Absence SMS notification

The safety of our students is important to us and to enhance the care we presently provide; we are pleased to advise you that Thomas Acres Public School is implementing a mobile phone messaging service operating through SENTRAL to communicate student unexplained absences.

At Thomas Acres Public School, student attendance is a high priority.  We know that students who attend regularly are more likely to be successful and safe at school.  To improve our attendance procedures, we will be informing parents/carers about any unexplained absences for their children. 

Starting Monday, 27 February 2023, an SMS notification will be automatically sent to the mobile phone of parents/carers explaining that our records show that your child is absent from school.

The message will read as follows: -

Thomas Acres Public School: Sally Smith from 3A was marked absent from school on 27-02-2023. Please reply to explain this absence in detail for example: “has a sore throat” instead of just "sick".  Note: If absent for 3 or more days a Medical Certificate is required.

An SMS will be sent for each child in a family and needs to be replied to separately.

It is important to note that a different number may be used daily by the SENTRAL automated messaging system.  Therefore, absences cannot be notified in advance via SMS.  You can only explain the absence for the day indicated on the text message. Paper notes given to the class teacher or office is an acceptable means to communicate extended absences.

If you wish to query an absence SMS notification, you must contact the school.  Responding with a question or query to an SMS notification will result in your child being marked unjustified (unfortunately this is out of our control as the SMS is computer generated).

There are many advantages for both parents and the school to adopt this system and they include: -

• Improved ability to reach parents/carers - At times, it can be difficult to reach parents.  Important voice messages are left on answering machines at home, at work or on mobile phones. 
• Faster communication – It takes a long time for the school staff to individually make phone calls to each parent/carer.
• Personal, confidential and discrete – For a parent/carer, receiving a message on your phone regarding your child is private, discrete and less disruptive than any other form of communication.  Unlike other forms of communication, messages are not left for others to find out about.

Your support in ensuring we are kept up to date with your most recent active mobile phone number will enable us to keep you informed. Please contact the office, either by phone, in person or by email to update your contact details.  We have experienced many times when the contact numbers we currently have on file are not current.  For this new SMS messaging system to be a success, it is extremely important that you inform us of contact detail changes as they occur.