Attendance
The principal of a registered non-government school must keep a register, in a form approved by the Minister, of the enrolments and daily attendances of all children at the school.
The attendance registers must be in a form approved by the Minister. In 2010, the Minister approved a common code for the attendance registers of all New South Wales schools. The codes must be used from the start of the 2012 school year. The approved authority for a system may provide specific advice to member schools on the application of the codes. The codes for use in either manual attendance registers or electronic attendance registers are published on the websites of the Association of Independent Schools of NSW (AIS) and the Catholic Schools NSW (CSNSW).
The register of enrolments and/or the register of daily attendances may be maintained in print or electronic form.
Copies of the information in the register of enrolments and the register of daily attendance should be stored off-site at regular intervals.
In 2010, the Minister, under section 25 of the Education Act, delegated the power to the principal of a non-government school to grant and cancel a certificate of exemption from being enrolled and attending school in certain prescribed circumstances. The Minister also delegated this power to the approved authority for a system in certain prescribed circumstances.
Evidence of capacity to comply
The principal of a proposed non-government school must:
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describe the method it will use to maintain a register of enrolments that will include the following information for each student:
- name, age and address
- the name and contact telephone number of parent(s)/guardian(s)
- date of enrolment and, where appropriate, the date of leaving the school and the student's destination
- for students older than six (6) years, previous school or pre-enrolment situation
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where the destination of a student below seventeen (17) years of age is unknown, evidence that the Department of Education has been notified of the student's full name, date of birth, last known address, last date of attendance, parents' names and contact details, an indication of possible destination, other information that may assist officers to locate the student, and any known work health and safety risks associated with contacting the parents or student
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have in place policies and procedures to:
- monitor the daily attendance/absence of students
- identify absences from school and/or class(es)
- follow up unexplained absences
- notify parent(s) and/or guardian(s) regarding poor school and/or class attendance
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transfer information about unsatisfactory attendance to student files
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maintain a register of daily attendance, which will include the following information for each student:
- daily attendance, which may be recorded by noting daily absences
- absences
- reason for absence
- documentation to substantiate reason for absence
Note: The common code approved by the Minister must be used.
- have in place and implement policies and procedures for exercising the Minister's delegation under section 25 of the Education Act 1990
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maintain records of the exercise of the above delegation including copies of all certificates issued under the delegation
The register of enrolments must be maintained for a minimum of five (5) years before archiving.The register of daily attendance must be retained for a period of seven (7) years after the last entry was made.