09 Mar 2015
At Hurstville Public School, we have many families who travel overseas during the year and who need to be aware of new procedures regarding extended leave for the purpose of travel.
Until this recent change, students taking leave for holidays or travel during school terms were required to apply for a Certificate of Exemption. When this was granted, the student's leave was marked as an exemption and was not counted as an absence. The student's attendance figures, therefore, were not a true reflection of the days in which they were present at school, or absent.
One of the main reasons that there has been concern about student leave and absences is the recent research which shows the impact that absence has on a child's academic performance.
Dr Stephen Zubrick, from the University of Western Australia, was engaged by the Education Department of Western Australia to help establish the effect of being absent on academic performance. He examined the records of 420,000 children who were followed over a five year period, finishing in 2012. He accessed 2.4 million attendance records of students in government schools.
One of the major findings of his study was that every day counts – that, indeed, there is a clear relationship between attendance and academic performance. Each day that a child misses school has a slight impact on their academic performance, as measured in things such as NAPLAN results. These effects accumulate over time. The researchers found that absences that occurred two or three years prior to their NAPLAN results were still detectable. In Western Australia, the typical primary school student misses about 16 days of school a year, and this is fairly consistent across other Australian states. Even eight days missed each school term will add up to a whole school year by the end of primary school. Those days can be authorised or approved, or they may be unauthorised or unapproved. Dr Zubrick and his team found that the unauthorised absences have a much more dramatic impact on the NAPLAN score, but both matter.
Therefore, parents need to be very mindful and selective about taking students out of school. If it happens occasionally, research tells us there will still be an impact but it may be that alternative, rich, life experiences are being provided that have a benefit of their own. However, extended absences; travel that could be taken at other times; or repeated trips during school terms will need to be considered by the Principal and Deputy Principals to determine whether they can be justified (and approved) or are unjustified (and therefore will be recorded as an unjustified absence). In either case, these absences will be included on your child's school report and records.
Irrespective of whether your child is absent for a holiday or not, the importance of regular, punctual school attendance is undeniable. Apart from illness, children do best academically, socially and emotionally when they come to school every day.
Where possible, I encourage families to choose to travel out of school terms or, where this is not possible, to limit the length of time the child is out of school.
An Application Form for Extended Leave - Travel can be downloaded by clicking on this link: Extended Leave-Travel (pdf 85 KB). Another link is also to be found in the Attendance and Absences section of our website.
Please note: this form is to be used for domestic or overseas travel for whatever purpose (holiday, family visit, cultural celebrations, medical treatment, family bereavement, etc). Once completed, a meeting needs to be arranged with our Deputy Principals . Please bring the completed application form with you, as well as copies of any documentation such as airline ticket bookings, travel itineraries etc. If approved, a Certificate of Extended Leave -Travel will be issued to you.