Wellbeing Report 

Primary School Attendance

In Primary School, some students miss on average 3 weeks of school per year. That’s half a year of school by the end of Year 6.  As we are approaching the end of Term Two, it is a timely reminder of the importance of students being at school and engaged in learning Each and Everyday.

Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education. Students learn new things at school every day – missing school puts them behind.

Remember,  EVERYDAY counts. If your child must miss school, speak with your classroom teacher as early as possible. Openly communicating with the school about all absences is a good way to prevent attendance issues being escalated to a School Attendance Officer.  If you’re having attendance issues with your child, please let your classroom teacher know and our Wellbeing Team so we can work together to get your child to school every day. 

Why it’s important

We all want our students to get a great education, and the building blocks for a great education begin with students coming to school each and every day.  If students miss school regularly, they miss out on learning the fundamental skills that will set them up for success in the later years of school.  There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind and can affect their educational outcomes.  Each missed day is associated with progressively lower achievement in numeracy, writing and reading.

Getting in early

Attendance patterns are established early – a child regularly missing days in kindergarten or in the early years of school will often continue to miss classes in the later years and receive lower test scores than their classmates. It’s vital that students go to school every day – even in the early years of primary school.

What we can do

The main reasons for absence are:

• Sickness – There are always times when students need to miss school, such as when they’re ill. It’s vital that they’re only away on the days they are genuinely sick, and setting good sleep patterns, eating well, and exercising regularly can make a big difference.  It's vital that holidays are planned during school holidays where possible, and not during the term if it can be avoided.
• “Day off” – Think twice before letting your child have a “day off” as they could fall behind their classmates – everyday counts.

If for any reason your child must miss school, there are things you can do with your school to ensure they don’t fall behind:

• Speak with your classroom teacher and find out what work your child needs to do to keep up.

Now more than ever, school plays a pivotal role in the lives of young Victorians. Every member of our Saltwater community can play a positive role in encouraging and supporting all students and families to attend school.  We can continue to improve attendance by ensuring that as a school community we all understand that ‘Every Day Counts’.  Attending all day, every day helps students to build their learning and maintain strong social connections with their friends and teachers. Each lesson provides a foundation for the next one, making it easier to learn the next concept.  It is important that we set high expectations from a very early stage and systematically monitor attendance to ensure student academic engagement and successful learning outcomes.

Our classroom teachers play an important role in helping students to understand the importance of attendance, motivating them to attend through provision of an engaging learning environment and establishing strong relationships with your children. When teachers follow up on student absences, this is likely to have a bigger and more meaningful impact on attendance as the student knows they are cared for and missed when not in class.

Students who go on to be chronically absent in their later years of schooling on average have higher absence rates than their peers in primary school, starting as early as Grade Prep. It is never too early or too late to establish positive attendance habits. Attendance plays a key role in setting students up for success in later years.

Mental Health and Wellbeing to help promote Attendance and Inclusion

Schools play a key role in providing a positive and inclusive learning environment for all students and can equip young people with the personal skills to support their mental health and wellbeing.  

The Department has partnered with mindfulness program Smiling Mind  - https://www.smilingmind.com.au to create a series of videos called ‘Feeling It!’, covering essential wellbeing topics with a focus on senior secondary students, click on the link below to see more -

https://www.smilingmind.com.au/secondary-school-program-feeling-it

Secondary Students of Victorian Government schools can access telephone and video counselling services from headspace. Students access the service via a referral made by a central contact person within their school.

You can also find some useful information to support your children’s mental health and mindfulness at home via the following link;

https://www.smilingmind.com.au/at-home

If your family needs additional support to further engage your child to ensure they are attending school Everyday and taking care of their social and emotional development. Then please contact the school Well-being team and we will work together to support you and your children in any way we can.

We are acknowledging those students that are here very day with attendance awards at our weekly whole school assemblies as individuals and collectively as a class. Please support us and your child's education by encouraging them to actively attend school every day, and engage in the learning opportunities provided to them.

Yours Sincerely,

Saltwater P-9 College Wellbeing Team