Principal's Address

Public Speaking Competition

Congratulations to all our stage 2 and 3 students who participated in the public speaking competition last week. It was fantastic to see so many students involved. I managed to see most of the stage 2 speeches but unfortunately, I was required to attend a meeting during the stage 3 speeches.

I look forward to supporting William as he competes against the other school winners in our area in the Rostrum quarter finals.

Year 7 Transition – Day 1

I look forward to greeting our 2025 Year 7 students for their first day of transition on Tuesday 11 June. Throughout the transition program, many activities are planned so that students have a taste of what High school will be like in the future.

Successful transition to High School is essential to maintaining academic growth, wellbeing and mental health. It also helps to create and maintain a strong sense of belonging to the school which is essential for regular attendance.

A reminder that the first day falls after the Monday of the Kings Birthday long weekend. It may catch you and your year 6 student unawares if you don’t put a reminder in your phone or on the calendar.

Attendance

Attendance is vitally important to the continuity of learning for all children. Every time a student misses a day of school, they miss learning those skills or that knowledge and as a result, their understanding is lower than it could be or entire gaps in their learning can become evident.

It is essential that students come to school everyday, unless unwell.

It is also important that if your child is unable to attend school that you contact the school to explain their absence. This can be done by calling the front office or by putting in an attendance notification in the Compass app.

If your child’s attendance dips below 85%, you will receive the first attendance letter. If it remains under 85%, a 2nd letter will be sent. If your child’s attendance continues to be low, a referral will be made to the Home School Liaison Officer (HSLO). You and your child will then be required to meet and form an Attendance Plan which is then evaluated after 4 weeks of school. If this does not improve your child’s attendance, this can result in further HSLO intervention, court and fines. It is the law that all school aged children attend school.

Absence from assessment tasks – secondary students

Secondary students have several assessment tasks to complete each term. These tasks are essential for assessing their understanding of the outcomes they have been taught in that subject, that term.

If a student misses an assessment task, there is an illness/misadventure process to follow. It is at the principal’s discretion as to whether to support this application or not. A medical certificate must be submitted. If a student’s absence is not supported with a medical certificate, they will receive a zero mark for that task. They are still required to complete this task, or they are at risk of receiving an N Determination for that subject.

This is standard practice according to the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) who oversees the consistent implementation of assessment procedures in all NSW schools.

If your secondary child is unwell, and unable to attend school, please send them to school with a medical certificate when they recover. They will then be supported with the illness and misadventure procedure.

Winter Uniform

I would like to congratulate the students for acting on the feedback provided to them regarding the wearing of the full winter school uniform. In secondary, I had been seeing an emergence of hoodies and track pants being incorporated with items of the uniform which then rendered the student ‘out of uniform’. To their credit, secondary students are now looking very respectable in their full winter uniform and as a result, making themselves available to represent the school in upcoming sporting excursions. Well done to all of the students who are wearing their full uniform.

Compass for permission notes and improved communication

Boorowa Central School is in the process of transferring to a paperless process for excursion permission notes and for information only notes. Compass is Boorowa Central School’s 3rd party data management platform. We use it daily to track and manage student data. A feature of Compass is the parent portal. Parents can access information regarding their child’s attendance, assessment tasks, parent teacher interviews and soon it will also include the signing of permission notes and payment for excursions and school fees.

I will also be exploring the option of sending weekly updates of individual student attendance to parent email addresses. These emails will also include any full or partial day unexplained absences.