The following information has been put together to assist you to understand the importance of attending and arriving on time to all of your classes. Attending each of your classes and being there on time should be your priority.
Benefits Of Attendance:
- You will be involved in your own learning and gain knowledge to assist you to achieve your goals.
- You will interact with other students and learn from each other.
- You will get assistance directly from the teachers who have expertise in their subject areas to help you achieve your goals.
- You will be part of challenging and motivating learning environments where you are the priority
- Hearing information and gaining skills ‘first-hand’.
Losses Due To Non-Attendance:
- Missing vital information, skills and knowledge delivered in a dynamic classroom environment.
- Having to gain information ‘second-hand’.
- Missing the vital discussion and interaction that occurs in all classrooms.
- Missing the opportunity to receive assistance from your teachers and their expertise.
- Missing the challenging and motivating tasks that prepare you for successful completion of your subjects.
- Having to do work missed in class in your own time – adding to your workload.
To maximise student attendance in all programs
- Adopt a whole school approach to attendance including adherence to guiding principles and effective processes.
- Maintain accurate attendance data for all students
- Provide monitoring and support to students at risk of not satisfying attendance requirements.
- Support retention through attendance monitoring and intervention procedures.
Epping Secondary College has considered the importance of attendance in reaching your goals and we have made it a priority. We have set out a series of facts and guidelines to ensure that attendance and lateness does not prevent you from completing your goals successfully.
Attendance – Things You Must Know
- Missing vital information, skills and knowledge delivered in a dynamic classroom environment.
- Having to gain information ‘second-hand’.
- Missing the vital discussion and interaction that occurs in all classrooms.
- Missing the opportunity to receive assistance from your teachers and their expertise.
- Missing the challenging and motivating tasks that prepare you for successful completion of your subjects.
- Having to do work missed in class in your own time – adding to your workload.
- If you know that you are going to be absent, please ask your parent(s) to ring the sub-school you are affiliated with and advise them.
- You will fail a subject if you have more than 10% unapproved absence. This means 3 single periods in a term without approval of absence will risk failure.
- Approved absences include those with a medical certificate or school excursions, school sport, school functions.
- Medical certificates are to be handed into your sub-school office.
- All teachers, student engagement and wellbeing staff and sub-school staff will be monitoring your attendance and lateness to class closely.
- Your parents will be contacted directly, by phone after two unexplained absences and lateness.
- If you are late to school you must go to the sub-school office to receive a pass before you go to your class.
- Minutes you are late to each class is recorded by your teachers and adds to the percentage of total absence.
- You will fail a subject if your unapproved absences are over 10% even if you have passed the subject academically.
- All absences from classes where there is a SAC, must have an approved absence to be scored. No medical certificate or school excursion, you sit the SAC for a 0 score.
- If you need to leave the school grounds you must ‘sign out’ in your sub-school office.
- If you are ill or there is an emergency, you must go to the General office.
- Please be aware that every term, unapproved absence percentages are reported to Centrelink and Family Tax Benefit payments can be affected.
- Remember – each minute you are late to any class it is recorded and is added to your percentage of unapproved absences.
- Please read your student diary which contains more detail about the importance of student attendance.