Reporting an Absence

How should you report your child's absence from school?

SchoolBridge App
SchoolBridge web portal
Call the school office: 03 435 0650
If you report your child's absence by email, there is no guarantee it will go to the correct staff member. To avoid any confusion, the best way to report your child's absence is through either one of the SchoolBridge options.

When should you report your child's absence?

As per the A-Z Whānau Guide, this should be done before 8.30 am.

If you are leaving a phone message, you must include the following information:

your child's name
room number
reason for your child’s absence
the date(s) your child will be away

Please remember that when you are submitting an absence report, either through the web portal or the SchoolBridge App, you need to submit one report per child. It's easy to switch between siblings using the web portal tab, and having the ability to have all your enrolled children in the SchoolBridge App at once certainly saves time.

What information should you include in your child's absence report?

Absence reasons are:

Late | Please state the reason for being late and the time you expect your child to arrive at school.
Illness/Medical | Provide the details of the sickness e.g. Name has a cold/sinusitis. Just stating the word 'sick' or 'away' is not sufficient. Please note, sicknesses of more than 3 days (with the exception of covid isolation) require medical certification.
Doctor/Dentist | If you are collecting your child from school, please state the time. Then the time they will be returning.
Appointment | to be used for appointments that are not medical. Where possible appointments should be made outside of school hours, however, we know that this is not always possible, especially given our remote location here in Twizel. Provide the nature of the appointment and the time of day the student will return to school e.g. Specialist ENT appointment at Timaru Hospital, 10 am. Will return to school this afternoon.
Bereavement | If you are attending a tangihanga or funeral - please confirm your child's expected return date to school.
Other (Unjustified) | For absences that do not fall into any of the above categories. For absences longer than 3 days, please use the Student Leave Request form. This can be used for family holidays, planned non-attendance for National & Local Representation, visiting relatives (weddings etc), and extra-curricular activities.

Absence During an NCEA Internal Assessment

If your child is absent for reasons beyond their control (e.g. accident, illness, bereavement), where feasible, the student will be allowed to attempt the assessment or there may be a full reassessment opportunity for some standards. If an assessment task is missed then documentation must be supplied to support the request (i.e. medical certificate, etc). An extension cannot be granted for a holiday during term time.

Similarly, for any school authorised absence for out-of-class activities such as EOTC trips, sporting and cultural fixtures involving representation of Twizel Area School or representation at a national level, the absences will be considered legitimate, and the student, where feasible, will be allowed to attempt the assessment or a full further assessment opportunity will be available. To gain the extension, students must complete an extension request form (available on SchoolBridge) with supporting documentation.

After logging into either the SchoolBridge App or Web Portal, click the Report Absence tab.

Click submit, and your absence report will be forwarded to the school office.

Please note that planned absences, such as family holidays, must be advised at least a week in advance. Parents/caregivers can do this through the Student Leave Request tab in the web portal or SchoolBridge App.