Attendance

9 School attendance notice

Sending a school attendance notice

Before a School Attendance Notice is issued to a parent a School Attendance Officer must be satisfied that:

1. the student has been absent from school on at least 5 full days in the previous 12 months and the parent has not provided a reasonable excuse for these absences
2. measures to improve the student's attendance have been undertaken and been unsuccessful, or are inappropriate in the circumstances
3. a parent responsible for the absences can be identified (School Attendance Notices must be addressed to a single person)

A template for a School Attendance Notice is prescribed in the Education and Training Reform Regulations 2017 (Vic). A School Attendance Notice should be accompanied by information about the importance of school attendance and the ramifications of failure to comply. For templates, refer to Attendance and Enrolment Resources for Regions (login required).

Where it is known or suspected that the recipients of the School Attendance Notice are from a language background other than English, the School Attendance Notice should be issued in the appropriate language. Forms are available in:

• Vietnamese
• Arabic
• Cantonese
• Turkish, and
• Mandarin

If the form is not available in the language required, School Attendance Officers should contact the Wellbeing, Health and Engagement Division at

• email: student.engagement@education.vic.gov.au
• phone: 9637 3179

School Attendance Officers and their delegates must keep file notes of any communications with schools and parents. These file notes should be signed and dated.

When sending a School Attendance Notice the School Attendance Officer should ensure:

• all fields are complete
• the document is legible
• the form is completed in blue or black pen only
• names are correct (of both the child and the parent)
• address details are correct
• all dates, including birth dates and dates of non-attendance are correct
• the notice is signed and dated
• any relevant evidence is attached to the notice
• any available fact sheets that may be of use to the recipient are attached to the notice
• copies of the notice and related documents are recorded in the Student Online Cases System (SOCS) (this may mean referral of documentation back to the school)
• copies of the School Attendance Notice and related documents are sent to the Director, Wellbeing, Health and Engagement Division in the Department's central office

Note:

For referrals received from the principal of a Catholic school, the School Attendance Officer must notify relevant Diocesan Catholic Education Office Wellbeing personnel that a School Attendance Notice has been sent.

Assessing the response to the school attendance notice

The School Attendance Officer is responsible for assessing a response to a School Attendance Notice The decision as to whether to accept the explanation provided in the response to a School Attendance Notice rests with the School Attendance Officer.

A School Attendance Officer may consider a response to a School Attendance Notice when making a decision to issue an Infringement Notice. For offences of failing to comply with a School Attendance Notice, except the offence of providing false information, the School Attendance Officer is authorised to issue an Infringement Notice to the parent.

Parent responds with a reasonable excuse

If the parent responds to a School Attendance Notice by the date which the parent must respond to the notice (being a date no less than 21 days after the notice was issued) with an excuse that is deemed reasonable by the School Attendance Officer, the School Attendance Officer must:

• send a letter to the parent confirming they have met their obligations but must continue to ensure their child attends school, and
• instruct the principal to amend the attendance record (in CASES21 or the school' s student attendance data management system) to reflect the reason given by the parent

Parent responds without a reasonable excuse

If the parent responds to the School Attendance Notice within the prescribed time, but the School Attendance Officer determines (in consultation with the referring principal if required) that the parent has not provided a reasonable excuse for the absences, the School Attendance Officer may decide to issue an Infringement Notice. For guidance in making this decision, refer to the next chapter, Chapter 10 Infringement notices.

The School Attendance Officer must notify the principal of the action taken and to confirm the reason to be recorded for the absences.

Parent's response is contradictory or unclear

If the excuse provided by a parent in response to a School Attendance Notice:

• contradicts a previous excuse or
• is not clearly the excuse recorded by the principal (including no excuse recorded)

the School Attendance Officer should consult with the referring principal before deciding whether to accept that excuse as a reasonable excuse.

Parent responds nominating another parent

If the parent (parent A) responds to a School Attendance Notice within the prescribed time nominating another parent (parent B) who was responsible for the child on the days stated on the notice, then the School Attendance Officer must check that parent B is listed on the child' s enrolment record at the school.

If parent B is listed, the School Attendance Officer should send:

• a letter to parent A confirming receipt of their response, and
• a new School Attendance Notice to parent B

If parent B is not listed, the School Attendance Officer must notify parent A that their nomination has not been accepted and they are required to respond to the notice with an explanation for the absence.

If parent B re-nominates parent A, the School Attendance Officer should refer the matter back to the referring principal for advice and more information.

If the principal is not certain of the responsible parent the School Attendance Officer will re-send the School Attendance Notice to parent A advising that their nomination had not been accepted and they are required to respond to the notice with an explanation for the absence.

Importantly, parent A can respond stating that they were responsible for some of the days, but not responsible for others. An offence is only committed when a reasonable excuse is not provided for five or more days of absence. The remaining days will be considered the responsibility of Parent B. Accordingly, if five days of absence without explanation do accumulate, a new notice may be sent.

If the principal wishes for the School Attendance Officer to take no further action, the principal must continue to address the attendance issue at the school level.

Parent does not respond

If the parent does not respond to the School Attendance Notice within the prescribed time, then the parent has committed an offence.

In these cases, it may be prudent to make contact by telephone or email to determine whether they have received the School Attendance Notice and/or whether there are other circumstances that led to failure to respond to the School Attendance Notice.

The School Attendance Officer may wish to refer the parent to appropriate external agencies who may be able to provide support and assistance to the parent. In such circumstances, it may be appropriate to re­visit attendance when the circumstances have changed.

The School Attendance Officer should attempt to contact the parent by other means, for example by telephone, to gather extra information before deciding on appropriate action, which may include issuing an Infringement Notice.

The School Attendance Officer then must notify the principal of action taken and to confirm that absences are to remain recorded as unexplained.