New Online Program Provides Convenience for Families
Your Child’s Homeroom Placement for the 2016-2017 School Year
Report Student Absences Online
Dear Parents and/or Guardians:
At our school, our greatest prioritiesare to ensure that all of our students are safewhen at school and that they arrive safely each and every day. To enhance our existing absence procedure, stating in September 2016, the Durham District School Board (DDSB) is introducing a new student absence reporting system called Safe Arrival for all elementary and secondary schools.
Beginning in the new school year, parents may to choose report their child’s absence in advance, or before bell time for the current day in one of two ways:
1.Toll Free Number: 1-844-350-2646
2.Website: attendance.ddsb.ca
This summer, any parents who have provided the school with a valid email address through verification or registration form will receive an email with instructions on how to activate an account through any computer in order to notify the school of future absences. All DDSB parents will receive a phone call with information about this new service. Please expect to receive the phone call with details a couple of weeks before the start of the school year.
Online registration is not necessary for those parents who only wish to use the toll free number to call in absences. Both phone and online options will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
As part of this program, we will also be introducing an automated notification system that will contact parents when a student is absent but no notification was relayed to the school. If our automated system is unable to reach a designated contact, office staff will follow up.
To assist you we have included aninformationcard, containing the 1-844-350-2646 number and the address of the Safe Arrival Parent Portal website. Please keep the card in a convenient location for quick reference when reporting your child’s absence.
The Safe Arrival system will also indicate your child’s homeroom teacher for 2016-2017 school-year. Please read page 2 to find out more about this new feature.
Please read more on page 2…
Information Regarding Your Child’s Homeroom Placement Next Year
Beginning in the 2016-2017 school year, elementary schools in the Durham District School Board will no longer display class lists in the schools. Privacy concerns no longer allow schools to provide these lists to community members.
Starting this summer, parents may find their child’s teacher’s name and homeroom in any of the following ways:
This summer parents will be invited via phone call or email from DDSB/SchoolConnects to register for our new Safe Arrival Attendance program. Creating a Safe Arrival account for yourself will also enable you to access the name of your child’s teacher and homeroom number. Those who register will be able to view this information online beginning on the Thursday before school starts.
Those parents who are unable or do not wish to create an account through the online Safe Arrival program, may still come into the school on the Thursday prior to the first day of school and locate their child’s teacher using a posted list of Ontario Education Numbers (OEN). If you wish to come in to look up your child’s homeroom teacher, please bring your child’s report card or student OEN with you.
Parents who have misplaced their child’s report card or who do not have a student OEN number may visit the office. Staff will notify you of your child’s teacher.
We realize that this is a change of practice for all of our families and urge all those parents who can register online to do so, in order to avoid lengthy wait times at the school.
Though you may still phone the school during the first weeks of September to report an absence, ALL PARENTS/GUARDIANS MAY BEGIN BOOKING ABSENCES EITHER THROUGH THE TOLL FREE NUMBER OR THE ONLINE APPLICATION AS SOON AS YOU REGISTER ONLINE.
We hope families will appreciate the new online conveniences and understand the change in practice to address privacy concerns.
Please watch for more information in your email or voicemail coming this summer!