Student Attendance in High School

King's teaching staff have been having some conversations with senior students around school absence and we would like to remind our students and parents about the expectations of school attendance. In Australia, as in most countries, parents are legally obligated to send their children to a State school or an Independent school. Students are required to attend every school day, for the full duration, except for instances when they cannot. These could include illness, weekly (one day) attendance of a certificate course or traineeship, or sanctioned school sport. Acceptable absences do not include family holidays during term time, staying off school to complete assessments, or medical appointments - although schools understand that specialist appointments can be difficult to schedule. 

Why Does Every Missed Moment Matter?

Last year’s online schooling experience afforded us the opportunity to refine many of our Learning Management System practices. As an ongoing positive consequence of this, we are committed to providing lesson agendas and resources via the Compass platform. However, these learning materials are designed to aid classroom teaching and not replace it. In the case of a student being ill, or at a traineeship or school excursion, they are expected to access the resources and make an effort to stay on track. King’s is not an online education provider and we are not licensed to provide online schooling, so our learning methods, pastoral programs and sports activities are all designed for onsite delivery and enjoyment. We consider ourselves very lucky to be in this beautiful part of the world and enjoying near-normal work and school life. 

Over the next few editions, we will tackle some of the reasons we need to keep encouraging our students to be onsite at school, participating in every opportunity that school life has to offer.