Principal's Update

Angelika Ireland

Child Safety and Wellbeing at Greenvale Primary School

The Child Safe Standards (the Standards) are compulsory minimum standards for all Victorian schools to ensure they are well prepared to keep children and young people safe and protect them from abuse.

The Child Safe Standards include requirements to keep children, young people and students safe. As a school, we continue to build on our existing child safety strategies, policies and practices to strengthen our culture of child safety and protect children and young people from abuse.

Greenvale Primary School reviews and updates our child safety policies and procedures to ensure they meet the requirements of the new standards. These are available to view on our school’s website or available upon request at the school’s front office.

We are committed to continuous improvement in our approach to child safety and wellbeing and welcome feedback from families and members of our school community on ways we can further strengthen our child safety policies, procedures and practices. 

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions, please contact Greenvale Primary School at greenvale.ps@education.vic.gov.au or by phone on 03 9333 2500.

Student Attendance - every Day Counts

 WOW!! 

Congratulations to the 55 students who attended school EVERY DAY this term!!!

School is Better when your Child is There

Why it's important............

Going to school every day is an important part of your child’s education. Children and young people learn new things at school every day, connect with friends, have fun and develop good habits that help them to succeed. Attending and participating in school will help your child:

• develop important skills and knowledge to help them learn
• develop social and emotional skills such as good communication, resilience and team-work
• establish friendships with peers which help develop self-esteem and a sense of belonging.

There is no safe number of days for missing school. Each day a student misses puts them behind and can affect their educational outcomes. Being away from school for 1 day a fortnight adds up to missing 4 whole weeks of school a year. Where possible, you should avoid your child missing school, for example, make appointments for your child outside of school hours and keep family holidays to outside term time. Missing one day per fortnight adds up to missing four weeks of school a year

Notifying our school of your child’s absence

You are legally required to ensure your child attends school every day or you must provide an explanation for their absence.

Schools need to know when and why a student is absent, so please let us know on the day of the absence and explain why your child can’t come to school. Please ensure your contact details are up to date so we can follow up on absences as required. They may also call your emergency contacts.

Our school is mandated to keep a record of the reason provided for each absence. This will be marked under a category such as medical/illness, bereavement (including Sorry Business), truancy, family holiday and religious or cultural observance. As parents/carers there may be additional reasons to those listed above, you choose to keep your child at home - these are recorded as Parent Choice.

If your child is absent on a particular day and you have not contacted the school to explain why, the absence will be marked as unexplained.

Same Day Notification of Unexplained Student Absences

If your child is sick or absent, you are required to notify our school as soon as possible on the day of absence using one of the following methods:

1. Online: log the absence directly onto Compass. 
2. Telephone: the school phone number and leave a message on the absence line, or alternatively, speak to the office staff and let them know your child’s name, class, date of absences and reason. 

3. Email: the school and provide your child’s name, class, date of absences and reason.

   greenvale.ps@education.vic.gov.au

    

Notifying the school of your child’s absence either prior to, or on the day that they will be away, helps ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and will fulfil your legal responsibility.

If your child misses a lot of school

If your child has frequent unexplained absences then, as a school, we will work with you to implement appropriate supports to assist your child and ensure they attend school every day and remain at school during school hours.

If the supports do not improve your child’s attendance, we may need to make a referral to a school attendance officer at the Department of Education. The school attendance officer will monitor and investigate your child’s attendance, and may issue an attendance notice, an official warning or a fine.

Family holidays / Medical Appointments

Consider scheduling family holidays or medical/dental appointments outside of school time

Any holidays planned for during school time must be discussed with your child’s school in advance.

BEING AWAY FROM SCHOOL FOR ONE DAY A FORTNIGHT EQUALS MISSING

1.5 YEARS OVER 13 YEARS OF SCHOOL

Please note……..I will be taking leave next term from Monday 20 April, returning on Monday 22 June. Gabby Tigafua will be acting Principal in my absence, supported by Trudy Williams and Brett McGinniskin as the APs. 

To all of our families, have a safe and happy school break. Look forward to seeing you all on Monday 20th April

Food For Thought: 

Regards

Angelika Ireland