Attendance Procedures at Massey High School

We have a number of students that are not following Massey High School's Attendance Procedures. Please take the time to read this article which outlines our current signing in and out procedures.

New Zealand law requires children from the age of 6 to be present at school except in special circumstances such as illness etc. Parents must notify the school if their child is absent from school.  

My child needs to leave school early, what is the process?

If your child needs to leave school early for an appointment you are able to request an ‘Exit Pass’ via the Parent Portal - or via the SchoolBridge App prior to the student needing to leave.

If you are unable to access the portal or the Schoolbridge app, students must have a note signed by a parent/guardian. The student then gets this countersigned by a Dean or a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

Please make note of the reason that the student will be leaving early and whether or not you expect them to return to school that day.

The student must go to the Attendance Administrator who issues an “Out-of-School” pass.  For Health and Safety reasons this is a MUST.

Please note it is up to the Parents/Caregivers of the student to contact the school with the request to leave school early, if notice has not been provided the student will be told to return to their class.

Please DO NOT send your child a text message and expect them to be let out of class and to leave the school grounds without following this process.

How do I report an absence?

If students are unable to attend school we require notification, by 9am, by a parent/caregiver via the Parent Portal -  or via the SchoolBridge App which can be downloaded here.  You will require your Parent Portal logon details to access these.

If you are unable to access the portal or the Schoolbridge app, you are able to email us.

If you report that your child is absent for illness/medical reasons, an automated message will be sent to the email address held on file requesting further details.  We ask that you please completed this questionnaire to enable us to mark your child's attendance correctly.

Please Note: Reporting an absence must come from the person nominated on your child's profile, not from the student themselves nor can we accept the reporting of an absence from contact details that do not match those of the nominated person.

The Portal/App is a secure way of ensuring only parents/caregivers are sending through the reports and it also keeps a track of what you have sent through.

My child is going to be late, what do I need to do?

 

If students are going to be late to school we require notification, by 9am, by a parent/caregiver, via the Parent Portal - or via the SchoolBridge App.  Please make note of the reason that the student will be late and the approximate time they will return to school.

Students should be through the school gates by 8.35am to allow them to be ready to enter their period one class at 8.40am. Deans will be on the gates to sign in those students who arrive up to 9.00am – should there be no Deans on the gate by the time a student arrives, the student is to sign in at the attendance office.

Students arriving after 9am will need to report to the Attendance Office – with a note explaining why they are late, if this has not already been reported. 

I need my child to be released URGENTLY, what can be done?

 

If you need to sign your child out for an emergency during the day please be aware that the office staff may not be able to get your child straight away. While they will do everything they can to help, it may take a little while.

If you anticipate needing to get your child out urgently it would be helpful to give at least half an hour notice. You can phone the school office on 831-0500.  Please do not turn up at the office and expect to be able to get your child out of class immediately.

The student must go to the Attendance Administrator who issues an “Out-of-School” pass.

Please DO NOT send your child a text message and expect them to be let out of class and to leave the school grounds without following this process. 

My child feels unwell at school, what is the process?

If a student becomes sick during the day they must go to the nurse and she will decide if a parent needs to be contacted to come and take the child home.

Some students decide for themselves that they need to go home sick and phone parents directly, asking to be collected.  This is unsatisfactory and makes it very difficult for the school to keep a track of students’ whereabouts during the day, which we must do for their health and safety, if they have left the premises without following the correct procedure.

Appointments can be made here.

We ask parents to assist us in having their child follow the correct procedures regarding sickness at school.

Who can collect my child from school?

In order to ensure the Health and Safety of all students at Massey High School, this is a friendly reminder that if you wish to remove your student from school during the day, we can only allow this, if you are the person nominated on your child's profile.

If you need to update this, please contact Mrs Head on 831 0500 ext 524 or email Sharon Head

Please do not be offended if we are unable to sign your child out because of incorrect details showing on their profile.

I have received a text/email advising my child is not at school but I dropped them off this morning?

We have restarted automated absence notifications to parents/caregivers. 

Automated absence notifications are daily text messages/emails that are sent to whanau whose son/daughter are marked absent by halfway through period 1 (9.30am). The rationale behind daily absence notifications is to let parents know if their son/daughter has made it to school on time for the day.  

This message may cause concern for some parents which is understandable however, please note this does not mean they have not arrived at all.

Parents/Caregivers have the ability to logon and check attendance via our SchoolBridge App.  Simply login using your parent portal login details and press on Timetable/Attendance and this will show the student's attendance as it is marked for the day.

If your child arrives late and does not sign in via the correct avenues it is highly likely they will be marked absent and you will receive a text message/email.  The correct avenues for signing in late are:

    1. With the deans at the gate - this is generally up until 9am.

    2. At the Attendance Office.  If the attendance office is unattended then students must then go to Reception.

If you receive a absence notification txt message you can reply Y with a reason, N if unaware of absence, or disregard the message if you have already informed the school of your son/daughters absence.

 

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