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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

Underdale High School is committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for all students and regular attendance and engagement in the learning program will influence educational and life success. Research shows that regular non-attendance can have a big impact on students’ academic achievements and affect their relationships with other students, and lead to social isolation.

How we follow up if a student misses school

Underdale High School will aim to use early intervention strategies and communication with parents/caregivers as keys to improving attendance. This includes: - Promoting high expectations for school attendance through newsletter items and acknowledgement of improvement in attendance. - Home Group Teacher monitoring overall attendance. - Discussions with parent/caregiver about the significance of regular attendance and its impact on student achievement. - Year Level Leader referring to Behaviour Support Policy to outline possible consequences for students who do not provide an acceptable explanation of non-attendance. - Wellbeing Team to facilitate family meetings for chronic non-attenders, discuss and monitor strategies to improve attendance.

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 Underdale High 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.

Our attendance rate has decreased. There are several reasons. - We had a large number of students away sick in Term 3. We increased communication with parents and carers about illness. - We had some families who had trouble getting to school. We supported their individual needs. This included external support services, if needed. - A large number of students went on family holidays. This was around a school holiday break. It meant our attendance rate went down because exemptions count as absences. - We improved our data recording of absences to ensure staff are accurately marking rolls and following up on discrepencies.

Our approach to improving attendance

At Underdale High 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