Education System and Policy
Aims
Ø To uphold the students' right to education.
Ø To ensure students attend school regularly and to prevent students' unexplained absenteeism.
Ø To cultivate a regular habitual among students as well as a positive attitude and merit towards schooling.
Strategies
Ø To provide a structured a balanced curriculum with well-designed education and learning plans to cater for our students' different abilities and aptitudes.
Ø Cross-disciplinary collaboration is important. The school will follow the students' guidelines and disciplinary standards in handling at-risk students or marginal dropouts.
Ø To create a holistic early intervention approach to deal with truancy, unexplained absentees or irregular attendance.
Ø To strengthen parents' education, enabling open communication reading the school policies on student attendance and to provide support to students whenever possible.
Ø In order to raise the students' sense of belonging, we organize different type of school activities to built a cordial relationship between teachers and students while acknowledging their needs.
Ø School should make good use of the community resources available for dropouts with behavioral problems or other aspects that are beyond schools' handling capacity.
Operational Procedure
3.1 Absent
Absent Days | Procedures |
1 to 2 days | Ø If a student is absent, parent(s) or guardian(s) need to fill the “student leave table” in the student handbook with parents’ signature or chop on it. The application is valid only after the school has examined and approved it. Ø If student is sick or has an unfortunate accident due to which the student is unable to apply for leave, parent(s) should inform school by phone on that day. Kindly follow the leave application procedures when student comes back to school on the first day after his/her leave. Ø If student do not follow the leave application procedures, our office staff will contact the parent(s)/guardian(s) to enquire the reason. We will mark the attendance sheet to inform the class teacher. |
3 to 6 days | Ø If a student would like to apply for leave application procedures, parent(s) or guardian(s) need to fill the "student leave table" in the student handbook with parents' signature or chop on it. The application is approved only after the school has reviewed it. Ø If a student is sick or has an unfortunate accident due to which the student is unable to apply for leave, parent(s) should inform the school by phone on that day. Kindly follow the leave application procedures when the student comes back to school on the first day after his/her leave. Ø If a student remains absent for three consecutive days without notifying the school with a valid reason and the school is unable to contact parent(s), the school social worker and a teacher will visit them or send out a registered letter to parent(s) to request an explanation for being absent. |
on or above 7 days | Ø According to the "Early Notification System", it is of utmost importance that school should report the case without delay to the Education Bureau (EDB) on the 7th day of the student’s continuous absence disregard of the reasons for absence. The case will be revised by school social worker and guidance & discipline team. Ø The Non-attendance Cases team (NAC Team) of EDB will work in partnership with schools to help the student dropouts resume schooling at the earliest possible opportunity. Ø If the EDB finds the situation special, they will send out as Attendance Order to parent(s). If the student continues to be absent, we may submit the case to the police. |
Remarks | Ø If the student's absence is assessed to be related to truancy, school refusal, difficulties in academics/behavior/emotion, etc., the at-risk students/marginal drop-outs must be referred immediately to the school social worker and guidance and discipline team for early intervention. School will provide contingency plan for each case. Ø If a student is absent without following the leave application procedures, the case will be identified as absentee. Ø If a student needs early leave, parent(s) should come to the school office to do the leave application on that day. Parent(s) can pick up the student after completing the leave application. Ø If a p.6 student is absent without a reasonable reason and their overall attendance is below 80%, the school has authority that no graduation certificate will be distributed to that student. |
3.2 Handling procedure of dropout cases
Ø School will report the dropout case to EDB.
Ø School social worker will coordinate with guidance and discipline team to offer intervention service including counselling to the students during the first two months after their absence.
Ø If counselling is effective and parents did not bring back to school, we will issue a warning letter to the parent(s) at the end of the second month after the reporting of absence.
Ø If absence still persists, we will issue a reminder at the end of the third month and every month henceforth.
Ø For continuous non-compliance, we will issue an Attendance Order under Section 74 of the Education Ordinance (Cap 279) at the end of six months.
Ø Our school social worker will work closely with the Inspector of the NAC Team.
3.3 Suspension of Students Arrangement
Ø School tries to avoid suspension of student for improper behavior. In the special case, school will follow Code of Aid to handle the suspended student.
Ø School will warn and notify parent(s) or guardian(s) before suspending students who have misbehaved badly in class.
Ø If suspension from class lasts more than three days, the school should report the case to the Permanent Secretary of Education.
Ø School should keep a record of all suspension cases.
Ø During suspension from class, the student should receive proper supervision and counselling within the school premises.
Ø In the incident, there may be a possibility of delinquent behavior by students that may violate the law, Police Community Relations Officers should be informed.