From the Assistant Principal
St Joseph’s works collaboratively with the Catholic Education Office Student Support team to address emerging attendance issues. We will be actively involved in supporting families to manage the attendance of their children so that it does not have a functional impact on their learning at school.
Having regular consistent attendance (>95%) will have a positive impact on how students engage in their academic learning at school as well as meeting the needs of their developing social and emotional well-being.
The Education Act (1990) NSW and the Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong (CEDoW) require Parents/Carers to ensure that children of compulsory school age attend school on each day that the school is open for instruction. As such, St Joseph’s will be working with students and their families to help improve attendance so that it ultimately has a positive impact on student learning.
One issue highlighted by our 2023 school attendance data is that families may not be aware just how much time their child is missing from school.
You may be surprised by the statistics below:
Being absent from school 1 or 2 Days doesn’t seem like much, it is.
| Your child is absent... | That Equals.... | Which is... | Over 13 years that is.... | Over 13 years of schooling that is... |
| 1 day per fortnight | 20 days per year | 4 weeks per year | Nearly 1.5 years | Equal to finishing in Year 11 |
| 1 day per week | 40 days per year | 8 weeks per year | Over 2.5 years | Equal to finishing in Year 10 |
| 2 days per week | 80 days per year | 16 weeks per year |
Over 5 years |
Equal to finishing in Year 7 |
| 3 days per week | 120 days per year | 24 weeks per year | Almost 8 years | Equal to finishing in Year 4 |
Just a little bit late for school doesn’t seem like much, it is.
| Your child is late... | That equals... | Which is... | Over 13 years of schooling that is... |
| 10 minutes per day | 50 minutes per week | Almost 1.5 weeks per year | Almost half a year |
| 20 minutes per day | 1 hour 40 mins per week | Almost 2.5 week per year | Almost a whole year |
| Half an hour per day | Half a day per week | 4 weeks per year | Almost one and a half years |
| 1 hour per day | 1 day per week | 8 weeks per year | Over 2 and a half years |
Mr Chris Shelton
Assistant Principal