Attendance Plan Midvale Primary School aims to achieve quality education outcomes for all students. Research shows that success in learning is directly related to regular attendance and full participation in education programs. We promote regular attendance through: • Ongoing student engagement programs and activities for children. • Provision of a positive and supportive learning environment where students experience success. • Positive parent communication. Responsibilities Student • Attend school regularly and on time. • If you are late, you must • Supply class teacher with a note form parent explaining each absence. Parent • Ensure his/her child in in school on time every day • If there is a legitimate reason for a student’s absence parent/guardians will inform the school via phone call, note to teacher or online. • Prolonged absence (more than 1 day) requires a medical certificate. Teacher • Accurately mark rolls twice daily. • Will discuss regular absences/ lateness with admin and/or attendance officer. Attendance Officers (Tania Leete, Michelle Muriuki, Melanie Dragon, Rebecca Dennis, Kate Marsh, Tara McGill) • SMS automatically sent to all students recorded as absent at 9:30am daily. • Daily phone contact with parents of absent students. Promotion of attendance amongst students. Raising community awareness. Ensure processes for monitoring attendance as a whole school is thorough. Notes are sent home if a note is not sent when the child has been away. Organise attendance reward days per semester. Strategies for gathering further data Identify families at risk for attendance and target those families. Print off attendance summary for all indigenous students on a weekly basis. Students with 90% or less attendance highlighted and passed on to AIEO to contact. Print off attendance summary on a fortnightly basis and contact families of students with 90% attendance or less. Students, parent and staff surveys. Incentives: Gold certificates for 100% attendance to be presented at admin assembly at the end of each semester. ( Recipient earns 50 faction points) Silver Certificates for 95% and up attendance to be presented at the same assembly. (Recipient earns 30 faction points) Certificates for significant improvements in attendance to be presented at the same assembly. (Recipient earns 15 points) Linked to end of term faction reward. An attendance reward day at the end of each year for all students who have 90% and above. Students with 100% attendance will receive extra reward time/ an additional reward. Interventions: 1. Attendance follow up notes sent home fortnightly for all students and weekly for those at risk. Generated by admin. 2. At risk letters are sent home each term for any child with attendance below 90%. 3. Students below 90% attendance will have an Attendance Officer contact them for an attendance interview by phone and a letter will be sent home. The purpose of this interview is to identify the reasons for non attendance, assess assistance and resources required to re-establish attendance and to develop an Individual Attendance Plan (IAP). For example an Attendance reward plan developed between attendance officer and individual student. (Parents who cannot be contacted will be visited at home by an Attendance Officer) 4. Home visits will be carried out by the Attendance Officers. 5. The Retention and Participation Team (RAP) is notified of serious cases of non attendance. 6. Where ongoing communication, an attendance interview and an IAP have not resulted in an improvement in attendance, a case conference is called. The main emphasis should be on changing the culture of non attendance and where the situation is chronic, making the parents aware of the legal process in place to address this persistent non attendance. 7. After a Case conference the school will conduct a follow up home visit to support the family with the implementation of the IAP. The school will continue to monitor the situation. 8. Department processes will be followed beyond this point. Whenever any action is taken it must be entered on the student’s activity folder on Integris. Late for School Being late affects not only your child’s attendance record and ability to learn, but it also impacts the school environment Your Child's Learning When a child is late to school, they miss out on important instruction. Every minute that a child is in school is important to their learning. When they are late, they face the challenge of trying to settle in and catch up with what other students are doing. They may struggle to understand material the teacher has already explained. Other Children's Learning Other students also suffer when a child is late to school. They have to wait to proceed with a lesson because the teacher is busy trying to catch the late child up. The interruption of a door opening into a classroom and the teacher having to address who is coming in is distracting and can cause students to lose their concentration as well. It wastes time to deal with and then recover from an interruption caused by someone coming in late to class. Preparation for Real Life Being on time to school is preparation for the world outside of school. When parents focus on punctuality, students learn that not coming to a meeting or event on time is disrespectful of other people’s time and that they miss out on important information. Ways to Prevent Lateness - Have your child set out their clothes for the next day the night before. - Their bag should contain all their books, supplies and homework they will need for the next day. - Have school lunches prepared in advance. - Ensure your child is in bed at a reasonable hour. - Set the alarm 10 or 15 minutes earlier than absolutely necessary to ensure your child has enough time to get to school before the bell rings.

All undesired behaviour will result in the following behaviour process to take place: Reminder Step One Step Two Step Three Severe/Major Behaviour See the information below for further explanations of the Step Process, Good Standing, Physical Assault and Verbal Assault. REMINDER – Student is reminded of the expected STAR behaviour. “When…I expect to see…” “We raise our hands and wait to answer.” “We walk on the bricks.” “We follow instructions.” 1. STEP ONE – Warning If a child is not displaying expected STAR behaviours, the class teacher says: “I can see you are not following instructions. Following instructions looks like…” At this stage the class teacher should go to the child and ensure the child is equipped and understands what they should be doing. If the child actions the requested instruction, give verbal praise and initially assist the child. If the child is still defiant, the teacher says: “I need you to...(follow instructions, sit at your desk, start your work) or it is (you are choosing) STEP one.” 2. STEP TWO – In Class Time Out If the child fails to comply with the given instructions walk within close proximity of the child and say: “I’m looking for you to...(follow instructions, sit at your desk, start your work) or it is (you are choosing) STEP Two, Time Out.” Allow the child uptake time by walking away. If child continues to defy instruction, then say: “You have chosen to do time-out”. This is to be communicated calmly. The class teacher is to direct the child to the designated time-out area. The length of time is a recommended 15-minutes, though this can be altered at the teacher’s discretion by assessing how agitated/escalated the child is. If a child’s level of behaviour is indicative of further escalation the class teacher should attempt to hasten the de-escalation by giving the child a job to do which takes them briefly out of the classroom. When the child has completed time-out go to the child and acknowledge that they have completed their time-out and provide verbal praise by saying: “Are you ready to learn/follow instructions? (Great to see you’re ready to learn). Let’s start doing…” The teacher may want to go through a Past, Present and Future structured conversation before the student re-engages. E.g. “Why did we go to Step Two?”, “How are you feeling about it?”, “What can we do from now on to avoid further steps?”. Teacher can add a reminder of Behaviour Expectation: “Following instructions looks like…” “I will see you sitting at your desk.” “I will see you walking on the bricks.” If more than one child is displaying undesired behaviours, the class teacher will need to reassess the current task. Stop planned task if necessary and provide the class with a more appropriate activity which will require all students to be engaged in their activities and/or, reteach the class the STAR expected behaviour students are having trouble following. Refusal - If a student refuses to follow a step in the school behaviour support plan, Admin will be contacted. Admin will encourage the student to comply. The student may be withdrawn from the classroom for a discussion prior to returning to complete the behaviour step they have attained. 3. STEP THREE - Other Class Time Out If the child refuses to do time-out or continues with undesired behaviours, then calmly say to the child: “I need you to do your Time Out or it will be Time Out in another class” Allow the child uptake time then count to three slowly saying: “You need to make a choice now. ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘3’.” If child complies say: “Good choice”. If child is non-compliant say: “You have chosen Time Out in another class”. A student, class teacher or education assistant is to escort the child to another classroom to do their work. (Admin to be called to escort if no one else available) Agreement is made between home classroom teacher and other classroom teacher where the child is kept in. It is at the teacher’s discretion if the timeout is for a set amount of time or until the end of each learning block. This could be to avoid the child coming back into their home classroom in the midst of a work activity and minimise opportunity for disruption of others’ work. Refusal - If a student refuses to follow a step in the school behaviour support plan, Admin will be contacted immediately. Admin will encourage the student to comply. The student may be withdrawn from the classroom for a discussion prior to returning to complete the behaviour step they have attained. Repeated time out – The teacher should repeat the Step Three time out process if the student proceeds with undesired behaviours. It is only if the student displays a severe/major behaviour that the student is sent to the office and may be given detention or another consequence depending on the severity. 4. Severe/Major Behaviour – Office Send the child straight to the office if they have displayed a Severe/Major behaviour, or if the child has repeatedly not followed STAR Behaviour Expectations/displayed appropriate behaviours. Admin to be called to escort student if appropriate. If child fails to choose to change their behaviour and continues to display undesired behaviours, then calmly say: “You have chosen Time Out in the office.” A student, class teacher or education assistant is to escort the child to another classroom to do their work. (Admin to be called to escort if no one else available) If child complies, then say: “Good choice”. If child is non-compliant, inform Admin. If the child reaches Severe/Major Behaviour, they are sent to the office (Time at office is at discretion of admin and will be decided on child’s responses, emotional state, best for child/class/teacher) Consequences will be determined by the flow charts. (Appendix 5). Re-entry back into classroom If judged suitable, Administration staff will return the child back to the classroom or will phone the block to alert the teacher that the child is returning. Upon re-entry, say: “Great to see you back. (Come to me and I will explain what you need to do)”. **Give child verbal praise if they have re-entered the room with minimal disruption. Class teacher is to pay close attention to that child and provide low key responses (see Appendix 3) to engage the child in addition to a high frequency of positive comments and rewards. Further inappropriate behaviour after a student has been through all steps should be directed to the School Administration team. Severe Clause: Repeated disobedient behaviour, under the provision that every opportunity has been given to the child to make positive choices will result in negotiations for withdrawal from playground and/or after school detention. (i) Admin to be notified for continuous disobedient behaviour. (Behaviour slip to be sent (see Appendix 13)). (ii) Admin to contact parents about providing consequences for continuous disobedience i.e., after school detention. (iii) Child to serve after school detention (min 30 minutes). Office Referrals When a child is sent to the office, they (or someone else) will take a behaviour slip. Admin will then follow the guidelines/policy that relates to the incident. The behaviour and action taken is then entered on Integris according to Departmental Policy. Once the incident is dealt with, Admin will send a feedback sheet to the classroom or send email as soon as is possible outlining the consequence. If for any incident a period of suspension is deemed appropriate and suitable then this decision will be made by the Principal, or in case of their absence or unavailability, by a Deputy Principal. Record Keeping and Communication Teacher’s will enter all Behaviour slips on Integris. Admin will enter any behaviours that are severe. Physical Assault Midvale Primary School has a zero tolerance policy on physical assault of any member of the Midvale Primary School community, including students and staff at the school. Physical assault as defined by Midvale Primary School includes the purposeful and malicious intent to cause physical harm or injury to another or others. The throwing of furniture and objects around the room that is without purposeful and malicious intent to hurt others (i.e., done out of frustration or emotional disturbance) is not classified as physical assault and will be dealt with differently to that procedure outline for Physical Assault (see Appendix 5). Verbal Assault Verbal Assault as defined by Midvale Primary School includes the purposeful and malicious intent to intimidate or emotionally abuse by use of inappropriate language or inappropriate/lewd gestures to any member of the Midvale Primary School community, including students and staff at the school. The procedure to deal with Verbal Assault is outlined in Appendix 5. As per Department of Education Guidelines published in December 2018, any student who starts a fight, intentionally harms another or videos a fight between students will be suspended from attending school for a period of time decided by the principal. The principal must also automatically move to exclude any student who physically attacks school staff.

UNIFORM POLICY Uniforms are tangible evidence of the standards expected by a school. A school’s dress requirements play an important role in promoting the positive image of the school and creating a sense of identity among the students. The School Decision Making Group of Midvale Primary School has established a dress code for all students attending the School. The School Decision Making Group believes a school dress code: · fosters and enhances the public image of the school; · assists in building school and team spirit; · ensures students are safely dressed for specific activities; · encourages equity among students; and · prepares students for work, as many work places have dress and safety codes. PARENT AND STUDENT DRESS CODE INFORMATION: On acceptance of enrolment parents will be informed of the school dress code and expected to support this policy. SCHOOL UNIFORM: Students are expected to wear school uniform during school hours and when they represent the school out of school hours or for any public performance the children may be involved in. All items of clothing must be clearly marked with the child’s name. Students who may need to modify the dress code for health or religious reasons should first consult the Principal. NO JEANS The school uniform is available through the administration office. DRESS CODE REQUIREMENTS: SUMMER/WINTER: Navy Blue T-Shirt or Polo Shirt Navy Polo Shirt Long Sleeve Navy Blue Airflow shorts Navy Blue Microfibre shorts Navy Blue Windcheater Navy Blue Zip Jacket Navy Blue Trackpants Navy Blue Microfibre Jacket Navy Blue Microfibre Track Pants SPORTS: T-Shirts in Faction Colours: Lime Green, Purple and Orange HATS: A hat is required to be worn for all outdoor activities eg playtime, Phys Ed. Our school supports the “NO HAT, NO PLAY IN THE SUN” in all Terms. Students without hats are confined to undercover areas. FOOTWEAR: Enclosed footwear - NO THONGS Midvale Primary School has a NO JEANS policy. GENERAL APPEARANCE: In the interests of safety and security jewellery is not to be worn to school with the exceptions of a watch, and studs/sleepers in pierced ears. Make up is not appropriate. Facial and body piercings are not permitted for safety reasons. Long hair (past shoulders) should be tied back at all times. SCHOOL COLOURS: Navy Blue and Gold. SUMMER UNIFORMS: Girls: Navy Blue T-shirt or polo shirt Pleated skirt, skorts, dress or shorts (navy) NO JEANS Sandals or sneakers Boys: Navy Blue T-shirt or polo shirt Shorts (navy) NO JEANS Sandals or sneakers WINTER UNIFORMS: Girls and Boys: School windcheater (navy), or zip jacket (navy), with school t-shirt or polo shirt. Track pants or Microfibre track pants. NO JEANS Shoes or sneakers Uniforms are available from the Administration Office every morning between 8.30 and 9am. MARKING OF CLOTHES: All articles of clothing, which can be removed - windcheaters, hats, shoes, etc, must be clearly marked with the child’s name. LOST PROPERTY: Lost property is located outside the Deputy’s office. All lost clothing and shoes will be placed there and parents wishing to look for lost property should see the Deputy Principal. INTERVENTIONS When a student comes without uniform they will be given a warning and asked to be in uniform on the following day or have a note explaining why they can’t wear their uniform. When a student comes on the second day with no uniform and no note they will have a note to take home requesting that they wear their uniform or bring a note explaining why they can’t. When the student comes on the third day with no uniform and no note they will be sent to admin and the child’s contacts will be phoned. If the non compliance continues the administration will continue to liaise with the child’s contacts. Ø If a child is representing the school the administration can prevent a child from attending or participating if they are not in uniform. Whenever any action is taken it must be entered on the student’s activity folder on Integris.

A library of the Department of Education's policies can be found here.