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Students must come to school every day the school is open. This is known as regular attendance.

Students are more likely to want to come to school and achieve if they feel:

• included
• valued
• respected
• supported.

Students who miss school often

The attendance policy defines the following groups of students as at risk because of how often they miss school.

• Habitual non-attendance: a student misses 5 to 9 school days in a term. This is for any reason.
• Chronic non-attendance: a student misses 10 or more days in a term. This is for any reason.

For students in these groups, we assess the level of risk to their learning and wellbeing. When a student is at risk we will talk with the family about the issues.

Our school's vision

All students have a right to an education. This gives them the best opportunity to reach their full potential. At Marree Aboriginal school we do this through providing a culturally responsive, safe, rigorous and challenging learning environment with high expectation relationships that support our students to reach their potential. We work together with our community to achieve excellence. We have an inclusive environment where students can learn and grow and can be engaged in their learning. Parents and carers are important partners in this process. We keep a check on any students who might fall behind. We work with parents, carers and students to find out why someone is missing school. We provide supports that are specific to each student’s needs.

How we follow up if a student misses school

This is an overview of how we follow up student absences. We might change these steps to fit in with a family’s needs. A quick follow up helps us to manage risks early and reduce absences. If a student is not at school by 9:00 am our ACEO or principal will: -Send an SMS message to families checking in to see why the student is away. -Record any responses, inform class teachers and change the roll if needed. - If there is no response to the SMS message by 10:00 am try ringing the family. - Repeat the above process daily. -Offer support to families for regular or habitual non-attendance through strategies and agencies and/or a home visit. -Notify agencies of any unexplained absences of over 10 days.

1. If a student misses school, we record their absence. We also record the reason given by the parent or carer.
2. If we receive no reason, we follow up with the parent or carer. This is usually by phone or text (SMS).
3. If the absences continue or there are concerns raised by the absence, we keep following up. This might be by phone, email, meeting or a letter.
   • We support the family to look at any issues that stop the student from going to school.
   • If needed, we connect the family to other services. For example student support services.

Our data

At Marree Aboriginal School our student attendance records help us to plan how we improve school attendance.

We routinely analyse data. We look at patterns. For example the attendance of different year levels. We also look at individual student attendance.

At Marree Aboriginal School our attendance data is affected by our small class sizes. What can look like low attendance for a year level may actually only be one student in that year level. We need to consider this when looking at attendance data percentages for Marree Aboriginal School. We adopt an individual approach to attendance data and follow this up daily with families. One of the challenges of remoteness and a lack of facilities in a very small community means families need to travel long distances for services, appointments, family business etc. and this sometimes require students needing time off school. This would not occur in larger centres and is unique to our context. Any patterns we see in non-attendance is followed up with families and strategies are put in place to support why a student may not be attending school. If needed, we involve support services. Home visits are used to support families. As a small site we are able to monitor and track all our students on a daily basis.

Our approach to improving attendance

At Marree Aboriginal School our attendance strategies are guided by the ºÚÁϳԹÏn Department for Education's attendance policy.

We will plan, implement and review the following attendance improvement actions. We will do this with our governing council, staff, students, families and local community.

Promote

We will promote the importance of education from the earliest years of life and throughout the schooling years as a school community priority of the highest value.

Our actions

Assess

We will assess patterns of non-attendance and circumstances. We will use this to inform the development of appropriate targeted, intensive and coordinated interventions.

Our actions

Engage

We will actively engage and include all children, young people and their families in education and interventions which support attendance.

Our actions

Support

We will provide support to address the barriers to attendance, learning and wellbeing. We will make sure there is inclusive support for children and young people so they can be physically present and engaged in education.

Our actions

Monitor

We will monitor attendance to make sure that risks are identified, supports are in place, and progress is monitored.

Our actions

Evaluate

We will evaluate the need for further or ongoing interventions, referrals for external support and mandatory notifications.

Our actions