Student Absence Procedure
Parent and carers must advise our school office by 8:30 am on the morning of a student’s absence in one of the following ways.
- Phone 4258 4100, option 1 for absences.
- Online through the Parent Portal or MyCE app.
- Email to secretary.gordonvale@cns.catholic.edu.au.
The message should advise whether the student will be absent for the day, at an appointment or arriving late for any other reason. The reason for absence must be given.
We ask that the classroom Seesaw app is not used for notifying of an absence.
If tuckshop has been pre-ordered for the day of absence, please ensure that you let the office know in your message, or email tuckshop.gordonvale@cns.catholic.edu.au prior to 8:30 am to ensure that the order can be carried over.
Notifying the school of absences ensures that both home and school know the whereabouts of our students. Parents will be contacted via SMS each day if no notification of absence is received, or the school has not been advised of an extended absence. This is for your child’s own safety. Please be prompt in contacting the school whenever your child is away from school. Both the absentee phone line and Parent Portal are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Section 176(1)(b) of the Education (General Provisions) Act provides that each parent of a child of compulsory school age has the obligation to ensure their child is attending school on every school day, for the educational program in which the child is enrolled. Failure to comply with the obligation in s.176(1)(b), without a reasonable excuse, is an offence.
Late Arrivals and Early Departures
Students arriving after the bell at 8:35 am are considered late and must sign in at the school office to collect a late slip before proceeding to class.
Parents and carers collecting students before the end of the school day (eg doctor’s appointment) must sign students out at the school office. A phone call or email to the office to notify of an early departure is appreciated.
Students will only be released to persons listed on their school record. Additional contacts can be added at any time by completing the relevant form available from the office or downloaded from the parent portal. The office will contact the classroom to arrange for the student to meet parents or carers in the office. Children are not to be collected directly from classrooms during school hours.
Extended Absences
Parents are asked to adhere to the school term dates and wherever possible, restrict holidays or other periods of leave to the gazetted holiday periods. A request for absences of 5 days or over must be in writing and an interview with the principal may be required. Extended absences are discouraged as they have an impact on the education of the child/ren as well as socially and emotionally. Please note: no schoolwork will be provided for extended absences.
Attendance Matters
A bright future for our students starts with good attendance levels, every day.
Good habits start early
It’s important that children develop regular attendance habits – that’s an attendance figure of over 95% – at an early age. The pattern of attendance set in Prep and Year 1 is highly predictive of what it will be in subsequent years.
Let’s work together
Education is a partnership between the school and the home. Our attendance goal is a minimum of 90% or more of students attending 90% of more of the time, along with 0% unexplained absences.
Attendance alone doesn’t guarantee positive outcomes for students; however, positive outcomes are less likely to occur without good attendance. A day here or there may not seem like much, but if a student misses one day per fortnight, that equates to four weeks a year – and nearly 1.5 years missed by the end of Year 12!
Let’s work together to keep attendance high!
