Park Ridge State High School is committed to providing quality educational experiences to all of our students to ensure they are achieving at their highest potential.

Students must attend school every day. Our school target is 92% minimum attendance!

COVID has had a heavy impact on student attendance at Park Ridge SHS. Student attendance is at 5 year low, with many students having real difficulties maintaining their attendance after lockdowns.

To support increased attendance, we are asking our community to aim high in term 1. We will be running a series of reward days at the end of term 1 for all students who achieve 95% attendance or higher. This will require students to miss no more than 2 days of school across Term 1 of 2022.

Research shows that in Queensland, higher student attendance at school is associated with higher student achievement. The importance of excellent attendance can't be overestimated.

If your child is absent due to illness, we ask that you inform the school on the day that they are absent.​

Park Ridge State High School aims for all students to have an attendance goal of 92-100% attendance in the school year.

What does this mean?

• Students who maintain an attendance rate of 92% or higher are eligible to participate in extra-curricular activities and will be encouraged to maintain their attendance by being eligible for a range of awards.

• Students whose attendance is below 92% and have a valid reason can apply to participate in extra-curricular activities in writing through the year level deputy.
• Students may leave school early for approved reasons only and must be picked up from the office by parent / guardian. All absences, however, decrease a student's overall attendance percentage.
• Students with excellent attendance will achieve better results than those with poor attendance. 
  

Why 92% as a minimum?

Every lesson counts and days absent from school quickly add up.

A 92% attendance rate equates to 4 days off per term or a day off every 12.5 days.  Over a year this equates to 16 days absent from school. Over the course of secondary school (6 years), 16 days absent per year equates to 96 days absence overall. This is nearly two terms or half a year of missed schooling.

We believe that over three full weeks of absence from school per year is more than reasonable for healthy students and that no job in the workforce will provide this level of paid sick leave. 

What if a student is below 90% attendance?

If a student has an attendance rate of 90%, then this equates to one full day absent from school per fortnight. Over a year this equates to 20 days absent from school. This is four weeks of absence from school.  Over the course of secondary school (6 years), 20 days absent per year equates to 120 days absence overall. This is more than half a year of missed schooling.

Responsibilities

Students

• Attend every class, on time, every day, ready to learn
• Only be absent from school for serious and unavoidable reasons
• If absent from school, provide a note or medical certificate to form teacher

Parents

• Ensure your child attends school on every school day
• Provide a satisfactory and timely explanation for all absences
• Contact the school if an absence is for an extended period of time
• On return to school provide your child with a satisfactory explanation for their absence

School

• Monitor student's attendance daily by recording attendance every lesson
• Notify parent/carers of any unexplained absence for the day via text message
• Notify parent / carers of instances of truancy or persistent lateness to class
• Discuss individual attendance with students and parent/carers and offer support to parents and students when school attendance has become a problem

Why is attendance on every school day so important?

Read the attendance policy (PDF, 188KB).

More information about attendance: Regular school attendance (PDF, 302KB).