Absentee Contact details

Attendance Officer: Colleen Hockley

Ph.: 9293 6409

SMS 0407 384 039

Email: Kalamunda.shs@education.wa.edu.au

If your child is away from school you must provide a legitimate reason for the absence.

Some common problems you may have getting your teenager to school:

You may also be worried that your teenager:

•    They won’t get out of bed in the morning.

•    They go to bed late at night.

•    They take a long time to get ready in the morning.

•    They haven’t done their homework or are avoiding a test or assignment.

•    They are watching television or playing video games before school.

•    is being bullied

•    may not have friends or is not fitting in

•    may be feeling lost at school

•    fears being a failure

•    is not feeling academically challenged

•    may have learning difficulties

•    may not get along with a teacher.

What can you do to help?

•    Act early. It is important to understand and work on the underlying reasons why your teenager is not going to school.

•    On average, teenagers need eight tonine hours sleep a night to be healthy and alert. Maintaining a daily routine helps. This may include monitoring internet, mobile phone

and television use at night to ensure sleep is not disturbed.

•    Try not to make appointments or take holidays during school time. This can make it difficult to catch up on missed school-work, and cause anxiety about attending school.

•    Don’t let your teenager stay home unless they are genuinely sick.

•    Don’t let your teenager stay home to finish an assignment that is due. Make attendance the number one priority.

•    Set a good example – how you meet your commitments impacts on how they will meet theirs. Teach them that ‘showing up’ to commitments is normal and expected behaviour.

•    Have clear expectations about after
school jobs. Make sure work does
not impact on their ability to get to
school each day or interfere with
study.

•    Encourage extracurricular activities such as sport and creative activities. They can help your teenager develop  positive relationships and experience success, helping them feel more motivated.

•    Monitor your teenager’s attendance and learning at school. Periodically check with Mentor teacher or year coordinator to find out how things are going.

•    Avoid taking over or giving your teenager the impression you are fighting their battles for them. Improving attendance requires the school, parent and student to work together.

•    If your teenager delays getting ready for school so they are late, encourage them to still go to school.

•    Ask school staff for help if you are struggling to get your teenager to school.

What will staff at Kalamunda SHS do to help?

•    Monitor every student’s attendance and work with you to overcome problems affecting your teenager’s attendance.

•    Talk with you about involving support staff such as the school psychologist, chaplain, Student Services team and other agencies.

•    Talk with you about local services that may also be able to help such as your GP, headspace etc.

Do you need to let the school know if your teenager will be away from school?

•          Yes, you need to let the Attendance officer, Mentor teacher, Student Services know the reason why your teenager is going to be or has been absent from school as soon as possible.

•          Don’t feel the need to ‘cover up’ the reason for your teenager’s absence. This reinforces that you are taking over when things are difficult. Be honest so we can work with you and your teenager to improve their attendance.

•          Having information about why your teenager is missing school helps us plan for their return, and to work out whether we can provide any further help to