It was lovely to see the excited faces of the students as they ventured away from home on their first College camp. They went to the Wedderburn campsite near Campbelltown where they will experience a range of activities designed to build resilience, team work and to have fun. Year 6 will be heading off to Canberra tomorrow.
Attendance at College every day is essential for students to achieve their educational best which then gives them more opportunities in life. While all parents are eager to ensure their child is at school sometimes the decisions made as a family impact our children. Sickness cannot be avoided and is an understandable reason for being absent from College but many families plan holidays during term time without thinking about the long term impact on our students learning. Do you realise that if a child misses as little as 8 days in a school term, by the end of primary school they will have missed over a year of school? Imagine what they could achieve if we eliminated unnecessary time away from school.
Lateness is also a major issue for some of our students. While we understand that an occasional problem with traffic can cause lateness it cannot be an ongoing excuse. We need parents to change their habits and those of their children to ensure they can get up and be ready to leave for school at a time that ensure s that they arrive on time. Arriving at school and class on time means that:
- The students do not miss out on important learning activities scheduled early in the day
- Helps students learn the importance of punctuality and routine
- Gives students time to socialise with their friends before class
- Reduces classroom disruption
Do you know that if your child is 10 minutes late to school everyday, that over a year they will miss 2000 minutes a year which equals 33 hours or 1 whole week of school each year. Over the 13 years of school that is a whole term of learning.
Every absence counts and has an impact on the learning of your child. We need to work collaboratively with students and their families to best support the regular attendance of our students. If this is an issue for you and your family, we are here to help.