It is expected that students will attend regularly and punctually. If a student is away or is going to be late, it is important that parents phone the school to let us know.
We recognize that there are situations such as illness or emergencies when students will be missing. Teachers will provide extra work and assistance to these students. However, much of what is learned in class occurs through the experience of participating in class discussions and activities. These cannot be made up in most instances.
Should parents choose to remove their child for other reasons, it is the parents' responsibility to make up the missed work with the child. An increasing number of families are choosing to take family vacations or attend athletic or cultural events during school time. A teacher cannot be expected to provide correspondence type work for a student vacation or give up significant amounts of time to "catch up" students who have missed for reasons other than illness or family emergencies. It is also difficult to assess students who have been away and have done work while they were away. Evaluation of students by teachers is done based on work that teachers have guided the students through.
Teachers may be able to give general work for students who are away for other reasons if the teacher is given adequate time to look at their plans. However, the student may need to make up the work when they return and do their best to demonstrate the learning outcomes that were missed.
Some suggested activities for parents:
- taking novels for the student to read and have them complete a reading response journal,
- keeping a scrapbook or photo journal of places visited or events participated in and keeping a diary of the trip for presentation to the class,
- keeping a math journal or ledger, recording distances traveled, costs incurred, currency changes or VISA records,
- purchasing a math workbook appropriate to your child's grade level.
Upon return, the teacher will be happy to see the work done, but not for evaluation purposes. We trust there is good reason to take your child away from school and therefore the experience of the trip should be the focus while away, with the intention of doing some makeup work upon return to school.
