Attendance Procedures for Primary and High School

The school expects students to attend school on all school days, including irregular days like swimming and athletics carnivals.  It is the responsibility of parents/carers to send students to school.  The school is required by the Education Reform Act 1990 to monitor the daily attendance or absence of students in the school by maintaining a daily register for each class of students.  Parents have seven days to explain their child’s absence or the absence will be recorded as an unjustified reason.

You are informed of your child’s absence (partial or full day) by the following sequence:

  1. The rolls are marked at the beginning of the day.
  2. At around 11:00 am an SMS alert will be sent from ‘WCCS.’
  3. Daily at 4 pm you will receive an EMAIL ABSENTEE LETTER.

If you think your child is at school and the message is a mistake, just ring the student office for clarification.

There are two options for how you can provide an explanation for your child’s absences:

  1. Either write a note as usual or print the pdf document and fill it in then send it to school with your child.
  2. Open the Parent Portal and record the absence.

Remember you only have seven days in which to provide a satisfactory reason as to why your child was absent before it becomes unjustified.  If you forget to complete the process the next day, a second Absentee Letter reminder will be sent five days later.

Note: For the attendance procedures to work you need to have provided current mobile phone numbers and email addresses for both carers who live with the child. These details can be changed through the Parent Portal.

If you would like to know how to view your child’s absence and enter a carer’s note visit our ICT Blog.

Extended Leave

Families, wherever possible, should schedule appointments and holidays out of school hours and between terms. When this is not possible, and the leave is for more than two days, the Principal can provide an Exemption Certificate for students to be exempt from attending school or approved leave for a family holiday. Please fill the appropriate form as early as possible and send to the Principal for approval before the leave is required. The state government legislates this process.

Family Holidays / Vacations

As part of the implementation of the National Standards (2015), holidays taken by students outside of school vacation periods are included as absences. Families are encouraged to holiday or travel during school vacations. If travel during school term is necessary the following considerations apply:

  • If the principal accepts the reason for the absence, the absence will be recorded as leave
  • If the principal does not believe the absence is in the student’s best interests and does not accept the reason, the absence is unjustified and will be recorded as an “unacceptable reason”.

Exemption from Attendance

Principals may grant exemptions due to:

  • Exceptional circumstances (including the health of the student where sick leave or alternative enrolment is not appropriate)
  • The child being prevented from attending school because of a principal’s direction under the Public Health Act 2010. (Note that in the case of an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease, he parent is not required to complete an application for exemption).
  • Employment in the entertainment industry
  • Participation in elite arts or elite sporting events (i.e. national/international sports events).

Both forms, ‘Application for Vacations’ and  ‘Exemption from Attendance’ can be found on the school’s website under downloadable forms.

Yours in Christ,
Anthony Hudson
Deputy Prinicpal Administration