Attendance

Attendance and absences

Parents or caregivers of children from Kindergarten through to Year 12 are responsible for ensuring their child attends school every day. This means all children between the ages of six years and below the minimum school leaving age are legally required to attend school. All students must complete Year 10. After Year 10 - and until they turn 17 - students must be:

in school, or registered for home schooling, or
in approved education or training (eg TAFE, traineeship, apprenticeship) or
in full-time, paid employment (average 25 hours/week) or
in a combination of work, education and/or training.

Absentee information

When children miss out on school they miss out on vital information, their learning routine is broken, they can lose confidence and they miss out on building up friendships.

If your child has to be absent from school for any reason, please either tell your child's teacher or send a signed note explaining the reason for the absence within seven days. A note that you can use is attached at the bottom of this page.

Once children are enrolled parents are legally required to send them to school every day that the school is open for instruction or participation in school activities, such as sports days. A small number of absences may be justified if your child:

has an unavoidable medical or dental appointment (preferably these should be made after school or during holidays)
has to go to special religious ceremony
is required to attend a serious and/or urgent family situation (e.g. a funeral)
is too sick to go to school, or has an infectious illness.

What should you do if your family is going on holiday in school time?

Families should try to arrange holidays during school vacations. If they can only be arranged during school time, you should inform the school principal in advance and request leave and/or an exemption from school.
You can ask the school to provide work that can be completed while your child is absent.

When to get help

If you are having difficulty getting your child to attend school regularly, you might like to talk to the school principal or the school counsellor.
Department officers from the Home School Liaison Program work with schools, staff, families and students to improve a child's attendance record and general enjoyment of school.
If a child arrives late at school or needs to leave prior to 3.10pm, they should be signed in/out by a parent guardian at the office.

Click for an Absent Note you can fill out and send with your child on their return to school.