Every Day Counts emphasises the importance of children and young people attending school every day and provides schools and parents with tools they can use to promote full time school attendance.
The resources below can support parents to ensure their child attends school each and every day
The following brochures have more information about why attendance is important and include some tips on what you can do to ensure your child attends school each day.
For a translated versions of the brochure, see: Every Day Counts
Parents are required to ensure their child attends school and to provide an explanation for their child's absence from school, and the principal must record in writing the reason (if any) given by the parent. The principal must be able to determine from the records if the excuse given was reasonable in terms of the parent meeting their legal obligations.
Parents should inform the school of the reason for their child’s absence so that the school can:
- determine if the child’s absence needs to be excused by the principal, in line with school policy and these guidelines
- determine the appropriate follow up to ensure the child’s education and wellbeing is supported
- record if the parent has a reasonable excuse for not meeting their obligation to ensure their child attends school each day.
Where possible, parents should inform the school in advance of upcoming absences.
Examples of recommended approaches to absence for parents, see:
For support to get your child to go to school, see:
For more information about legal requirements and attendance at school, see: Legal Requirements
For more information on Victorian attendance legislation see:
For information on how to enrol your child in school or register for home schooling see: Enrolling your Child in School or Registering for Home Schooling (docx - 194.55kb)
For more information on attendance issues related to bullying, see: Bully Stoppers
The Victorian Aboriginal Education Association has developed posters highlighting the risks associated with poor attendance and/ or punctuality, see: