Handling absences

These are regarded as an important part of the school educational program and all students are expected to be at school regardless of the change of routine.

A satisfactory explanation must be provided by parents or guardians for all student absences. Parents or guardians can notify St Ives High School of their student’s absence by:

• Calling the school office on the morning concerned (school hours are 8:30am-3:30pm), or
• Responding to the attendance SMS sent by St Ives High School (see below), or
• Respond to the Sentral Parent App notification on their device, or
• Providing a letter written by a parent or guardian on the first day of a student’s return to school. This note must be written in full by the student’s parent or guardian. This note is to be handed to administration staff at the front office.

Students in Years 9-10 attend Grade Sport on Thursdays, every week. In cases of Wet Weather and Sports Grounds Closures/Cancellations, the students in these years attend indoor school activities until when they are dismissed. 

St Ives High School uses the Sentral Attendance System.

This system will send a SMS message and/or App Notification to a parent/guardian alerting them of student absences. This email is generally sent before 12pm.

Parents and guardians are encouraged to reply to this SMS and/or App notification to explain their student’s absence.

If parents or guardians wish their child to leave school before the end of the school day, a note requesting early departure must be presented to school. The note should indicate:

• the time the student intends to leave school early and 
• reason for a student’s early departure.

The note can be sent via:

• A written request that can be handed to the front office before Roll Call or Period 1. (This allows the office to process the request), or
• An email to the front office. Please send your  Early Leave Request to stives-h.admin@det.nsw.edu.au. Please consider sending it as early as possible to allow for processing time.
• Entering an absence request through the "Absences" button in the Sentral Parent App. 

The student will then be issued with a printed Pass Out slip, which they hand to their teacher and use to depart their class session. Pass Out Slips are processed for collection at Recess. Students are not allowed to leave the school premises without their Pass Out Slip. 

Pass Out requests for Thursday (Grade Sports day for students in Years 9-10) must be presented (emailed, note or on Sentral) before Period 1 (before 8:50 am).

Necessary documentation (e.g. dental appointment cards) supporting the student’s pass-out request must be presented and medical certificates relating to the student’s early departure must be handed in or emailed to the school the next day.

For all Extended Leave requests, parents must first email the office at stives-h.admin@det.nsw.edu.au at least 1 month prior to travelling.

A staff member will be in contact upon receiving your request.

All absence notifications and requests can be sent by using the parent Sentral app.

Please contact the school's Digital Technical Support officer by emailing stives-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au for any issues or if you have misplaced your family key.