
The
Ottawa-Carleton District School Board has launched a new, more efficient
absence management system across schools called SchoolMessenger SafeArrival.
This system allows you to use a mobile app, a website, or an interactive
toll-free phone line to report an absence in advance. It enhances student
safety, verifies absences in a timely manner, and improves notification time
with parents and guardians.

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SchoolMessenger App
- Use your mobile device to download and install the free SchoolMessenger blue app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store, the SchoolMessenger website portal, or from within the OCDSB mobile app.
- The first time you use the app, you must select Sign Up to create your account. Please ensure you use the same email address your student’s school has on file. If you do not use that same email address, you will not be able to create an account, or may not be able to see the “Attendance” option. You may have already created an account when we introduced the SchoolMessenger Communicate broadcast system.
- Select Attendance, then Report an Absence.
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SchoolMessenger SafeArrival Website Portal
- Visit the SchoolMessenger website portal at go.schoolmessenger.ca
- The first time you access the website, you must select Sign Up to create your account. Please ensure you use the same email address your student’s school has on file. If you do not use that same email address, you will not be able to create an account, or may not be able to see the “Attendance” option.. You may have already created an account when we introduced the SchoolMessenger Communicate broadcast system.
- Select Attendance, then Report an Absence.
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Toll-free telephone
- Call 1-833-202-1417 toll-free to report an absence using the automated phone system.
- Follow the prompts.
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These options are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Future absences can be reported at any time using any one of these methods. For same day absences, if you are trying to report or explain an absence using SchoolMessenger SafeArrival and are told it is past the cut-off time, please phone the school directly. The cut-off time for Orleans Wood Elementary School is approximately 9:45 a.m..
If your student is marked absent and the absence hasn’t been reported in advance, our new SchoolMessenger SafeArrival system will attempt to reach you by telephone to confirm the absence. If our system is unable to reach the designated contacts, school office staff will follow up.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we implement this new system.
Resources:
SchoolMessenger
SafeArrival postcard
Using
the SchoolMessenger App for SafeArrival
Video
Tutorial on how to report absences