Dear Parents/Guardians,

We are a very large and busy school, and the school office is also a very busy place! We have a few reminders for parents and guardians regarding student attendance. All student attendance matters should be reported through the automated attendance management system called Safe Arrival, offered through School Messenger, the same system that hosts our parent notification system.

Safe Arrival is used for ALL types of excused student attendance.

Full Day – Student will be away from school for the entire day.
Late – Student will be arriving to school late, enter time student will arrive at school.
Early Departure – Student will be leaving school early, enter time student has permission to leave, student should report to office and if parent has entered the attendance in Safe Arrival, student will be dismissed.
Leave & Return – Student is at school then leaving and returning, please enter times.
Multiple Days – Student will be away from school for several days in a row (up to 10 consecutive days can be reported through Safe Arrival, for absences more than 10 consecutive days please contact the school office).

To avoid unnecessary absence notifications, please report student attendance in a timely manner (before 3 PM on the day of the absence – earlier is better!). Future absences can be reported at any time. If absences are not reported by 3 PM, the parent / guardian may still receive an automatic notification in the evening to inform of an absence. Absence notifications are generated by a teacher marking a student absent in one or more classes. If you feel there was an error and the student was in class, the student is asked to speak to the teacher directly to have any correction made.

With SafeArrival, you are asked to report your child’s absence in advance using any of these 3 convenient methods (these options are available 24 hours/day, 7 days a week):

1. SchoolMessenger App – Using your mobile device, download and install the SchoolMessenger app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. The first time you use the app, select Sign Up to create your account. Select Attendance then Report an Absence.
2. SafeArrival Website – Use the SafeArrival website, https://go.schoolmessenger.ca. The first time you use the website, select Sign Up to create your account. Select Attendance then Report an Absence.
3. Toll-Free Phone – Call the toll-free number 1-833-294-4837 to report an absence using the automated phone system.

Excused absences are only to be reported by parents / guardians on file with the school. Students are NOT to report their own absences. When signing up for an account, you must sign up using the parent / guardian e-mail that is on file with the school. If you are calling the toll-free number, you must call from the parent / guardian phone number on file with the school.

Please report absences using SafeArrival instead of sending notes, calling, or emailing the school. We are a very large school with a high volume of calls, please use the 3 options above to report absences. The school office will no longer accept calls regarding attendance. Parents / guardians will need to report via the app, website, or toll- free number in a timely manner.

If you have children attending other schools, please continue to report absences using the existing procedures for those schools.

Thank you for your cooperation.

RE Mountain Secondary Administration