Dear Parents,

Attendance and Missing School

There are many reasons for students to be absent from school. Where absences are of concern due to their nature or frequency, the school will involve the parents in developing strategies to improve attendance. This can typically be when students are absent for reasons such as participation in sport/dance/media events (or training for elite programs), family holidays, cultural observances, leisure or social activities, school refusal and mourning bereavement. All should be discussed with the student's teacher initially and then if required 'approved' through consultation by the principal of the school.

Please note below information from the Department of Education about attendance at school:

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 good number of days for missing school. 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. (Note: being regularly late also has a culmulative effect as well as disrupting other students' start to the day.)

PARENT RESPONSIBILITIES: Parents are required to ensure their child attends school and to provide an explanation for their child's absence from school, and the principal must record in writing the reason (if any) given by the parent. The principal must be able to determine from the records if the excuse given was reasonable in terms of the parent meeting their legal obligations. Parents should promptly inform the school of the reason for their child's absence so that the school can:

determine if the child's absence needs to be excused by the principal, in line with school policy and these guidelines
determine the appropriate follow up to ensure the child's education and wellbeing is supported
record if the parent has a reasonable excuse for not meeting their obligation to ensure their child attends school each day.

Where possible, parents should inform the school in advance of upcoming absences. To ensure a child's education and wellbeing are supported, parents are encouraged to communicate openly with the school where a child has an ongoing medical condition that may result in ongoing absences or medical appointments during school hours.

SCHOOL RESPONSIBILITIES: The school must record student attendance twice per day in primary schools and in every class in secondary schools and record, in writing, the reason given for each absence. This is necessary to:

meet legislative requirements
discharge schools' duty of care for all students
assist calculation of the school's funding
enable the school governing body (MACS) to report on student attendance annually

Accurate and comprehensive student attendance records, including the reasons for any absences, also allow schools to monitor the effectiveness of attendance improvement strategies and measure achievement against attendance targets.

Should you like to know more about attendance at schools and related issues and policies you can follow the links below.

St Christopher's Attendance Policy
Department of Education Attendance and Missing School Page
Education Training and Reform Act

Parent Code of Conduct

Our Parent Code of Conduct is on the Policies page of our website and typically forms part of the enrolment process that was introduced a couple of years ago. Upon reflecting on the growth of the school and the many conversations on a range of topics with parents and staff during Term 1, I believe it would be beneficial for all to read and acknowledge the Parent Code of Conduct.

This is different to the Child Safety Code of Conduct that provides clear expectations about interactions with students by parents when acting in a volunteer capacity.

The Parent Code of Conduct provides clear guidelines to all parents regarding the conduct expected of them while in our school environment, engaging in school-related activities or representing the school. Staff have a similar MACS Code of Conduct that they are expected to adhere to as well. The policy also outlines the possible ramifications for breaching the code of conduct.

This helps provide all students with a secure and supportive learning environment, for staff it assists the provision of a framework for a safe workplace and it provides you as a parent with an awareness about the type of school atmosphere you and your child can expect to encounter. It may also answer some questions parents have about parental involvement in the school.

I invite you to read the Parent Code of Conduct and acknowledge having done so by responding to the request on PAM (the document will be attached via PAM as well). Should you have any issues with accessing the document or responding to the request to acknowledge having read the document, please contact our office.

Warm regards,

Patrick Green

Parents Association