Our school doors are always locked. In order to enter the school, the buzzer located at the front entrance must be activated and then office will open the doors.

Consistency in attendance also allows students to build a sense of routine and life skills around accountability, punctuality, and time management – all habits supporting long-term success. Regular attendance and being on time are essential for school success.

Students are expected to be in attendance and at school on time each school day except for instances of personal illness or family emergencies. At the beginning of each morning and afternoon, staff members take attendance.

When a student has missed a number of days of school, communication will be made with parents/caregivers. If a pattern of missed school persists, our attendance counsellor may be contacted. Please contact the school if there will be prolonged periods of absence for a student. It is the student’s responsibility to complete work missed during periods of absence.

Grand Erie Attendance Strategy

Grand Erie uses a student absence reporting system called SafeArrival. This system makes it easy for you to report your child’s absence and easy for staff to respond to unexplained student absences.

Using SafeArrival, please report your child’s absence in advance using any of these three convenient methods:

1. Using your mobile device, download and install the SchoolMessenger app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store (or from the links at https://go.schoolmessenger.com). The first time you use the app, select Sign Up to create your account. Select Attendance then Report an Absence.
2. Use the SafeArrival website at https://go.schoolmessenger.com. The first time you use the website, select Sign Up to create your account. Select Attendance then Report an Absence.
3. Call the toll-free number 1-833-557-9420 to report an absence using the automated phone system.

These options are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Future absences can be reported at any time. There are a number of different absence reasons to select.

We use an automated notification system to contact parents/caregivers whose child is absent when the absence was not reported in advance. If this system is unable to reach the designated contacts, office staff will follow up. If a parent/caregiver has reported an absence in advance through SafeArrival, they will not receive these notifications.