Posters and social media posts promoting the many benefits of being on time and at school every day can be found online and in many Shepparton and Mooroopna shopfronts, thanks to participating businesses.
The messages remind students and parents how poor attendance can really add up – for example, missing just one day a fortnight equates to four weeks of lost learning a year.
“It’s more than missing out on important learning,” SEP Project manager Jenni Gibson said.
“School is where we make friends, have fun and develop our self-esteem and sense of belonging.”
School attendance trends across Victoria and the country need to be lifted and Greater Shepparton is no exception. The city has an added challenge of having about one-in-five households speaking a language other than English.
“School attendance is no better or worse in our multicultural communities, in fact education is highly valued by many who are new to Australia,” Ms Gibson said.
“However, everyone needs reminding that consistent, on-time attendance is critical to success at our schools and we want that message to be heard in every home.”
Maintaining good attendance means not running errands or making appointments during the day, avoiding holiday breaks during the school term and always keeping your school informed around unavoidable absences.
“Being unwell is a valid reason to miss school and we know there can also be a religious or cultural reason behind an absence,” Ms Gibson said.
“It’s important to contact the school with this information so families can work with teachers to manage any unavoidable absences.”
To reinforce the “every day counts” message across the multicultural community, posters and messages around the importance of school attendance and how absences quickly add up have been translated into languages including Arabic, Urdu, Hazaraghi, Pashto, Dari, Persian and Chinese.
The Shepparton Education Plan has commenced working with our multicultural community leaders to further help with translation and video messaging, including reinforcing the Australian expectations around school attendance for the benefit of new arrivals.
“The goal is for every family to know that regular school attendance is about happiness, wellbeing and opportunity for our young people,” Ms Gibson said.
- Be among the many businesses helping to promote “every day counts”. If you have a shopfront, we’ll deliver posters to your door for displauy. Email shepparton.education.plan @education.vic.gov.au
