Same day student absence notification

Queensland state schools are to advise parents/carers when their child is absent without explanation as soon as practicable on that day, allowing time for parents/carers to respond before the end of the school day.

From Day 1 Term 3 2016, this requirement was in place for students who are in out-of-home care.

From Day 1 Term 1 2017, this requirement was in place for all students.

The safety and wellbeing of students are the highest priorities for the department.

This requirement reflects community expectations.

Schools need to know when and why a child is absent and parents/carers need to know if their child has not turned up for school.

Improvements in technology and its widespread use help make same day notification readily accessible for many schools and families.

Both the Roll marking in state schools and Managing student absences and enforcing enrolment and attendance at state schools procedures have been updated to reflect this change.

Yes. If a student is away for one or more days and no explanation has been provided by the parent/carer, a notification should be provided each day.

The parent should be advised that the school is required by law (specifically, section 22 of the Education (General Provisions) Regulation 2017) to notify them when their child is absent from school without explanation, and to seek a reason for the absence from the parent. All parents should be made aware of the range of ways they can let the school know that their child will be away and the reason why.

Even when, despite a parent/carers best effort, a child refuses to attend school, the parent/carer should still contact the school as soon as possible each day to let them know. If a child is refusing to go to school it is important for parents/carers to talk to the principal early for advice and to find out what assistance is available.

Non-state schools have agreed to adopt same day notification.

Non-state schools can access associated standing offer arrangements (SOAs) established by the department. However, as such arrangements are designed according to specific requirements for Queensland state schools (for example, OneSchool requirements), if planning to use an SOA, non-state schools will need to confirm that products meet their requirements.

Yes. Students should be attending school every day as it is vital to their educational outcomes, employment options, future earning capacity and general well-being - Every Day Counts. Parents/carers should be notified each and every time a student is away from school without an explanation.

For a student in OOHC, the notification should be sent to the carer of the student.

The requirement for same day notification for students in OOHC has been in place since the start of Term 3 2016.

Schools of distance education are not required to establish a same day absence notification process but may choose to do so. The nature of distance education means that parents/carers are usually directly involved in delivering their child’s education and know where their child is on a school day. Further, a student enrolled in a program of distance education is considered to be attending when they complete and return the assigned work for the program.

Same day student absence notification will only apply for SATS on the day/s they are scheduled to be at school.

When a SAT is scheduled to be at the workplace or at training they are responsible for notifying their employer, training provider and school if they are unable to attend work or training that day. See the 'Role of the apprentice or trainee' in the Guide to school-based apprenticeships and traineeships (PDF, 736KB).

On the day/s the young person is scheduled to be at work or training, schools should mark them on the roll with the absence reason code 'F - Off Campus Activity'. This will not count as an absence on the student's or school's attendance data. Refer to the Roll marking in state schools procedure for further information.

The parent to be notified will depend on what is directed by the court order e.g.:

• a Family Court Order may direct that one parent has sole responsibility for the child and the other parent is not to have any access to information about the child
• a domestic violence order may prohibit a parent from having contact with the school or receiving information about the child
• a child protection order may be in place, and in such cases the Child Safety Officer should be notified as well as the carer.

Search the departmental intranet for more information about family law matters affecting state schools.

No. Hard copy rolls can continue to be used provided this allows the school to meet the policy requirement for same day notification.

No. Schools can choose how they advise parent/carers based on their local context e.g. schools may choose to notify by email, SMS, phone call or home visit.

Same day notification still applies to students who are 'independent' or are mature age and are absent from school without explanation. The notification will be made to the nominated contact person in OneSchool - which may be the student themselves. Schools can refer to OneSchool for information on how to change a student's independent status.

Under the Education (General Provisions) Regulation 2017 (specifically, sections 21-23), if the student is an adult (i.e. they are 18 years or older but not necessarily independent), the principal must report unexplained absences to the student and ask them the reason for the absence. Similarly, the student should inform the school if they are/will be absent from school and the reason/s why. If the absence is explained and the principal is not satisfied about the reason for the absence, the principal may ask the student for clarification.

If the student does not have the capacity to make decisions on their own behalf and cannot receive and respond to same day student absence notifications, the principal should contact the parent/carer.

To ensure notifications are sent to the correct parent/carer, schools should:

• capture information about parenting arrangements and any relevant court order details in OneSchool as outlined in How to Manage Student Legal Order/Custody (available to DoE employees only) and update this information when the status changes
• verify parent contact information and update OneSchool as necessary when a child is transferring from another state school as parental circumstances may have changed and information in OneSchool may no longer be accurate
• ensure that parent/carer details are accurate and kept up to date in OneSchool (refer to OneSchool Parent/Student Relationship tab explained - available to DoE employees only).

When a parent is not to receive information about a child, schools may make the parent/s 'inactive' in OneSchool (available to DoE employees only). Reactivation of a parent can occur at any time.

No. Schools can continue to use their current attendance management process if it allows them to meet the requirement of advising parent/carers when their child is absent without explanation on that day, allowing time for parent/carers to respond before the end of the school day.

The department has established an electronic attendance management system SOA. Suppliers will be added to this SOA as further contracts are negotiated.

For those schools seeking a text messaging service that can be used with OneSchool or another electronic roll marking system, a text messaging/short messaging services (SMS) SOA is already available for schools to use.

While use of the SOA is not mandatory, schools are strongly encouraged to use the SOA which provides the following benefits:

• necessary due-diligence to allow schools to purchase products knowing that the system is compliant
• possible price savings (e.g. discounts off recommended retail pricing)
• removal of the need for quotation processes to be completed by each school
• administrative savings through streamlined processes.

The key elements of same day student absence notification are robust roll marking processes and parent/carer contact.

Schools need to decide what system to use for roll marking and how parent/carers will be notified.

The decision on which system to use will require consideration of the context of each school, including the size of the school (i.e. the number of students and staff) and the average number of unexplained student absences.

For roll marking (e.g. electronic, hard copy), schools may consider:

• costs - set up and ongoing
• current practice
• features - standard (e.g. roll marking) or advanced (e.g. student ID cards)
• size of school
• technology (currently available at school)
• technical capability of staff.

For parent/carer notification (e.g. email, SMS, phone call, app), schools may consider:

• availability of parent/carer contact information
• community preference
• costs
• current practice
• mobile phone network coverage
• staffing arrangements.

All state schools can use OneSchool to electronically mark class rolls. Information on how this can be done is found in the OneSchool help material on electronic roll marking.

While OneSchool does not have the functionality to send text or email messages to parents/carers, it can generate an export file of student absence information (SMS Text Message Export) that can be used by administration staff to call parents/carers, or with a messaging service provider to send notifications. Information on this is found in the OneSchool electronic roll marking guide.

An SOA is already in place to support schools to purchase text messaging services.

OneSchool can also produce the Absent students (unexplained) for current day report. This report provides a list of students that are absent without explanation for the current day. This list should be cross checked against other student absence information e.g. attendance line messages, timetable changes; and then used by administration staff to advise parents/carers of an unexplained student absence.

For information about using OneSchool, please refer to the OneSchool help materials or contact the OneSchool Helpdesk on 1800 680 445.

Some factors which small schools may consider when implementing same day student absence notification are outlined in What factors should schools consider when choosing a system for roll marking and notification?

For a small school (DOCX, 409KB), the process may be: continuing the current roll marking practices (e.g. hard copy rolls)

• developing a list of unexplained absences from the rolls
• cross checking and updating this with any other student absence data
• contacting the appropriate parents/carers by phone/text on the same day once an unexplained absence has been identified
• recording the response from the parent/carer
• uploading absence data into OneSchool.

Some factors which the school may consider when implementing same day student absence notification are outlined in What factors should schools consider when choosing a system for roll marking and notification?

For a medium-sized school (DOCX, 422KB), the process may be:

• continuing the current roll marking practices (e.g. using OneSchool)
• generating the Absent Students (Unexplained) for Current Day report
• cross checking and recording any other student absence data
• contacting the appropriate parents/carers by phone that same day once an unexplained absence has been identified OR using a service to provide automated notifications (e.g. SMS) to parents/carers
• updating OneSchool with responses received so that it has the current attendance and absence data.

A large school with a high number of daily unexplained absences is likely to require an automated solution.

The school will need to decide what system to use for roll marking and how parents/carers will be notified.

Usually for large schools, electronic roll marking is most efficient. The system that they choose - OneSchool or an external electronic roll marking system - will involve the consideration of:

• current practice
• costs - initial set up and ongoing
• system features - standard (e.g. roll marking) or advanced (e.g. student ID cards)
• technology (currently available at school)
• technical capability of staff.

Larger schools are also likely to require an automated messaging solution. Sometimes these are part of the system that will do the electronic roll marking, otherwise the school will need to engage with a separate messaging service. When deciding the type of notification to be sent to parents/carers (e.g. email, SMS), the school will need to consider:

• availability of parent/carer contact information
• costs
• community preference
• current practice
• staffing arrangements
• mobile phone network coverage.

While automated systems can provide an excellent solution to same day notification, it is important to ensure that only the correct students are identified. There still needs to be a level of manual cross checking of student absence data before the notification process occurs.

For a large school (DOCX, 427KB), the process may be:

• continuing the current roll marking practices (e.g. using OneSchool)
• generating the Absent Students (Unexplained) for Current Day report
• cross checking and recording any other student absence data
• generating the SMS Text Message Export, checking all appropriate students are included
• using a messaging service to provide automated notifications (e.g. SMS) to parents/carers
• updating OneSchool with responses received so that it has the current attendance and absence data

or

• establishing electronic roll marking using an external attendance management system
• retrieving a list of unexplained absences from the external system
• cross checking and recording any other student absence data
• finalising the list of unexplained absences
• using a messaging service to provide automated notifications (e.g. SMS, email) to parents/carers
• updating the external attendance management system with any responses received so that it has the current attendance and absence data
• uploading absence data into OneSchool at the end of the school day.

Follow up is required when no response has been received to the same day notification and should occur as soon as practicable after the day of the absence. Schools should document the process and parameters they will use to follow up unexplained student absences.

Schools can determine the most appropriate ways to follow up with parents/carers which could be:

• a text, phone call or email
• sending a letter home with a sibling
• sending a weekly letter home listing any unexplained absences for the previous week and asking the parent/carer to respond
• a home visit.

If there is no response from the parent/carer to the follow up, schools will need to make a decision when follow up is to cease and to leave the absence recorded as unexplained. Schools should then consider whether to commence the failure to attend process, as outlined in the  Managing student absences and enforcing enrolment and attendance at state schools procedure.

Having accurate and current parent/carer contact details in OneSchool is essential for many school processes, including same day student absence notification.

Some ways to encourage parents/carers to provide their current contact details to the school include:

• school newsletter reminders
• double checking with parents/carers when they are visiting the school office
• routine mailouts to parents/carers (e.g. each semester)
• social media messages
• website alerts
• QSchools messages
• messages shared through the P&C
• if the school becomes aware that the details have changed, send a note home with that student for them to return with the updated details.

As part of the department's Standard School Audit Program, internal auditors examine whether there is a same day absence notification process in place and working effectively.