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Dear Parent/Guardian,
You may have seen a recent 7 Local News broadcast regarding School Attendance Rates which compared the Attendance Rates of schools on the Sunshine Coast. The broadcast placed the school as the worst performer in this area at an attendance rate of 88%. Although slightly below the state attendance rate of 91% with 95% of these absences explained, we are working hard every day to improve our figures.
I am committed to maximising student attendance at Maroochydore State High School. It is a complex issue, but we place a high priority on ensuring all children attend school all day, every school day. Ultimately, parents carry the major responsibility for getting their children to school, but equally, we have an important role to play as well.
There is a clear link between student attendance and student achievement at school. That’s why we have put in place a range of strategies to improve attendance. They include:
• a breakfast program
• comprehensive monitoring and reporting systems
• implementing electronic student attendance system
• linking families with local support services
• offering flexible schooling arrangements, where appropriate
• referrals to school based support staff, such as Guidance Officers
• follow-up phone calls to parents/carers
• student rewards
Communication with families is the key and we do that through phone calls, email, school newsletters and the school website.
This data, however, is only a small part of a larger data set that is published on the My School Website and in the Annual School Report which provides a fuller and more complete picture of our successes. These successes include:
• NAPLAN test performances from 2009 onwards the same as or close to national bench marks with a pattern of continued improvement in performance from Year 7 to Year 9.
• 88% of Year 12 OP eligible students achieving a C or better on the 2011 QCS test - 10% better than the performance of the state.
• 78% of Year 12 OP eligible students achieving an OP between 1 and 15, which included two OP1s,
five OP2s and five OP3s and overall, a 3% better performance than the 2011 state performance.
• 95% of students in Year 12 2011 completed school with a either Vocational Education qualification, Queensland Certificate of Education or a school based apprenticeship.
• 18% of Year 12 students participated in a school based apprenticeship.
• 100% of students who applied were given an offer of a Tertiary Education Course.
• 86% of students attained a Queensland Certificate of Education.
These successes are the result of a sustained focus on quality teaching and high expectations of students in regards to behaviour, effort and academic performance. This school and its staff has a record of achievement to feel very proud about that has placed this school as one of the top performing schools on the Sunshine Coast.
Yours sincerely,
Ross Robertson, Acting Principal |
