Hi everyone, 

We have been working with a number of schools over the last couple of weeks to discuss the impact of attendance calculation changes that we released at the start of 2023, as directed by the DET.

After consultation with a range of schools and Principal networks, we have implemented some changes to address the concerns raised.

Please take a moment to read over the immediate changes that have been made in response to this feedback. Please note that we are in conversations with the DET to ensure further concerns, and feedback is addressed to ensure the best experience going forward.

Please reach out to our support team for further clarifications. If you do require consultation, or are concerned about certain aspects of these changes, please indicate this with our support team who will flag this with me and I will contact you directly to discuss.

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1) Discontinuation of 900 - School Choice Attendance code

In recent days we have been alerted to the discontinuation of the 900 - School Choice code by the DET. We have now implemented this change and will no longer be available to use in your school portal.

We were not alerted to this change earlier than last week and as such some schools may have used this code in the first few weeks of Term prior to its discontinuation. 

We have been assured by the DET that they will implement a better process of alerting us to any changes going forward to avoid this situation in the future, nonetheless we apologise for the inconvenience caused.

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2) Departure Colours  

The colours of departures in a student’s annual attendance summary have changed to more accurately reflect the departure reason code, rather than the departure itself.

Previously an early departure would show as yellow, regardless of if it was approved or unapproved. 

We received feedback that this has made it difficult to track departure reasons over time. As such the departure half day colour in the summary will now show as:

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Early departure unapproved = red in annual summary

Early departure approved = orange in annual summary

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Before:

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Now:

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3)  Arrivals & Departures will not affect the present code of School Activities & Custom Classes.

Previous to this change students were receiving a Not Present: Unexplained code after they departed school even though they had a school activity or custom class after their departure time (e.g. flexible attendance, offsite VET class etc). Where a student departs before or during a custom class or school activity, their attendance code will now default to present.

Please note: any unexplained absences from the start of the year until now as a result of this previous behaviour will be updated by this change, so you do not need to manually update anything yourself.

Before:

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Now:

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Further Updates Coming Soon

Students with no afternoon classes, or a school activity/custom class will be defaulted to present after a departure.

This change is ensuring that students don’t receive a Not Present: Unexplained code where they could not have attended anything.

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Attendance Dayline Updated (will display primary code in primary schools)

We will be updating the timeline to reflect the relevant attendance codes for Primary and Secondary schools (the same code that is being exported to CASES).

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Thank you again for your patience as we worked through these changes.

Kind Regards,

Mairead Mc Donough

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