Information for Parents

Focus on Attendance

State and federal governments are currently placing a strong emphasis on school attendance. While we all agree that attendance is important, you may not know just how closely attendance is tied to success at school.

Here are some key points for you to consider:

Missing one day at school takes two days to catch up.
The biggest truancy numbers are among students who only miss a day here and there.
Students who attend school less than 80% of the time are likely to score one or more grades lower than students who are always there.

Is Your Child's School Using messageyou™Schools?

Your child's school has made the decision to implement messageyou™Schools to improve the safety and welfare of your child.

Every time your child is absent from school without prior notification to the school, you will be notified by SMS text message.

It is therefore vital that you notify the school in advance if your child will be absent. SMS is the preferred method for you to notify the school.

Points to remember when your child’s school is using messageyou™Schools:

Safety Depends on Good Communications

If your child is absent or late for school without prior explanation, you will receive a text message on your mobile phone.
It is very important that if your child will be absent you NOTIFY THE SCHOOL IN ADVANCE, so that a message is only sent to you in a case of genuine unexplained absence or lateness.

Communication is a Two-way Process

You can contact the school well in advance by SMS at any time (24 hours/day, 7 days/week) to avoid receiving an SMS relating to your child’s attendance.
Using SMS avoids the problems of phoning a busy front office to contact the school and saves you time and call costs.

Keep Your Numbers up to Date

It is important for the safety of your child that you inform the school when you change your mobile phone number so the school can keep its records up to date.
Many families have more than one mobile phone. Make sure the school uses the best number to contact you, or sends messages to both parents if appropriate.

Messaging Tips

When communicating with the school by SMS, please include

the name of your child
their year level
the reason for absence or lateness
the day of absence or lateness.

If you have more than one child attending the school or your child has a different family name, please include the child’s family name.
For example:
If Karen Scott, Year 11 was sick yesterday the text message could be:
Karen S yr11 sick yesterday
If Angela Caruso, daughter of Lee Ng, Year 8 was away for family reasons (eg funeral) on Friday, the text message could be:
A Caruso yr8 family friday