Information and Dates

The College newsletter is published every full school week and emailed to parents.  Recent newsletters available below:

If your son is absent from school, please message via the school app, ring the absence line or contact the Pastoral Assistant Joanne Davidson on the first day of their absence and each day thereafter, if you are not sure how long your son is to be absent.

In addition, all absences of three days or more must be explained either in your son’s diary (see the absence section at the back) or with a signed note given to his Form Tutor. A student may need to supply a medical certificate if he has been absent with illness for 3 or more days, or he has been absent for an assessment task.

Please choose from the contacts below:
Absence line: 375 1879 ext 3
Pastoral Assistant: Joanne Davidson
Telephone: 375 0647 ext 840
jdavidson@stbedes.school.nz

Leave for Non-School Related Activities:

Request for leave that is non-school related, during the school year, must be addressed to the Rector Mr Justin Boyle at least two weeks prior to the start of leave.
Please give the dates of absence from school and the purpose of the leave.
If in writing, please address the letter to:
The Rector
Mr Jon McDowall
St Bede’s College
PO Box 5380
CHRISTCHURCH 8542
If emailing, please send to: jmcdowall@stbedes.school.nz
Students will then be required to complete an Application for Absence form by seeing all their teachers to have them sign this form giving details of assessment/s or homework that they may miss while absent from school. Students will be expected to catch up on any work missed during the period of absence.

NCEA School Attendance Requirements

The following statements outline the school policy on attendance and both parents and students need to be aware of these conditions. We would remind you of the compulsory nature of schooling and the parents’ responsibility to ensure that their children attend school. If you require further information please contact either the Rector or the Deputy Rector pastoral.

The Guidelines on Absence:

Absences fall into four categories:

(i) BEYOND STUDENT CONTROL:

(ii) SCHOOL AUTHORISED:

(iii) SELF-INTEREST:

This category involves absences in which a degree of self-interest occurs, eg Family travel, sporting events for non-school teams, holidays during term time, etc. For this kind of brief, planned absence, parents should consult the Rector in advance for approval. This term of absence should not exceed 10 –15 school days for the year. Students should make every effort to ensure that they do not miss any assessment task since any absence in this category will lead to the award of ‘Not Achieved’, and no further assessment opportunity is guaranteed. Work will not normally be set for students who are absent under this category. All assessment deadlines must be met.

(iv) WILFUL ABSENCE:

This category occurs when a student has the option of attending school and chooses to be absent (self interest absence which is not regarded by the Rector as reasonable would fall into this category) e.g. family business requirements, bunking. Assessment items that occur in these circumstances will be awarded ‘Not achieved’, and no re-assessment will be available.

Parents and students should understand that any absences will impair performances in course work, and on his return the student must catch up the work missed and after a reasonable period of time must give evidence to his teacher that catch-up work has been satisfactorily completed. For a student to be eligible for a further assessment opportunity he must have demonstrated some visible progress and effort to achieve the standard.

Students are not to leave school grounds without permission and a Leave Pass with the exception of Year 13 students who have permission to leave school at lunch times on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s. If your son needs to leave school during the day, a note that explains the circumstances and is signed by the Parent/Caregiver is required. Leave passes can be obtained either from their House Tutor or from Mrs Davidson’s office.

If a student is feeling unwell they must visit the School Nurse who will assess the situation. She will decide whether a student can continue at school or needs to be sent home. If she feels a student is too unwell to continue at school she will contact the Parents/Caregivers to pick the student up. If the nurse is unavailable the student must come to Mrs Davidson’s office and she will then contact the Parent/Caregiver to pick the student up.

Under no circumstances are students to leave school without doing either of the above.