Student Attendance
Artefact 1
Annotation
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The artefact included is a snapshot of a student attendance record at Chatswood Public School. When: Student attendance has been collected online since 2016. How: Class teachers mark their class attendance online on a daily basis as well as late arrivals and early leavers. What: This enables every staff member to view student attendance for that day, essential for lockdown and evacuation policies. Absence letters are also generated on Sentral for parents and summaries for school reports. Teachers, SASS and executives can all access the attendance data as needed. Why: Using this system has has greatly simplified the management of attendance.
The Significant Impact
Not only does this program make attendance easier for teachers, but it is also interactive for students and introduces how to use an Interactive Whiteboard with the students in a hands on scenario. Welfare issues on attendance can be easily found on Sentral, including percentage of attendance, reasons for absence and the method of communication used. Teachers have expressed positive feedback on the use of an online system, saving time and paperwork as data is automatically entered into reports and partial absences are easily added.
Analysis
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In our self-assessment process the leadership team analysed a range of evidence to support our judgement.
SEF Connections
Learning Element
Learning Culture - Excelling
Wellbeing - Sustaining and Growing
Through Sentral, patterns in attendance are highlighted. Chatswood Public School has a good rate for attendance as demonstrated by most students’ attendance rate of over 95%. Our Learning and Support Team are able to target any students with excessive absences or partial absences and involve HSLO where necessary. The Learning and Support Team and HSLO in turn have all the data needed when discussing wellbeing issues with parents. Staff is in-serviced when necessary to ensure they comply with HSLO policies.
Teaching Element
Collaborative Practice - Sustaining and Growing
Sentral attendance has eased the paperwork demand on staff. Sentral automatically input absence data in for student reports. This saves teachers a great deal of time as they no longer need manually calculate and enter data.
Leading Element
Management Practices and Processes - Sustaining and Growing
As the office staff and executive can also access Sentral attendance any unusual movement such as sickbay, leaving early or coming late can be noted on Sentral and becomes available for all staff to access. Sentral generates notes to parents about any attendance concerns so that teachers can contact them immediately with all the details of days and times collated for them.
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Please check the link below re: School Excellence Framework