Attendance Matters
Everyday matters at school
Did you know when a student who is half and hour late each day they miss the equivalent of 16.6 days of learning each year.
Communicating Absences
If your child has any unapproved absences or late arrivals, you will receive an alert on your Compass home page letting you know this, and allowing you to add a Note or Approval.
Clicking on this notification will take you to the Unexplained tab for that child's attendance, where you can choose to add a Note or Approval for one or more absences. To add a note or approval, select one or more of the absences listed, then select the 'Explain with Note/Approval' button.
Please note that you cannot edit you notes or approvals after they've been created. If you do need to make any amendments please contact your school, as they can do this for you.
Adding a Note/Approval for a Future Absence
You can also enter notes and approvals in advance, if you know that your child is going to be absent from school (e.g. scheduled family holiday which may require a student absence learning plan(see separate article)).
To do this from your homepage, click on the 'Add Attendance Note/Approval' link listed underneath the name of the relevant student.
This will take you to the Attendance screen, with a pop-up window to enter details of the note or approval. Here you can select the applicable date range - in the future if required.
Adding a Note/Approval via a One Time Link
Our school is using One Time Attendance Notes via SMS notifications, there will be a link included in the SMS which you can click on.
Clicking on the link will take you directly to Compass to add a note/approval for the unexplained absence.
Please note, the default expiry of these links is 48 hours, once the link has expired you will have to add a note/approval by logging into Compass.
Student Absence Learning Plans & Holidays
If there is some known reason which requires your child to miss school for an extended time (eg. operation, overseas trip, etc.), parents are asked to advise the school via flexibuzz and to notify the classroom teacher/s. Please allow time for the classroom teacher to send A Student Absent Plan home with your child when the absence is to over 5 days as per the departments legislation.
We urge parents to use the school holiday periods for their family holidays if at all possible and to avoid having their children miss classes immediately before and after scheduled holidays.
Remember, children need to attend school regularly to make the most of the educational opportunities available to them. There is a direct link between attendance and achievement. Also, poor attendance can a make it difficult for children to form positive relationships with their peers.