Principals Report 

The single-most important factor in student learning is student attendance. Quite simply, our students are denied crucial learning opportunities every time they are out of the classroom. Whilst our school has made enormous strides in this area across the past three years, we are observing some complacency in our community and want to address this clearly today.

The positives: where we have come from

In the full year before I commenced at the school, our attendance data was flagged as a significant concern. On average, each student at our school was absent for 17.3 days per year (2019). 30% of our students in that year had 20 or more days of absence. In the years since, we have been able to reduce those numbers to as low as 14 days per student and just 19% of students with more than 20 days of absence. Those markers now see us performing better in terms of managing attendance than the state average, as well as better than our network schools (the 30 local schools in our Beachside Network) and ‘similar schools’ (in terms of size and demographic). The improvement was led by the commitment of our attendance team, including Assistant Principal Kim Nickels, Receptionist Jane Hayes and Youth Worker Amelia Ingram.

What can we do better?

We have noticed recently that our attendance standards have slipped. Our students simply cannot learn if they are not here. We care about every minute that you miss; whether it is for an appointment, a family holiday or you have simply slept-in, we need to all commit to doing better.

Late arrivals and early departures

In the last two weeks (nine school days, accounting for the public holiday):

· 223 students have been recorded as being late.

· 137 students have been recorded as leaving early.

The disruption to the learning for these students who have either arrived late or left early is clear; missed instruction time equates to missed learning opportunities. If this happens on a regular basis, students can gain significant gaps in their learning. Learning is sequential and if a gap arises in a key area, it can impact learning for years to come.

Our classrooms are open from 8:45am, with the purpose being that students arrive at that time and enter their classrooms and prepare for learning for the day. This ensures they are ‘ready to learn’ at 9:00am precisely, making the most of every minute of learning, every day.

Whilst we sometimes have unavoidable appointments that must be scheduled during the school day, let’s keep these to an absolute minimum.

Family holidays

I understand that many of our families missed the opportunity to travel across the past couple of years, particularly missing the opportunity to see family and friends abroad. I hope and expect to see less of our families taking extended leave through the school term for holidays this year.

Absence learning plans

If it is unavoidable to take time away during the school term for any reason (including a family holiday), please send me an email (link here), copying your child/ren’s teacher/s in, as well as Jane Hayes, our receptionist. In the email, please notify us of the dates that you will be away for. Our classroom teachers will provide an ‘absence learning plan’ for the period you are away, with the purpose of providing continuity of learning for your child.

Illness

Of course, we do know our students will fall ill from time to time. The last couple of years have taught us the importance of staying home when we are unwell, and we expect you to continue to keep your child/ren at home during these times. If the absence is only for a couple of days, please simply ensure you notify the classroom teacher/s and the office. If an illness carries on for a longer period of time (beyond one week), please let us know and we can advise of some learning to continue with if and as appropriate. A good idea for your child, if they are up to it, will be to complete their home reading and spelling, as well as any incomplete ‘Mathletics’ tasks.

Proactive Steps

The school has taken a variety of steps recently to help promote positive attendance behaviours, including:

· 8:45am ‘ready to learn’ starts in all classrooms.

· ‘Breakfast Club’ for students who have not started their day with a healthy breakfast.

· Formation of a student attendance team, who analyse attendance data and work with families and external agencies to improve chronic poor attendance of students.

· Consistent communication about attendance through the school newsletter.

· Following-up unexplained absences with families fortnightly.

· Improved traffic conditions (with thanks to the traffic safety working group) to ensure parking around the school is not a barrier to being at school on time.

If you would like to discuss any of this with me, please do not hesitate to reach our via phone or email, or catch me in the yard most mornings and afternoons.

Thanks for your ongoing support and keep doing your best.

Rohan.