Attendance
Learning is extremely important at Elevation Secondary College and strong school attendance is critical to the development of our young people to support their progress and attainment.
Family/carer-school relationships are important in developing a strong sense of education and support your child’s learning. However, we understand that some absences are unavoidable, such as illness or a serious family situation. Where absences can be avoided and within the control of the parent/carer, we want to draw your attention to the impact of absences over time:
| When your child misses just… | They miss days/weeks per year | Equates to….. Over their school life |
| 5 minutes per day | 3 days | 5.5 weeks |
| 30 minutes per day | 18 days | 18 weeks |
| 1 day per fortnight | 4 weeks | Over 1 year missed |
| 1 day per week | 8 weeks | Over 2.5 years missed |
Where an early pick up must occur (such as for a medical appointment that cannot be reasonably scheduled outside of school time), the following process must occur.
- Your child brings a note from home explaining the absence and intended departure time (recess or lunch). The note must be signed and dated by a parent/guardian.
- Your child presents the note from home to the Mini School Admin Office before the Mentor Group.
- Your child will receive a signed Early Leaver note from the Mini School.
- At recess or lunch (whichever is indicated on the note), your child brings the Early Leaver note to the Administration Office and signs out.
- Your child is picked up.
If a pickup time can only be during a timetabled period, your child must show their signed Early Leaver note to their classroom teacher at the designated time and then present it to the office to be picked up. It is your child’s responsibility to ensure they arrive at the office for pickup at the designated time. School staff will not be collecting students from classes during timetabled periods or put an announcement over speakers during class time.
Any after school pickup arrangements you have with your child must be arranged before school. We ask parents/carers not to have messages to their child about pick up arrangements occurring unless it is an emergency.
Punctuality
There is currently a large focus on students arriving at school and their classes throughout the day on time. This allows students to be better prepared, organised and focused, ready to learn. Students arriving late not only stops that child from learning, but also interrupts the teacher, the class and the student is more often than not dysregulated.
A number of families have had to adjust their morning routines to allow their children to arrive at our arrival time – 8:30am. This may mean they drop off Elevation students first, followed by dropping off primary school students. We are grateful for this consideration. During the day, there is ample time to move from the yard to class as long as students move when the bell music starts and there should be no reason as to why students cannot arrive to class on time.
Obviously, arriving to class on time supports your child’s education and good punctuality is an essential life skill that will assist them throughout their life. If there are extenuating circumstances that we need to be made aware of so we can further support your child’s attendance and punctuality, do not hesitate to get in touch with the school.
Uniform and Cold Weather
As we move into the colder weather, there are ways we recommend students layer their uniform in a way that adheres to our uniform policies and ensures positive interactions with staff.
No items of clothing that are non-uniform are able to be worn. This means that v-neck t-shirts or thermals are a great idea. If students have long-sleeved school shirts, the options are greater again, with long-sleeved v-necks or thermals able to be worn. Hoodies are strictly prohibited and are confiscated and this includes travelling to and from school, not just at school.
If you have questions about our uniform policy, please give us a call for clarification. The uniform store cannot answer our uniform questions.
Andrew Stock, Liam McKenna, Kyle Schutz, Samantha Steinkrug, Natalie Conboy & Angela Lane
Assistant Principals