Student Attendance – Every Day Counts

IT’S NOT OK TO BE AWAY

The time is right to focus on improved attendance rates at Wodonga Senior SC

Last year on average each student was absent for 14 days. This means that on average each student will miss nearly a term of school during their time at our school.

Local and international research demonstrates a strong correlation between students’ learning, longer-term life outcomes and attendance at school and appropriate participation in education programs.

Poor patterns of attendance place students at risk of not achieving their educational, social and future potential as adults.

Once learners have begun to absent themselves from school, and the initial cause of this remains undetected or unresolved, it is likely that the pattern of absence will continue and escalate through their subsequent schooling and adulthood. Please remember that if you are experiencing difficulty in having your child attend school, discuss the matter with your child’s GP teacher or House Leader.

Attendance at or above 98%	These students have only missed 4 days or less in a school year They have every chance of achieving to the best of their ability These students are likely to have positive friendship groups
Attendance 95 – 97%	These students have only missed 5-10 days They are more likely to be achieving well at school With only occasional absences, these students will find it fairly easy to get back in touch with the learning program after absences

Attendance 90 – 94%	These students have missed 11-20 days These students may find it challenging to keep in touch with lessons or with class work Aim to improve your attendance rate
Attendance 80 – 89%	These students have missed 21-40 days These students have missed up to 1 day every week, which equates to 2 ½ years schooling missed by Year 12 It will be very difficult  to keep in touch with school work and to maintain social connections Please contact the school immediately to discuss a plan for improving attendance rates
Attendance below 80%	These students have missed more than 40 days These students have missed more than 1 day per week Students will be ‘disconnected’ from school. They are almost certain to experience difficulties both academically and socially Please contact the school immediately to discuss a plan for improving attendance rates

 

WHY EVERY DAY COUNTS

When students stay away from school, their learning and friendships are affected. There are many practical issues associated with absenteeism.

Students who are absent from school:

• miss the introduction of new work
• fail to complete work
• miss revision time
• miss homework explanation
• fall behind with their learning
• develop disjointed home-reading routines
• develop inconsistent homework returns/routines
• may lack confidence and feel embarrassed because they cannot do work the class has been studying
• feel left out from class discussion when they have missed a special class activity and cannot do the associated work
• miss specialist lessons because these lessons only occur once a week and so, for example, art work is not completed or is rushed in order to finish in the limited time available
• miss notices and newsletters to take home
• miss celebrations, for example student of the week, class awards, excursions, visitors, assemblies and special activities
• can find it difficult to break into established friendship groups and develop good friendships with their peers
• can develop a poor attitude towards school believing ‘I won’t miss much if I’m not at school’
• fail to realise that the teachers and students miss them.

Sometimes students stay at home for reasons that are not acceptable. For example:

• the child’s birthday
• too tired to come to school because of a late night
• staying home with a sibling or parent who is sick
• staying away for the whole day when an appointment is booked for a short time in the morning or afternoon
• weather conditions, for example too hot, too wet.

Please remember that if you are experiencing difficulty in having your child attend school, discuss the matter with your child’s GP teacher or House Leader.

 

WHY EVERY DAY COUNTS AND IT’S NOT OK TO BE LATE

We have recently been reminding our school community every day counts. This also applies to being late to school.  It is crucial that children and students develop habits of regular attendance at an early age.

Poor patterns of attendance place students at risk of not achieving their educational, social and psychological potential and are disadvantaged in the quality of choices they are able to make in later life situations.

When students arrive late to school their learning can be affected.

Students who are late:

• miss out on organisation time, for getting their belongings from their tubs and out onto their tables
• miss out on roll marking, lunch order collection and taking monies or notices to the office and their notices and lunch orders often stay in their school bag
• miss out on learning time when they take their lunch orders, monies or notices to the office
• miss out on hearing what’s happening and the learning intentions for the day
• are often unsure about what they have to do in the lesson
• can arrive at their classroom to find that their class has gone to a specialist lesson and they do not know where to go
• find learning becomes disjointed and difficult
• are failing to take responsibility for their learning
• tend not to see being late as a problem
• distract other students when they arrive.
• miss out on playing with other children before school
• develop the lifelong habit of being late – bosses are less supportive than schools.

Parents are reminded that all students arriving late to school must be signed in at the school office by a parent or guardian. The late slips are then to be given to the class teacher.

If you are experiencing difficulty in getting your child to school on time, please discuss the matter with your child’s GP teacher or House Leader.