Attendance

Student Absences

Please notify us if your child will be absent for any reason including being late, unwell, appointment, personal reasons etc. The preferred methods of notifying us are as follows:

  1. Log into your Compass parent account and go to your child’s attendance/unexplained tab and select each absence and  “Explain with Attendance Note”.
  2. Email to denmark.shs@education.wa.edu.au with dates/reasons
  3. Phone the front office and provide dates/reasons

When a note is supplied it needs to provide a legitimate reason for the absence. A parent is not entitled to keep a child from school without a valid reason. Reasons for an absence are sickness, or urgent business which cannot be conducted at any other time. If absences remain unexplained the school will send letters home to parents seeking an explanation.

Attend every day to achieve

All students must attend daily. This is a legal requirement, and all absences must be explained. Parents/Guardians may explain absences with a telephone call, email or note to the school. In the case of prolonged illness, parents/guardians should contact the school early and a medical certificate may be required. Attendance at school is a parent/guardian responsibility and a legal requirement. Students who arrive late are to report directly to the Front Office. Where an absence has not been explained, parents will be contacted via text, please respond by phoning the school to enable us to update our records.

From time to time, we are approached by parents/guardians informing us that the family is taking holidays during term time. If students are withdrawn by parents/guardians to take holidays, please note that the School will not approve this absence and the student’s absence will be recorded as an Unauthorised Vacation.

The following statements seek to clarify this issue:

  • Research recently undertaken by the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Student Attendance and Educational Outcomes: Every Day Counts, has found a clear link between student absence and achievement in school. Each day a child is absent from school has a direct impact on their educational outcomes.
  • The Director General of Education, has highlighted student engagement and attendance as priorities in Focus Directions for schools. Establishing and maintaining a positive attendance career for all students ensures success in their future study and career pathways.

Illness

If a student is unwell, the correct procedure is for students to alert their teacher so we can determine if we need to give them immediate medical attention or allow them to move to our Student Services area to be cared for until picked up by a parent/guardian. If a student leaves school without permission (knowledge of both parent and school) it places them at potential risk.

Lateness

All students who are late to school MUST report to the Front Office and sign in. Students who are persistently late will be managed by their coordinator.

When the student is absent from any period during the day, without a genuine reason, the parent will receive SMS notification.

Students whose attendance is identified as being “at risk” will be offered support by the Student Services team. If the student does not engage in the support offered to improve their attendance, referrals may be made to the Regional Office Attendance team.

Students who need to leave school grounds

  1. Students who need to leave the school during the day (illness or appointment) must report to the Front Office and have permission to leave by notification from their parent/carer either by phone call, email or note.
  2. Leaving the school grounds without permission is a serious breach of school expectations as it places students at risk.

Parents/Guardians are asked to contact the school on the morning that a student is expected to be absent or late by phoning the Front Office on 9848 0100. Where no contact is made, parents are asked to provide a note authorising the absence when the child returns to school.

Truancy

Truancy is illegal and students who truant are referred to the Albany District Education Office. Police patrols often return truanting students to school or to their parents at work. The Education Act requires that students must attend daily until the end of the year in which they turn seventeen and a half.

Attendance Policy

To view our attendance policy, click the link below:

Useful Information