Primary and High School 3/6/22: School Attendance

WCCS Attendance Procedures for Primary and High School Students

The school is required by the Education Reform Act 1990 to monitor the daily attendance or absence of students in the school by maintaining a daily register for each class of students.

Parents have seven days in which to provide a satisfactory reason as to why your child was absent before it cannot be changed in our system and is listed as an “unjustified reason”.

You are informed of your child’s absence (partial or full day) by two options:

  1.  At around 10:00 am an SMS alert will be sent from ‘WCCS’ 
  2. Daily at 4 pm, you will receive an EMAIL ABSENTEE LETTER

If you think your child is at school and the message is a mistake, just ring the student office for clarification.

Providing reasons for absences:
The three options for how you can explain your child’s absences:

  1. A written note or doctors certificate, OR
  2. Print the pdf document from the email and fill it in, OR
  3. Open Edumate (before noon on the day) or on the School App (at the end of the day) and record the absence.

If you want to know how to view your child’s absence and enter a carer’s permission on Edumate or the School App, please visit, https://sites.google.com/wccs.nsw.edu.au/techhelp/parents/wccs-app-parents

Please be aware that when providing a reason on Edumate or the school App, you only have a choice of two options: Sick or Other

  • If a child is absent for 3 days or more, parents/carers are required to submit a doctor’s certificate. Please send this with your child to hand in or email to highschoolstudentoffice@wccs.nsw.edu.au
  • If you provide the reason ‘other’ the school needs to be satisfied that the reason provided fits within the acceptable reasons for L. For example, the reasons given below are unacceptable reasons for leave, therefore an ‘A’ will be recorded;
    •  to stay home from school to study
    • Visiting a friend
      Acceptable Leave maybe
    • a domestic necessity such as a serious illness of an immediate family member
    • attendance at funerals
  • If a child is at home due to COVID (positive or close contact) and you have informed the school, and the student is completing schoolwork at home, the Flexible ‘F’ code can be used.

Family Holidays / Vacations

Families, wherever possible, should schedule appointments and holidays out of school hours and between terms. When this is not possible, and the leave is for more than two days, the principal can provide a Leave Certificate for students.

Approved Leave for a family holiday
Please fill out the appropriate form as early as possible and send it to the principal for approval before the leave is required. The state government legislates this process.

If travel during the school term is necessary, the following considerations apply:

  • If the principal accepts the reason for the absence, the absence will be recorded as an approved leave
  • If the principal does not believe the absence is in the student’s best interests and does not accept the reason, the absence is unjustified and will be recorded as “A.” unacceptable reason

Exemption from Attendance
If you are applying for an exemption, parents/carers need to apply at least a week before they leave. Principals may grant exemptions due to:

  • exceptional circumstances (including the health of the student where sick leave or alternative enrolment is not appropriate)
  • the child is prevented from attending school because of a principal’s direction under the Public Health Act 2010. (Note that in the case of an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease. The parent is not required to complete an application for exemption.)
  • employment in the entertainment industry
  • participation in elite arts or elite sporting events (i.e. national/international sports events)

Both forms, ‘Application for Leave’ and ‘Exemption from Attendance’ can be found on the School App under documents.

Yours in Christ,

Anthony Hudson and Gillian Coote
Deputy Principals

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