You will hear us talking about this with you and with our students and it remains a strong subject in the media.

If a student misses one day of school every two weeks, they miss more than a whole year of school by 16 years of age.

As a parent or caregiver, you, alongside our school, play a key role in building strong habits of regular school attendance.

All students are legally required to attend school every day and it is a shared responsibility to make sure students attend and engage in learning from when they first start school.

You must let the school know if your child is going to be absent or intends to be absent for a portion of the school term for whatever reason, like a tangi or medical procedure.

Knowing if your child is well enough to go to school can be tricky at times. Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora have refreshed their guidance for schools and parents to use to help make that call. Check out the Ministry of Education website for more information. If you are still unsure, get in touch with us.

At our school we have strong processes and hygiene practices in place to make sure our school environment is as healthy as possible for our students and our staff.

If you're struggling at home with getting your child to school, talk to us!

Our school is committed to supporting your child to attend school and building a culture that fosters excellent attendance by having:

· School staff who have strong relationships with students and whānau.

· A school culture that recognises your child and your family for who they are, where they come from and who they want to be.

· A school community that does everything to make sure students are at school, and they are participating, and progressing in their education.

Parents and caregivers can find more information here.

The following are key messages around attendance

1. Regular attendance at school helps build and maintain a child's learning and positive daily habits and routines, as well as promoting their wellbeing by connecting them to their peers and learning new things.

2. We want our ākonga to thrive and be resilient and active members within their whānau and community.

3. Attendance matters and we can all work together to increase school attendance.

Below is some GEIS Attendance data from Term 2 at GEIS supplied by the Ministry of Education that may interest you

In this issue

GEIS School Policies and Procedures