DEPUTY'S DESK
ALL IN THE RESEARCH
When we reflect on the philosophy of effort and trying your best, we must ensure that this accompanies a goal and a target in which our efforts can be directed. Each and every one of our students are encouraged to set themselves goals to work towards throughout the school year.
A big focus of our College is to improve the outcomes for our students. Our teaching team works hard to assist students to achieve the highest possible success.
An important component of success is attendance at school. If you don’t show up to the game, you will never get a kick, point or goal. Any lesson that your child misses will have a direct impact on their learning and achievement. See research findings below.
“A 10-day period of unauthorised absence in a year is sufficient to drop a child about a band in the NAPLAN testing.” https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/skipping-school-for-just-one-day-affects-naplan-results-study-finds-20140801-zzjmr.html
I remind parents that school attendance is one of the most critical factors in achievement and thank all parents and students who ensure they are at school on time and ready to learn. You are setting yourself up for success, well done and keep it up! Just by being in class a student has given themselves an opportunity to learn, but attitude can play an important role as well. I encourage students to walk through every classroom door thinking positively about what new learning experience they are about to encounter and to embrace the myriad of opportunities provided both inside and outside of the classroom during the school day at St Joseph’s College.
Research on student attendance:
http://education.qld.gov.au/everydaycounts/schools/research-school-attendance.html
Research shows that poor school attendance is associated with:
- Lower academic achievement including literacy and numeracy.
- Early school leaving.
- Leaving school with fewer qualifications.
- Reduced opportunities for students to learn and access educational resources, further limiting achievement.
- Further absenteeism in higher year levels.
- Increased alcohol, tobacco and substance use in adolescents.
Queensland State School Attendance Rate (Semester 1, 2012) by NAPLAN 2012 Scale Score Year 7
This graph compares the Queensland state school attendance rate for Semester 1 2012 with Year 7 NAPLAN 2012 scores for reading and numeracy. The graph shows that as attendance rates decrease, so does the NAPLAN scores for reading and numeracy. This trend between attendance rate and achievement level is consistent at every year level and subject.
Mr Greg Kluske
Deputy Principal, Learning and Teaching