Attendance

What are the responsibilities of Parents?

Parents must ensure:

• their children of compulsory school age are enrolled in a government or registered non-government school or, they are registered with the NSW Educational Standards Authority (NESA) for Home Schooling.
• Their children who are enrolled at school attend every day the school is open for their instruction.
• They provide an explanation for absences by means such as a telephone call, written note, text message or email to the school within 7 days from the first day of any period of absence.
• They work in partnership with the school to plan and implement strategies to support regular attendance at school, including communicating with the school if they are aware of issues impacting on their child’s attendance or engagement with school. 

Please inform the school ASAP if your child:

• has an unavoidable medical or dental appointment (preferably these should be made after school or during holidays)
• is required to attend a recognised religious holiday
• is required to attend an exceptional or urgent family circumstance (such as attending a funeral)
• is sick, or has an infectious illness.
• is taking extended leave for travel or other reasons (fill out this form)

If you are having difficulty getting your child to attend school regularly, you may need to talk to the school principal or the school counsellor. 

To learn more about attendance, view and download the Department's compulsory school attendance (PDF 487KB) and what will happen if a student misses as little as 8 days in a school term (PDF 508KB).