School Attendance

Every day counts We all want our students to receive a great education, and the building blocks for this start with regular attendance. Missing school can have a significant impact on a child’s learning and future opportunities. For example, a student who misses one day every two weeks will miss four full weeks by the end of the year. By Year 10, this adds up to more than a full year of schooling. There is no safe number of days to miss—every day counts. Each day a student is absent can put them behind in their learning and affect their overall educational outcomes. Regular attendance is essential for success. If your child must miss school, there are ways we can work together to ensure they stay on track: Speak with your classroom teacher to find out what work your child needs to complete. Develop an absence learning plan with your teacher and ensure your child completes the required work. Remember, every day counts. If your child must be absent, please notify the classroom teacher as early as possible. Parents can be fined if students miss school without a valid reason. If you are experiencing difficulties with attendance, please reach out to your classroom teacher so we can work together to support your child in attending school every day. For more information on school attendance, please click the link below. https://www.vic.gov.au/attendance-and-missing-school

Student Engagement Policy   This school strives to promote a happy, healthy, supportive and secure environment for all children and to raise awareness of what makes students resilient, to develop strategies to reduce vulnerabilities, to build student/school connectedness and to increase coping skills.     Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy

Same-Day Notification of Unexplained Student Absences

Keep Your Contact Details Up to Date

Sometimes we need to contact you urgently, especially if your child is absent and we haven’t heard from you. To make sure we can reach you, please check that we have your current contact information, including:

• Parent/carer names

• Address

• Phone numbers

• Email address

• Emergency contacts

If anything changes, please contact the school on 9466 1810 so we can update our records.

Notifying the School About Absences

The safety and wellbeing of our students is a top priority, and keeping track of attendance is a shared responsibility between parents/carers and the school.

If your child will be absent or late, please notify us as early as possible using:

• Compass School Manager: https://thomastownmeadows-vic.compass.education/

• Phone: 9466 1810

For planned absences such as family holidays, please let the school know in advance. You can do this via Compass, the school office, or the necessary paperwork.

Same-Day Notifications

If your child is at school and we haven’t received an explanation for their absence, we will send an SMS/text message on the same day.

If you receive a message, please contact the school immediately to let us know where your child is. If we cannot reach you, we will contact the emergency contacts listed for your child.

Why This Matters

It is the responsibility of parents/carers to provide an explanation for every absence. Reporting absences promptly:

• Keeps your child safe

• Ensures accurate attendance records

• Meets your legal responsibilities as a parent/carer

Since Term 2, 2018, Victorian government schools are required to contact parents/carers on the same day of any unexplained absence. Absences without explanation are marked as unexplained in school records.

Regular attendance is important. Every day counts—students learn new things every day, and missing school can make it harder for them to keep up with their learning.