ABSENCES

It is a Department for Education requirement that all student absences and reasons for absence must be recorded by the school daily. 

If a child is absent, it is the parent/caregiver’s responsibility to notify the school.  This can be done by: 

• Sending an SMS message to the School Absence Line
  - 0427441857
• Leaving a message on the school’s answering machine (land line - 83260900) which is operational after school office hours;
• Ringing the school on the day of absence;
• Sending an email to dl.1059.info@schools.sa.edu.au;
• Using the school website to “Report an Absence”;
• Using the “Contact Us” page on the SZapp;
• Replying to a text message about why your child is not at school or was late to school.  PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE THESE MESSAGES!

We understand that our teachers communicate with their students' families by way of Seesaw and so you may think this is a good way to let the school know of your child's absence.  However, often teachers have not had a chance to check Seesaw before doing the roll at 8:50am.  Consequently, absences can be missed, messages are sent asking where your child is today, and parents/caregivers can feel frustrated that the message didn't go through.  

Sometimes in cases of more that one child in the family, a parent/caregiver will notify a teacher to say the family is away that day, but the teacher is not aware that you may not have notified any other teachers, so absence notifications are missed. Also if the teacher is absent then the message may not be sighted or passed on to Administration.

In order to streamline our Absence process, we ask that the Administration staff are notified of all absences.

If the absence is for illness, a medical certificate is required for all absences over 3 days - (except for illnesses due to COVID).

EXEMPTION FORMS

If the child is absent as part of a planned absence eg. family holiday, please notify the school BEFORE THE ABSENCE! 

 If your child will be away from school for more than 2 days on a planned absence (not sickness) then an Exemption Form must be completed by the parent/caregiver to advise the Principal of this absence.  The Exemption Form is available from the Administration Office.