School absences due to extreme
weather event or natural disaster
Parents/carers:

Notify the school that your child was absent due to an extreme weather event or natural disaster.

Absences recorded as a result of an extreme weather event or natural disaster are not counted
on a student’s report card.

For further information, check your local school newsletter and the department’s social media
(Facebook and Twitter).

If you are concerned that your child/ren may have missed important work as a result of their
absence you should:
o contact the classroom teacher regarding important work that may have been missed
o discuss how best to assist your child to catch up where necessary
o remember that teachers will revisit and reteach important concepts as part of their regular
teaching plan.
Staff/principals:

If parents have advised that their child was unable to attend because of an extreme weather
event or natural disaster, the student is not considered absent.

In these cases, the school should use the absence reason code ‘N’. This code may be used
whether or not the student is continuing to do school work while away from school, and may be
used for full or part-day absences. (Further information is in the Roll Marking in State Schools
procedure)

Absences coded ‘N’ (due to extreme weather events or natural disasters) will not be counted in
school absence data. This means that the school’s overall attendance rate will not be affected.

The Learning Place can provide support if your school or families have been affected by the
recent natural disaster.

A Virtual Classroom can be set up on the department’s eLearning environment, the Learning
Place. This secure online space contains the current Curriculum into the Classroom (C2C)
Independent learning materials in mathematics, English, science, history and geography with inbuilt collaboration tools to help keep everyone connected.

A web conferencing room can also support ongoing communications with students and their
families, enabling students to continue with their lessons and connect with their teachers.