As the week ends we are about half way though term 1. Parents are allowed to enter school grounds mask free. We will proceed cautiously in opening events like assemblies at this stage. We hope parents will be able to come along to our Way of the Cross celebration and Easter Hat Parade at the end of the term. I do sincerely thank families for helping us in following COVID guidelines. Our school community so far has been blessed in not having major issues with Covid. We pray that this continues and we can all keep safe. Students are working hard on their learning and I hope our focus can remain on this, our core business. We will be having Parent/Teacher Interviews in the last week of Term 1. Further details will be sent out soon.

ABOUT ATTENDANCE

The school day at Ss. Peter and Pauls runs from 9.20am (lessons begin) and 3.20pm (end of school day). Children who arrive late or leave early regularly miss out on a lot of class time when it is added up over the term or year. There is also disruption to the class when there are late arrivals and early departures. While we understand that appointments may necessitate this, leaving early can be very disruptive to a child's education. Below is some information about the impact of missing school:

How many whole days has your child missed this Semester (half a year):

0 –6 This is within normal range. A child with this attendance rate is able to take full advantage of the teaching and learning opportunities available to them.

7 – 10 This attendance rate is below aver-age. A child with this attendance rate could miss over one year of schooling between Kinder and year 10.

11 –20. This is a poor attendance rate. A child with this attendance rate could miss out on up to two years of schooling between Kinder and year 10.

20+ This is a very poor attendance rate. A child with this attendance rate could miss over two and a half years of schooling be-tween Kinder and year 10.

Partial abscences (latecomers & early leavers):

A student who comes fifteen minutes late for school everyday or regularly leaves early is missing more than you think.

15 minutes per day adds to 1 hour 15 per week. If we take this out of the Numeracy block where classes generally teach five hours per week, by the end of the year the students has nearly missed one terms worth of Maths. Can your student afford to lose this?

The same things add up if we consider this as a literacy block where classes generally have ten hours per week. The percentage is halved, but it still adds up to a student missing nearly half a term of literacy. Lateness adds up quickly!!