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Attendance and Absences

Regardless of the model of education used, attendance is undeniably one of the most important factors in any student genuinely taking control of their own education.

To support students in this area, attendance at TC is looked at in several different ways:

General Attendance

General Attendance looks at a student’s attendance by ‘am’ and ‘pm’ (this is the school column on your child’s Compass attendance record). TC recommends that students aim to attend no less than at least 90% of the time – a student’s engagement, learning and achievement is often directly proportional to their levels of attendance, so above 90% is highly recommended as a minimum.

Any students with ongoing needs that affect attendance should make contact with their Community Executive Team to discuss available supports. Community Executive Teams will work with students and their respective families/out of school supports in a personalised manner to facilitate attendance support and improvement strategies.

Please be aware that if our support and work with a student and their family is not able to remedy high levels of non-attendance then the matter may be referred to the Department of Education; this is reviewed on an individual needs’ basis.

Lateness

Students arriving late at TC should go directly to their community Executive office in S Wing and receive a late pass to take to class. Attendance will be recorded on Compass.

Leaving College Grounds

Graduating students are permitted to leave the College grounds if they do not have scheduled class.

Students studying a VET course at an external venue have permission to attend and this is recorded as part of the Compass program. Student absence requires students to contact the relevant VET provider to notify them of the absence.

Leaving Early

Students who wish to leave before the end of the school day for an appointment need to do the following:

  1. Student goes to the front office or CET offices sometime in the morning

  2. They will need to show that you have approval to leave early:
    Parent has already approved on Compass
    Parent has left a voicemail or email with CET
    The student brings a parent note with them

  3. If they don’t have any of these, office staff will ring home to confirm that the student has approval to leave early

  4. The student will then receive a pink Early Leavers Pass. This will have their name, the date and time when they need to leave and will be signed and stamped by office staff.

  5. Later in the day, when it is time for the student to leave, they will present the Early Leavers Pass to their class teacher.

  6. The teacher will then dismiss them from class.

  7. They will sign out at the main office via the Compass Kiosk and leave the Early Leavers Pass at reception

Unexplained Absence(s)

Working with our Community to Improve Unexplained Absences from School

All Victorian government schools must contact parents/carers as soon as practicable on the same day of an unexplained student absence. This requirement supports student safety and wellbeing. Schools need to know when and why a child is absent, and parents/carers need to know if their child is not at school. Prompt communication also promotes daily school attendance.

Parents and carers must notify the school of their child’s absence as soon as possible on the day of absence using the school’s preferred method, including online, by telephone or by email.

Schools and parents working together

Building positive and collaborative relationships through clear communications with parents/carers is critical to the successful implementation of the same-day notification requirement.

The responsibility needs to be underpinned by a shared understanding and expectations about the procedures for monitoring, recording and follow-up of student attendance as outlined in the school’s attendance policy, which can be viewed here.

The school’s responsibilities:

  • Notify parents/carers

TC will notify parents and carers as soon as practicable on the same day of an unexplained absence. This should occur in the morning to allow time for our parent or carers to respond.

Schools can choose how they advise parents and carers based on their local context – for example by email, push notification via downloaded app, SMS or phone call. TC will utilise both the text and email options as part of our automated notification suite.

The parent/carer’s responsibilities:

  • Inform the school of the reason for all absences

Reasons for absences can be provided by logging into Compass, calling the school reception (9850-6333) or by emailing the Community teams:

VCE/VM & VET Attendance

Good attendance at VCE/VM and VET is a pre-requisite for achieving an ‘S’ outcome. Missing lessons, without good reason, has a major negative impact on the student who is absent.

  • Students who are completing a VCE subject must achieve an attendance requirement of 80% or over to pass the subject

  • Any students who miss a VCE class must provide a medical certificate to the school to have that attendance approved under Department of Education guidelines (a Statutory Declaration is not sufficient)

  • Reason for absence should be recorded via the Compass portal on the day of absence

  • Students studying VCE should not be taking holidays during term time as this will severely affect their attendance and ability to complete course work and pass subjects

  • The date of semester completion will be communicated to students and their families at the beginning of each semester via Next Week@TC and in VCE information sessions

  • If a student is below 80% by this date, they will not have been in class sufficiently for work to be authenticated and therefore will not be able to satisfactorily pass the Unit