Hervey Bay school formal ban prompts call for new event

The common practice of excluding certain graduating high school students from their senior formal has come under fire where the family of one banned student is refusing to take it lying down. 

Shanae Taylor, 25 of Hervey Bay with baby Leo, 7 months had the idea for a Bay-wide formal event after it was revealed not all Year 12 students are allowed to go to their formal.

A Hervey Bay woman has plans for a Fraser Coast wide Year 12 senior school formal to ensure all students graduating high school in 2023 will get to celebrate the end of their school years.

Shanae Taylor, 25, had the idea for the event when she found out a family member would not be able to go to her Year 12 formal because her attendance record was below the school mandated 85 per cent.

The news was particularly hard for Ms Taylor’s family to accept as the student in question was the first of her family to graduate high school, Ms Taylor said.

Their school attendance had been affected by a number of thing, including a job that demanded long hours, she said.

Ms Taylor said treating formals as an “incentive” to encourage students to attend class was “ridiculous” as “all kids should get a chance to celebrate graduation”.

Shanae Taylor, 25 of Hervey Bay had the idea a Bay wide formal event after it was revealed students with less than 85% attendance may not be able to attend their end of year formal celebrations.

Not wanting her family member to miss out on her school formal, Ms Taylor put the call out to social media on Saturday afternoon and received a huge response.

Hervey Bay High School formal gallery

“Myself, a few Year 12 students and some parents are eager to plan a formal/graduation celebration for ALL Year 12 students as we don’t agree with schools not allowing students to attend if they haven’t got a certain percentage of attendance,” she said on Facebook.

HBSHS formal photos 2022

“This event will allow all students regardless of their attendance.

Stunning: Hervey Bay State High School photos 2017 to 2022

“So I’d like to hear from the Year 12 students and parents if they’d like to see something like this planned, and if they’d attend! If we get decent numbers, then we’ll start planning asap, make a Facebook event to keep everyone in the loop, etc. So please comment or private message me if you’d like to attend our Year 12 celebration.”

Students of Maryborough State High School celebrate formal

VIEW GALLERY

Of the 137 comments Ms Taylor’s callout drew, many but not all supported her stance - others believed it was a good policy.

Ozykiwi Hart commented:

“That’s great the schools are doing this. I teach at university and the amount of students who don’t turn up to classes then whine about their poor grade is phenomenal, the students who come from school quickly realise that mummy and daddy can’t fix their problems at university they have to deal with themselves !! so start teaching them this before they leave school.”

Urangan State High Formal 2018

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Debby Henderson posted: “Last year my niece was in a car accident and was off school to long and was not allowed to go to her formal despite a doctors certificate.”

Wen Easton said: “Formal is to celebrate finishing school and great achievements however I don‘t believe all students should attend if they haven’t attended career submitted relevant work for this event to be rewarded , if you didn’t put in the effort then why ruin it for those who have.”

Margie Popovic said:

“Look it is simple, the idea of rewarding attendance is based on encouraging students to attend and thus work at school, they are the ones who gain from their education don‘t forget! Illness and other absence is recognised but blatant AWOL absence over and over again shows a total disregard for school and their place in it.

“17 and 18 year olds need to face their responsibilities if they want to be treated as “adults” they don’t need parents to pander to them, why not insist they attend school more often in the first place.”

The Queensland Department of Education said of the issues, that individual Queensland state schools made their own decisions regarding guidelines and arrangements for school formals.

“Hervey Bay State High School has a long-standing requirement since 2010 that Year 12 students must have an 85 per cent attendance rate or higher to receive an invitation to the school formal,” a department spokesperson said.

“This is clearly communicated to all students and families,” they said.

“Attendance rates for formal invitations are calculated based on unauthorised absences. Absences for illness and injury are classified as authorised and therefore are not taken into account when calculating the 85 per cent minimum attendance rate.

“Invitations to the formal have not been sent to any student and will be issued after attendance criteria is reviewed later this term. All Year 12 students are invited to attend the school’s end-of-year graduation ceremony.”