Attendance and Absences

Every day at school is important for every child from Kindergarten to Year 6. Our attendance mantra is EVERY CHILD, EVERYDAY AT SCHOOL. This includes being on time and ready to start the school day.

The school and Principal does not endorse children’s absences to go on holidays, greeting or saying goodbye to fly in fly out parents, special shopping trips and the like. These are unacceptable excuses that we hear too often. Parents are responsible and legally obliged to ensure their children attend school every day possible. Poor attendance not only severely impacts on your child’s learning but also on other children in your child’s class.

If you are having any difficulty getting your child to school let us know and we will try and help. Sometimes it seems easier to give into a child and keep them home for trivial reasons. This is fraught with short term and long-term danger. We have had a lot of success in this area when parents and the school work together. Make no excuses for not attending school.

Department of Education policy states that all children from Pre Primary attend school for five full days as from the commencement of the school year. 

Attendance details are entered electronically twice daily by classroom teachers and the information fed onto a school database. An SMS messaging service endorsed by the Department of Education operates to enable parents to inform the school by text message if their child is going to be absent. The system also automatically sends a message to parents if their child has not arrived at school and no notification has been received. This service assists parents to advise the school of absences and also ensures the safety of children by letting parents know that the child has not arrived at school.

If your child will be absent/sick or late, please contact the school directly either by:

SMS:                0409 088 585 (preferred method)

Email:             Newborough.ps.absentee@education.wa.edu.au

Phone:             9278 0450

Please include only the student’s name and classroom number, reason for absence and the date in any messages. For Example: “John Doe Room 13 absent 1/2/2023 sick with flu”.

Notes are requested from parents for:

• Any absence from school
• Permission to go on vacation during the school term
• Permission to leave the school grounds at any time including lunch time
• Non participation in sport and physical education lessons

COVID

If your child has tested positive and experiencing symptoms it is strongly encouraged to stay home for 5 days until they have recovered and register their positive RAT with the WA Health Department.

Please note, COVID positive cases and close contacts cannot visit public hospitals for 7 days to protect the more vulnerable people. Anyone who is a close contact is encouraged to test daily for 5 days and only attend school following a negative RAT result.

For further information on Covid please consult the Department of Health’s Covid -19 webpage https://www.healthywa.wa.gov.au

Please send this information through to Newborough.PS@education.wa.edu.au or to Newborough.PS.absentee@education.wa.edu.au