Attendance at Cotswold Mātāhae School
Regular School Attendance is essential for children to make the best progress.
The Ministry of Education has released a guide for parents and caregivers to explain their expectations and to answer any questions you may have. This guide is found here.
Ministry of Education - Student attendance
At times, your child may be unable to attend school for medical reasons. This link is to a Te Whatu Ora page that gives information on whether to keep your child home or not.
Is your child well enough to go to school.
Congratulations to the many of you who are getting your tamariki to school regularly and on time.
Our goal is to have all students attending regularly. Regularly is defined as being at school more than 90% of the time.
To check your child’s attendance rates, you can access Hero.
The biggest cause of unnecessary absence at Cotswold Mātāhae are holidays in term time and extra days tacked on to public holidays and weekends. Children are also kept at home when they are tired or have a minor sniffle.
Nationwide there is a large push to get children back into school after the past years of uncertainty.
Cotswold Mātāhae School is committed to ensuring that all our students get the most out of their education, and wants to support our students to maintain regular attendance. Students who attend school regularly learn more and achieve better results. We will work with our students, families and whānau to remove barriers to this regular attendance.
As parents/guardians, you have a moral and legal responsibility to ensure that your child attends school whenever it is open.
What do I do if my child is going to be away or late?
If your child is going to be absent from school - you need to contact the office and inform them. This can be done via the Hero App or telephone the office attendance line. Acceptable absence includes sickness or serious family circumstances, such as bereavement.
Please give a complete reason for the absence, not just ‘sick’ or ‘family’ as the absence needs to be coded correctly and this is insufficient to do so.
What do I do if my child is sick?
If your child is sick and is unable to attend school, you need to use the Hero App or phone the office attendance line and let us know the reason for their absence. If your child is unwell and is missing more than five consecutive days or has ongoing medical issues we require a medical certificate. A medical certificate can be obtained from your GP at no cost.
What should I do if my child has something like a headache?
If your child has some kind of minor or temporary sickness, we would prefer them to come to school and attempt to get through the day. They can always go to the sick bay if they continue to feel unwell and we will contact you. It is important that this happens as we work to rebuild resilience in our young people.
What do I do if my child is going to be away during term time for reasons other than illness or bereavement?
Please inform the School.
What does my child do if they are late?
If your child is late, they need to come and sign in on the tablet in the office. This ensures our roll is updated correctly. If your child is consistently late we will contact you to see what assistance is required to avoid this issue.
What if I am having difficulty getting my child to school?
If you are finding it difficult to get your child to school regularly, please contact the classroom teacher or office and someone will get in touch with you as soon as possible.
