It is important that students, staff and parents/carers have a shared understanding of the importance of attending school.
Important values to develop throughout the College community include:
- ‘Every Day Counts’
- Attending school all day, every school day
- Working together to implement strategies to improve regular school attendance
- Recognizing that truancy can place a student in unsafe situations and can impact on their future employability and life choices
- Acknowledging that attendance at school is the responsibility of everyone in the community.
Student Responsibilities
- Attend 100% of all school days.
- Attend all lessons.
- Inform Student Support if they need help or be proactive in their learning and inform before problems arise
- Be at school by 8.30 am
- Move to class on the first bell and be in class before the second.
Parent responsibilities:
- Ensure sure their child is attending school
- Emphasise with child why attendance is important and develop habits of adequate attendance practices (e.g. – setting alarm clock – YES! Sleeping at friend’s house on school nights- NO!)
- Provide explanations when their child is absent.
- Attend attendance meetings when required
- Parent consent in the form of a letter or email (preferred) – needs to be received when students leave school grounds and they are not being picked up by parent.
One day’s absence from school every fortnight equals six months of absence over five years of high school!!!!!
Reporting Student Absentees
The preferred methods of reporting your child’s absence is by:
- emailing the school on cometbay.cc@education.wa.edu.au
- Accessing the CBC Website – and in the contact section email Student Support
- The school uses an electronic system to record attendance in lessons. When a teacher enters an absence, the system identifies this and an automated service sends a text message home.
- Parents are able to reply to this SMS message to report their child’s absence. If you receive a SMS message and believe that an error has occurred and your child is at school, please do not hesitate to contact student support to rectify the matter.
- Please write a note for your child if they have an appointment and need to leave school early, with the time that they are being picked up. This allows them to leave their class and sign out promptly with student support. Parents are to report to the front office with photo identification to pick up their child.
Vacations
Student absence due to vacation during school times are not supported and will be recorded as unauthorised. Homework/catch up work will not be organised for students in these circumstances.
Assessment Tasks and Absence
Absence from a scheduled assessment task (including tests and examinations) must be accompanied by an acceptable explanation (e.g. medical certificate) in order for the student to complete that assessment task or a similar task.
Illness
- If your child is ill during the day, they can access the school nurse at recess and lunch. At any other time they will be expected to speak first with their class teacher.
- If necessary Student Support will arrange to send them home, students should not be contacting parents or leaving school grounds.
The school day
Students are expected to be in class on the first bell at 8.35. After this time, your child will be noted as late. Parents are expected to provide a note explaining your child’s lateness to school.
Contact details
Please ensure your contact details and any emergency contact details are up to date as we may need to contact you urgently regarding a situation affecting your child. (E.g. medical emergency)