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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. We have a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment where students can learn and grow. Each student is 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. Learning Community Admin SSO will: - Send SMS daily to families for all students with an unexplained absence. - Update absence code on DayMap from any SMS reply messages. - Distribute fortnightly attendance summaries to Home Group Teachers for follow up. Subjects teacher will - Follow up with student and families/carer any unexplained absences from your class. - If the issue is persistent, subject teachers will refer onto Homegroup Teacher. Home group Teacher will -Follow up any unexplained absences including part days using the fortnightly attendance summaries and daily attendance records on DayMap and record absence reason on DayMap. - Phone home on the second consecutive full day of unexplained absences and record reasons for absence on daymap. HG teacher will continue to liaise with families/carers/student until the student returns to school. - Arrange an 'Attendance Improvement' Meeting when attendance falls between 50% and 80%. Home Group teachers will arrange a meeting with student, family/carer and Youth Worker to collectively contribute to the develop of an Attendance Improvement Plan. Home Group teachers give a copy of the plan to the LCM Admin SSO who will upload to DayMap. Home Group teacher should review plan and attendance patterns each term. - Sign off attendance report at the end of the term. - Refer attendance less than 50% to LCM for follow up. Learning Community Managers will - Case manage students with attendance less than 50% and develop an individual action plan based on the reasons for non attendance in consultation with relevant leadership member. This could include attendance letter, updating attendance improvement plan, creating modified learning plan, parent/carer meeting, home visit, mandatory notification, SAPOL welfare check and/or referral to support services.

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 Parafield Gardens 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.

Attendance remains a key priority as part of our whole school improvement processes.

Our approach to improving attendance

At Parafield Gardens 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