Absence Notifications and Requirements
Absence Notifications and Requirements
Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education, they learn new things every day. Schools are legally required to maintain an accurate register of the attendance of every student on every day when the school is open for attendance. We acknowledge that due to illness or other circumstances, your child may be absent from school from time to time. In these instances, please always let us know so we are able to maintain accurate attendance records. An absence may be a full or part day, due to illness, appointments, family circumstances, cultural or religious observations, late arrival or early departure.
Parents and Carers Responsibilities
Parents or carers are legally required to ensure their child attends school every day or an explanation about their absence must be provided. Notifying the school of your child's absence either prior to or on the day that they will be away, helps ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and will fulfil your legal responsibilities. Please let the school know in advance of any upcoming absences or let us know as soon as possible on the morning of, if your child will not be at school.
What to do if your child is going to be absent from school
If your child is sick or absent, you are required to notify the school as soon as possible on the day of absence using one of the following methods:
- a written explanation via a note, email or text message containing the student’s name, date of absence(s) and reasons for absence(s)
- a verbal explanation through either a phone call or visit to the school
- any other form of communication agreed by the principal.
- a medical certificate - principals may request medical certificates or other documentation when absences explained as being due to sickness indicate a pattern of non-attendance or are greater than 10 consecutive school days in duration.
What to do if your child is arriving late to school
Students arriving after 9.10am must enter the school through the front office to have their attendance recorded or amended. Students should always check in with their teacher when arriving late to class.
When you know your child will be late for school, please phone or email us with an approximate time of arrival and a brief explanation to allow us to record this accurately and prevent you receiving an Absent - Unexplained SMS message. Students must always check in with the front office staff and their class teacher when they arrive at school.
What to do if you need to collect your child during the school day
If there is a need to collect your child from school during the day, please contact the front office by email or phone prior to arriving at the school. Where possible we can arrange to have your child waiting for you. Please allow time for your child to be located as they may be participating in learning away from the classroom and keep in mind our break times (11.10am to 11:45am and 1.25pm to 1.55pm) as children can be difficult to find when out on the playground.
School's responsibilities
The school must notify you of an unexplained absence in relation to your child as soon as practicable on the same day. The school will notify you by SMS of an unexplained absence in relation to your child. In order for schools to implement the same day notification requirement, it is essential that you provide the school with your most up-to-date contact details.
What should you do if you receive an SMS message advising your child has been marked with an unexplained absence?
If you receive an absence message, please contact the school as soon as possible so we can amend the attendance register and maintain accurate records of your child's attendance at school.
Accident, illness or injury while at school
First aid Facilities
School staff have a duty of care to students to provide assistance to manage accidents, illnesses or injuries that may occur during the school day. The designation of first aid officers ensures that, should an accident, illness or injury occur at school or at an excursion venue, students have access to first aid assistance to the level of staff competence and training, including calling on professional medical assistance such as ACT Ambulance Services if necessary.
Accidents
It is not uncommon for minor accidents such as bumps, bruises, scrapes and grazes to occur during a busy school day. Our first aid facilities and staff are equipped to manage these with little need for parental or specialised medical intervention. In instances where our staff are concerned for the safety or wellbeing of a student, we will contact parents or carers.
As a precaution, students reporting a bump to the head will be monitored for signs of concussion regardless of the advised or perceived severity. Parents or carers will be contacted and advised of the incident.
Illness
In recent times the importance of keeping children at home if they are unwell has never been more relevant. It is important to arrange for children who are unwell to be cared for at home for their own comfort, health and wellbeing and for that of other children and our staff.
If your child is unwell in the morning before school, please make arrangements for them to be cared for at home. This will help their recovery and reduce the spread of infectious illnesses in the school setting.
If your child becomes unwell while at school parents or carers will be contacted to collect them. Our staff act on the information provided by children when deciding to contact parents. Children may feel unwell while at school but appear to be well when they get home. If this is the case, please arrange to speak with your child's classroom teacher to discuss any possible concerns or difficulties your child may be experiencing at school.
Injury
Our school first aid facilities and training are equipped to attend to children who sustain minor injuries that occur while at school. In the event of an injury occurring beyond the capabilities of our facilities and training, parents or carers will be contacted to collect their child for further assessment.
On rare occasions, where students present with injuries that are above the level of our facilities and and / or staff training, further assistant may be required from medical professionals such as ACT Ambulance Services. On these occasions, parents or carers will be contacted immediately.
ACT Ambulance Services
ACT Ambulance Service provides free ambulance transport within the ACT for students who are injured or suddenly become ill at school or during approved school activities.
Keep your contact information up to date
To help us to get in contact with you quickly in an emergency, it is important that you remember to let us know immediately of any change in your contact details, including both telephone and email contact information.
ACT Ambulance Service
ACT Ambulance Service provides free ambulance transport within the ACT for students who are injured or suddenly become ill at school or during approved school activities.
Allergy Awareness
Duffy Primary School is an Allergy Aware School. We have students at the school who can experience severe or life-threatening allergic or anaphylactic reactions to some foods, ingredients in food or food products. The school works closely with families to put in place personal plans to keep students with allergies safe while at school. To support this, it is important that foods with nuts or nut products not be sent to school. Chapman Primary has a no food sharing policy.
If your child has allergies which may result in allergic or life-threatening reactions, and / or which require monitoring, medication or other assistance, please contact the front office to discuss and put in place plans for their care.
Appointments with Teachers
Staff are aware of the importance of maintaining close contact with families. Important and useful information is often shared at the beginning and end of the school day. Please be mindful that staff need to be ready to teach at 9:00am as well as supervising children leaving school in the afternoon. Staff also have meeting commitments in the afternoons commencing at 3:15pm. We would greatly appreciate appointments being made for discussions, which require more than a few moments.
Assembly
We are excited to re-commence the sharing of student learning through fortnightly assemblies. Year level teams will showcase some aspects of their learning to our school community, with parents and carers invited to attend.
To accommodate this, we have a made a few changes to the Assembly format at Duffy Primary School.
EVEN WEEKS - Wednesday afternoons at 2:30pm Year level Assembly in School Hall.
ODD WEEKS - Monday mornings at 9am Morning WOW assembly (including awards) on Black Top.
We look forward to seeing you at these community celebrations.
2024 Assembly Calendar
Term 1 | |
|---|---|
Week 2 7th Feb – 2:30pm | Exec |
Week 4 21st Feb – 2:30pm | Year 6 (Values – Be Respectful) |
Week 6 6th March – 2:30pm | No assembly |
Week 8 20th March – 2:30pm | Year 3 (Harmony Day – 21st March) |
Week 10 3rd April – 2:30pm | Year 4 |
Term 2 | |
|---|---|
Week 2 8th May – 2:30pm | Year 1 ANZAC Day – 25th April) (Falls in holidays) |
Week 4 22nd May – 2:30pm | Year 2 (Values – Be Responsible) |
Week 6 5th June – 2:30pm | Music concert |
Week 8 19th June – 2:30pm | Kindy |
Week 10 3rd July – 2:30pm | Year 5 NAIDOC Week (Falls in holidays) |
Term 3 | |
|---|---|
Week 2 31st July – 2:30pm | Year 2 |
Week 4 14th August – 2:30pm | Year 3 |
Week 6 28th August – 2:30pm | Kindy (Values – Be Inclusive) |
Week 8 11th September – 2:30pm | Year 6 |
Week 10 25th September – 2:30pm | Year 5 |
Term 4 | |
|---|---|
Week 2 23rd October – 2:30pm | Year 1 |
Week 4 6th November – 2:30pm | Year 4 (Remembrance Day – 11th November) |
Week 6 20th November – 2:30pm | Crescendo Concert |
Week 8 4th December – 2:30pm | Whole School END OF YEAR Exec End of year Awards |
Week 10 16th December – 2:30pm (No Wednesday in Week 10) | No assembly |
Assessment
School Reporting and Assessment
Formal reporting of student achievement and progress is scheduled at different times throughout the school year. Assessment is a continuous process of gathering evidence to determine what each student knows, understands, values and can do. It is used at the beginning, during and end of learning sequences to determine where each student is initially and their subsequent growth.
Student End of Semester Reports
A report is prepared for all students at the end of semesters one (term 2) and two (term 4). Reports include information about student achievement aligned to the Australian Curriculum as well as areas for development. A-E graded reports are included for students in grades 1 to 6. These are forwarded to parents and carers electronically via email.
Three-way interviews
Parent/student/teacher conferences provide an opportunity for the student to share their work with parents in their classroom. Teachers act as a facilitator and both teachers and parents are welcome to exchange information on the student’s progress. Students, parents and teachers reflect on learning and achievements, and make commitments to future learning goals.
BASE
All students in kindergarten participate in the BASE assessment program which is child-friendly assessment conducted by classroom teachers with each student individually, to collect information about the understandings that students bring to school at the start of the kindergarten year. BASE supplies data on the expected and actual progress of a student at the end of the year and provides concrete evidence on the spread of abilities within a class. Parents are sent a report of their child’s assessments.
NAPLAN
All students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in semester 1 each year. NAPLAN assesses skills in reading, writing, spelling, grammar, punctuation and numeracy. Assessment tasks are independently marked, and a written report is provided to parents. Most NAPLAN assessments are completed online.
Learning Journeys
Parents and carers are invited to visit the class to share and celebrate learning experiences and achievements at Learning Journeys. This enables students to showcase and share their learning with you in the school environment.
Seesaw - Documenting your child’s learning journey
Seesaw is a digital platform used at the school to provide insight into some of the learning experiences provided for your child. Personalised learning stories, day-to-day learning experiences and art works are posted in your child’s Seesaw journal which are accessible to families as they are posted. This is a great opportunity to celebrate your child’s learning development, progress and achievements as they occur. We encourage you to engage with Seesaw, discuss posts and leave positive comments for your child about their work to help boost their confidence and encourage a greater responsibility for learning.