School Attendance
Dear Parents and Caregivers
At St Aloysius College, we endeavour to be collaborative in our efforts to monitor, communicate and support students to attend school and engage in our community. We know that there is a very close correlation between levels of attendance and achievement, so we take our responsibility for maintaining excellent attendance very seriously. To this effect, we expect full-time attendance from our students and will monitor and support students who are repeatedly late or absent from school.
Attendance Legislation
All children living in South Australia must be enrolled and attend a school from the age of six until they turn 16 years of age. This is known as the compulsory school age under the Education and Children’s Services Act 2019 (SA).
When a young person reaches 16 years of age they must continue to be enrolled in school or other approved learning program until they turn 17 years of age. This is known as compulsory education age under the Education and Children’s Services Act 2019 (SA).
Absentee Process at SAC
If a child is absent or late for any reason, a phone call with a verbal reason, SMS or email must be provided to the school. Parents can advise each day their child is absent from school by:
- Sending an SMS to the absentee line on 0438 433 333
- Emailing your child’s name, class and absence reason to [email protected]
- Calling the absentee line on 8217 3200
The school uses a SMS messaging service which, on every school day at approximately 10am, will automatically send a text message to a parent/caregiver if a child is marked absent without explanation. Parents are expected to respond to these messages. When an explanation is not provided within three days of the original day’s absence, the Home Class teacher will email parents/caregivers to follow up on attendances.
Late arrivals to school
All students must be in their Home Class ready to start at 8:45am each day.
If students arrive after this time, they are asked to sign in at the front office where they will be marked as late.
| Minutes arriving late or leaving early per day | Equates to days of teaching lost in one year | Number of lessons missed in one year |
| 5 mins | 3.5 days | 17 lessons |
| 10 mins | 7 days | 35 lessons |
| 15 mins | 10.5 days | 52 lessons |
| 20 mins | 14 days | 70 lessons |
| 30 mins | 21 days | 104 lessons |
Early departure from school
If your daughter has an appointment or will need to leave school early, please email [email protected], call 8217 3200 or SMS 0438 433 333 and include your child’s name, class and reason for leaving early.
Exemption for Family Holiday/Ongoing Medical or Other
Family holidays are encouraged to be taken during the school holidays and not during school terms. Parents must complete the following application form to have their child’s exemption approved by the Principal.
For frequent or long-term medical absences, the College may require further documentation for absences of more than two days for the absence to be deemed appropriate (such as a letter from a health professional) and to help us keep accurate records and support the health management of all our students.
Students are deemed to be at risk by the Department for Education if their attendance is below 90%.
Processes for following up attendance concerns at SAC:
DEFINITIONS & FOLLOW UP
| Absenteeism | Three consecutive days or three days in a week (including students who leave early). | Home Class teachers will email parent/caregivers to follow up absences |
| Habitual Non-attender | A student who is absent for 5 days or more (average of 1 day per fortnight) for any reason (including students who leave early) | Primary Coordinator/Year Level Coordinator will contact parent/caregivers to follow up absences |
| Chronic Non-attender | * A student who is absent for 10 days or more (average of 1 day per week) for any reason (including students who leave early) * A student who is absent for twenty days or more (including students who leave early) | * Primary Coordinator/Year Level Coordinator and Director of Student Wellbeing will contact parent/caregivers to follow up absences and a parent meeting will be required * Primary Coordinator/Year Level Coordinator and Director of Student Wellbeing will contact parent/caregivers to follow up absences and a parent meeting with a Deputy Principal will be required |
| Lateness | Students who are late more than twice in a week. | Home Class teachers will email parent/caregivers to follow up absences. Primary Coordinator/Year Level Coordinator/Director of Student Wellbeing to follow up persistent late arrivals. |
Yours sincerely
Ms Jacqui McIlroy
Deputy Principal (Pastoral Care)