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Parent Handbook

Attendance

It is a condition of our registration as a school that the College keeps accurate records of attendance and reasons for absences. The NSW Minister for Education has provided schools with a list of approved reasons for students to be absent from school and delegated to School Principals the responsibility to apply these regulations.

Students are required to be at the College except where sickness or compassionate reasons apply. Absences other than for legitimate reasons, have to be recorded as Absent – explanation not acceptable (in accordance with the Minister's regulations). College sporting carnivals, excursions and camps are regarded as normal school days.

Absences will be regularly monitored by classroom teachers (Primary) and mentors (Secondary). Where a student’s absences are deemed to be adversely affecting their learning, the student's enrolment at the College may be brought into question. Wherever possible, holidays and medical appointments, etc should be scheduled outside of school hours/terms.

Explanation of Absence

Parents/Carers are required to provide an explanation for the absence of their children, this is done by completing the details in Edumate for each absence. If your child is marked absent at the start of the day you will receive a notification via the College app advising that your child is not at the College. This message will be sent to the nominated parent in each family (unless advised otherwise) at approximately 11:00am. Any absence due to illness where a child misses more than 5 consecutive days will require a medical certificate, please send this via email. Please notify the College by email (primaryabsent@nwcc.nsw.edu.au or secondaryabsent@nwcc.nsw.edu.au) by 9:00am if your child will be away from school that day, including the reason for the absence.

Punctuality

Lateness to class will be recorded on class rolls and monitored. Patterns of lateness will be addressed.

Lateness to School

Students who are late to school must be accompanied by a parent/guardian (Primary) or make their own way (Secondary) to the College Office to sign in with a note explaining the reason for lateness; otherwise College records will show an absence for the whole day and parents will receive a notification via the College app advising them of the child's apparent absence.

Early Departures

Students who are required to leave school early for any reason must be signed out at the College office and accompanied by a parent/guardian. Only Year 11 students studying an external course and Year 12 students who have achieved satisfactory ‘Attitudes to Learning’ on their most previous academic report will be permitted to leave the campus without a parent present during scheduled study periods. These students should sign in and out at the College Office.

Notifications of early departure should be emailed (primaryabsent@nwcc.nsw.edu.au or secondaryabsent@nwcc.nsw.edu.au) by no later than 9:30am for departures that day.

If another adult is to collect your child, including an adult sibling, please indicate this in your note or email also. This person may be required to show identification so that the College can satisfy its Duty of Care obligations.

Extended Absences

In the case of extended leave or sickness of greater than five school days, please notify the College office ASAP. As extended periods of planned student absence must be approved by the Principal as required by the Education Act 1990 s25, please complete the Parental Application for Extended Absence or Exemption and submit this to the College office, providing a minimum of 4 weeks notice of planned student absence.

Specific consideration must be given, particularly in the Secondary Years, as absences may affect a student’s mandatory hours of completion for course of study and assessments placing the student at risk of noncompletion. Non-essential leave, such as family holidays, should be planned during non-term time wherever possible.