirstName} was absent or late today.

If a student is absent from school or late arriving to school, Parents/Carers are required to provide the school with an acceptable explanation within seven days of the absence.

Please respond by either 1 of the 3 options

1. Logging onto Compass and explaining or

2. Email to or

 3. Phoning. “

 

There will be a formal follow-up COMPASS notification and email each Friday at 11:00 am to parents of unexplained student absences who have not explained their absence for the week with the following message -

 

“I write in regards to the recent unexplained absenteeism of {studentFirstName}.

As per the NSW Education Act (1990) and CSO Policies (2021), it is a requirement that all absences must be explained in writing within seven days of the absence. We understand that these may be overlooked from time to time so we are now requesting that you explain these absences on the Compass Parent Portal or app within 7 days of the absence. 

We look forward to continuing working with you to ensure optimum education for your child. Please do not hesitate to contact the school should you wish to discuss this matter further.”

 

While I fully understand personal family ‘busyness’ can sometimes cause an oversight, we are mandated and highly value the monitoring of attendance here at St Joseph's. Thank you for your support of this important administrative procedure.

Cheers

Geoff McManus

Principal