Deputy Principal (Kelly Anderson)

In my role as Deputy Principal, supporting Student Services, I am following up students with severe absence from school. The process starts with identifying those students by looking at the attendance data. Then I consult with the Heads of Year about which students' parents are working with the school to try and resolve the issues - I don't get involved with those cases.

The HOYs then indicate which students' parents/families are not engaging with the school, not responding to our contact, and not making any attempt to resolve the issue of poor attendance for those students. With the support of Toni Hotchin, I book meetings with each of those families, and work through a Responsible Parenting Agreement - a formal document that is signed by all parties. This process is designed to set some clear actions for improvement, and place some accountability back to parents/families about their child's attendance at school.

If there is engagement at the meeting, an Attendance Plan is developed and things improve for the student's attendance. It is never simple. These students often have complex mental health issues, or undiagnosed or diagnosed conditions that impact their attendance at school. The approach is always about how we can support from a school perspective, or how we can link the family to other agencies who can provide support.

Sometimes there is a continuation of lack of engagement with school. They might not show up for meetings. We try more than once to engage the family and then we consider the next step - an Attendance Advisory Panel. We will be referring some families to this process over the next couple of months. There is a bit of work involved in setting the panel up, as the idea is to have some impartial representatives on the panel, which usually means people from outside of the school. The reality is that this process has to happen before we can refer any cases to central office - no prosecutions will be sought if this hasn't happened at school level.

When students are re-engaging with school, please assist the Student Services team with this by being as welcoming as possible and working to re-establish or initiate positive relationships with students. A kind word and a smile can go a long way to making kids feel at ease. It is very hard to re-engage if you have been out of school for a long time. Assisting them with re-establishing peer relationships would also be very helpful. If you have a student who is missing a lot of school, do check in with Student Services about them and find out what you can do to support this student when they are at school. We can all play a part in improving attendance.