School attendance tick

By Kath Gannaway
AN INITIATIVE by Woori Yallock Primary School has been taken up by the Department of Education and Training for a state-wide campaign aimed at increasing school attendance.
Woori Yallock principal Neil Jorgensen said the school identified a problem with above average absences six years ago.
All year levels were well above the state-wide average for absenteeism and most were above the 75th percentile.
The school developed a slogan “It’s Not OK to Stay Away” and launched a sustained information campaign to parents, and to the wider community, aimed at encouraging parents to value education and understand that school was important to their children.
Education and Training Minister Lynne Kosky, launched the “It’s Not OK to Be Away” campaign state-wide during Student Awareness Awareness Week in February with a corresponding launch to Eastern Metropolitan Region schools taking place at Woori Yallock Primary School.
“We looked at it as a marketing exercise and that slogan appeared on every piece of paper that went home,” Mr Jorgensen said.
“Apart from the slogan we talked to parents about why their child needed to be at school and the messages they were giving them about the value of school (by allowing them to stay at home)”.
By 2004 student absences in all year levels were below the state average with five of the seven levels having absence rates below the 25th percentile.
All Victorian Government schools will receive the resource kit, which contains attendance strategies, samples of successful strategies, pamphlets for parents and students, a CD, poster and power point presentations.