Truancy Call
Are our Children Safe and Sound...?
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Principals' Conference, Brisbane Truancy Call was featured at the National Secondary Principals’ Conference and we met school principals from all states.
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The Benefits of Truancy Call Truancy Call reduces unauthorised absences and improves efficiency Reduced Casual Truancy - able to alert parents within minutes of every roll call, the system almost completely erradicates casual truancy. "Truancy Call has reduced our unauthorised absences by approximately two thirds." Gympie State High School Improved Safety & Security - significantly improving attendance takes children off the streets and keeps them in school. When it comes to our Children's Safety, 'Prevention' isn't just better than 'Cure', it's our absolute responsibility. Better Tracking of Children - alerting parents within minutes of roll call makes it far more likely parents will be able to locate their children. More Timely Communication - replaces the letters that are sent weekly or even fortnightly with immediate voice calls. "Schools are required to inform parents immediately of any unexplained absences" http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/gotoschool/a-z/attendance.php Improved Parent/Teacher Relations - the 'Call Parents' option allows voice messages to be broadcast to select groups of parents. A personal message from the Principal to all parents reminding them of tomorrow's School Report, PTA meeting or Sports Day has seen attendance improve by 35%. This builds a more personal bond between the Head of the School and the parents. "Truancy Call doesn't rely on us having all the parents mobile numbers. We found we had only around half the mobile numbers, and even they changed far too regularly to be useful". "Having multiple languages was really important to us - if English is a second language, many parents just wouldn't respond to an SMS - sending a real voice call to them is so much more effective." "It's interactive. Parents can tell us why kids are absent and can even record a message so we have a much better attendance and even consented absence has fallen off". |
What Schools have Said "Truancy Call has reduced our unauthorised absences by approximately two thirds." Gympie State High School "...absentee rates have been slashed by at least 50 per cent." Linda Doherty, Education Editor, Sydney Morning Herald, May 22, 2004 "One of the primary concerns in addressing the issue of truancy is the protection of students from the risk of becoming victims of crime." http://www.police.nsw. gov.au /community_issues/ children/truancy "Since Truancy Call’s introduction, the unexplained absences have decreased by 50%." Bundaberg State High School |