Attendance

Student Attendance

Regular school attendance is important for students to experience success at Onslow College. For this purpose, it is essential that whānau and all staff at the college work together to regularly reinforce the importance of attending school to all students. This helps students achieve our vision:

Kei konei mātou,
ka poipoia ō mātou puāwaitanga
ka ea hoki ō mātou wawata

We bring ourselves,
together we are nurtured to thrive
and realise our aspirations.

Onslow College has high expectations for all students. This means students attend all of their timetabled classes, Ako times and assemblies. In order to mark student attendance according to the guidelines set by the MoE, the following processes are to be followed.

Notifying Onslow of Absences

Please use the SchoolBridge App (https://onslow.bridge.school.nz/app) or scan the QR code below to download

or Web Dashboard (https://onslow.bridge.school.nz/)

Process for Parents/Caregivers

All students enrolled at Onslow College must attend school regularly. If a student is unable to attend college on any given day, it is the parent/caregiver's responsibility to provide an appropriate absence notification. The school highly recommends that this notification is made through the schoolbridge app (https://onslow.bridge.school.nz/app) or the web dashboard (https://onslow.bridge.school.nz/). This must include a brief reason for the student’s absence so that their attendance is coded correctly.

Unplanned absences such as short-term illness or other unavoidable absence:
It is recommended that the school is notified by 8.30 am on the day for unplanned absences. Parents/caregivers should advise the school if the absence will be full day or part of the day. If the absence is for part of the day, parents/caregivers should state approximately which spells the student(s) will be away for.
Medical certificates may be requested for prolonged illness and are critical if senior students miss an NCEA Internal or External assessment. For a missed NCEA Internal or External assessment, contact the Subject Teacher and promptly supply a medical certificate to the Main Reception.

Requesting leave for family reasons, eg. holiday, sport representation:
It is a Ministry requirement that if students will be absent for a day or more for reasons other than sickness or bereavement, leave is requested from the Principal. It is important to consider NCEA assessment dates for senior students. Email details of the leave to the Principal at principal@onslow.school.nz for their consideration.

The process for your student if they need to leave early e.g., medical appointment:
Prior notice is needed by the Main Reception for release of all students. If your student is in Year 13, they can sign out during their study line, however, for any absences impacting a timetabled spell, Year 13s must provide confirmation of the reason from their caregiver.

The process if your student notifies you that they are sick and wish to leave:
Call the Main Reception (04-478 8189) to advise that your student will sign out or request that they wait for you in Sickbay.

How to access attendance data:
Parents can track their student’s attendance at any time of the day using the schoolbridge app or web dashboard. To check student attendance, click on the ‘attendance’ icon.

Absence notification to parents:
Parents/caregivers are notified via text message and/or email between 10am and 11am each day (except Tuesday) if their student has a ‘?’ for spell 1 and/or spell 2. On Tuesdays, parents are notified approximately between 11 am and 12 pm.

Please reply to the text, either to provide information on the absence, or to query the message if you are unaware of your student’s absence.

Late arrival to class:
If your student is more than 10 minutes late for their class, they will be marked as ‘L’. If a student has walked into a class while the teacher is busy, they may not be marked ‘L’ till after the lesson is over.

Please note for all absences that have not been explained, the ‘?’ turns into ‘T’ for truancy after 5 days. This will show as ‘U’ in the app for parents and students.

Internal school appointment:
If a student has an internal school appointment such as with the dean, career or guidance counselor, they will be marked an ‘I’ for internal appointment which will show as ‘P’ in the app for parents and students.

Tracking attendance:
At the start of each week, parents will be emailed the attendance stats of their student for the previous week. If there are any absences that parents are unaware of, they can investigate those further by checking their young person’s attendance on the schoolbridge app and/or emailing their student’s ako teacher or subject teacher for clarification. If it is an absence that the parent has forgotten to notify the school about earlier, they can do so by using the school bridge app or emailing absences@onslow.school.nz. Parents are advised to regularly check their student’s attendance via the schoolbridge app or web dashboard particularly for spells after morning tea.

Please note all student attendance is coded according to MoE guidelines. Absences explained by parents/caregivers that the MoE considers unjustified, are coded as ‘E’ and will show as ‘U’ in the app for students and parents.

If for some reason, a parent or caregiver is unable to use the app to notify us about their young person’s absence, they can email absences@onslow.school.nz or in an emergency, contact the main phone line: (04-478 8189). Please note that notification through the schoolbridge app is our preferred method.

Process for Students

Attend ALL your timetabled classes, Ako spells and assemblies.

Year 13s: If you have a study spell 1, please sign in at the main office when you come in for spell 2. For a study spell during the day, morning tea and/or lunch if you are going off-site, please sign out at the main office before leaving. Please note that if you have study spell 3, you must attend AKO afterwards. Absences without parental consent will be coded as ‘T’ for truant. All unjustified explained absences will be coded as ‘E’ which will show as ‘U’ in the app.

If you miss a class, Ako or assembly:
It is YOUR responsibility to follow this up by asking your parent or caregiver to email absences@onslow.school.nz to explain your absence. When the school is not provided with an appropriate reason, unexplained absences get recorded as ‘?’ which turn into ‘T’ for truancy after 5 days.

Internal appointments:
If you are with any staff member for an appointment during timetabled class or ako time, confirm that they have marked you ‘I’ for internal appointment. This will show as ‘P’ on the schoolbridge attendance app. If your appointment finishes during spell time, take a note from the staff member stating what time you left them to return to class.

Music lessons:
If your music lesson is in the first half of the spell, you will be marked ‘I’ by your music teacher. When you return to class, the attendance will be changed by your teacher to ‘P’.

If your music lesson is in the second half of the spell, your subject teacher will mark you ‘P’ for the first half and then your music teacher will amend that attendance to ‘I’ as you arrive at the lesson.

Late Arrival:
If you arrive late to school for any reason you must sign in the Main Reception and then attend your normal class at that time. Ask your teacher to amend the attendance as Present or Late for that spell depending on what time you arrive. You must follow up your late arrival by asking your parent/caregiver to email absences@onslow.school.nz with the reason if they have not already done so earlier.

Early Departure:

Year 9-12 students may not leave school during the day without the school being notified by their parents/caregiver. Students with permission must sign out at the Main Reception, and sign in if they are returning later that same day.

Year 13’s may sign themselves out during study spell, morning tea or lunch time but then parent/caregiver must provide a reason if they miss timetabled classes. Year 13’s must sign back in at the main office when they return to school the same day.

Sickness during the day:
If you are unwell during the day, tell your teacher, and then report to the Main Reception. During a study spell, morning tea or lunch time, you can present yourself to the Main Reception directly. Your parent/caregiver will be contacted while you are in Sickbay.

If you arrange directly with your parents/caregiver to be collected or to leave on your own, ask them to call ahead to the Main Reception so you can sign out promptly or wait for them in Sickbay. You must wait in the Sickbay until a call, email or schoolbridge app notification is received.

Principal Approved Leave:
If you are granted leave of absence from the Principal, it is your responsibility to inform all your teachers as soon as the leave is confirmed. Teachers are not obliged to provide work during this time. However, check google classroom regularly to keep up with missed work. Ensure you will not miss any NCEA Assessments.

Medical Certificates:
If you are absent due to illness and will miss an NCEA Assessment, inform your Subject Teacher and provide a dated medical certificate to the Main Reception or absences@onslow.school.nz.

Medical certificates may also be requested for prolonged illness.

Tracking your attendance:
Each day you will be emailed your attendance for the previous day. Follow up on any ‘?’ by asking your parent/caregiver to email absences@onslow.school.nz to explain your absence. If you believe the ‘?’ is incorrect, please follow up with the subject teacher to amend your attendance or the staff member if you were in an internal appointment with them. Attendance is a legal document and therefore is used for a variety of reasons such as when applying for jobs or further education. It is imperative that you follow up on all ‘?’ in your attendance data.

You can also track your attendance by using the schoolbridge app.

Student Attendance

Notifying Onslow of Absences

Onslow College

Follow us