"📢 Let's Prioritize Attendance Together!"

Kotahi te rā tamō i ia rua wiki ka rite ki te marama kotahi ka tamō i te tau.

One day away from school a fortnight is a month missed each year.

Mā te kotahi o te hoe e ū anō ai te waka.

Together we'll change that.

Regular school attendance makes a big difference.  Every day counts, and we know that missing too many days leads to lower achievement, poorer well being and other worrying outcomes.  Attendance patterns start early and carry through for a learner’s time at school.  Aotearoa New Zealand attendance rates are falling and are worse than in other comparable countries.

Attendance Affects Achievement

Evidence shows that attendance is directly related to how well learners achieve, in both primary and secondary school.  The more leaners attend, the higher their achievement.  There is no safe level of non attendance – even missing just two days per term is linked to lower achievement.  Missing school leads to lost opportunities to learn, which impacts on achievement, even if learners have good engagement.  

Missing school in primary school can create gaps in learning that set learners back in secondary school and contribute to increasing disengagement from school and learning.

(From the Education Review Office(ERO)

Attendance: Getting Back to School

We will be sharing your child’s attendance data not just on our reports but termly, if your child’s attendance falls into the moderate/irregular or chronic attendance brackets.  We will also be monitoring this carefully each term.

At KKPS, regular attendance is when a learner misses no more than a week of school in a term so their attendance will be 90% or above.

MOE Attendance Categories

90% or above = regular attendance

80% - 90% = irregular attendance

70 - 80%    = moderate attendance

70% or below = chronic attendance

Your role as a Parent/Caregiver 

There are certain expectations we have regarding the role of parents and caregivers in our home/school partnership. 

✅“Parents are responsible for their child’s regular attendance at school” (The Education Act 1989).

✅Parents/caregivers are expected to contact the school in the morning if their child is going to be absent for that day.  You need to give a reason for your child’s absence and the more information we have the better.

✅Whenever possible, parents/caregivers are encouraged to advise the school of an absence ahead of time.

✅Parents need to make sure their child arrives at school before the roll is taken at 8.45am.  Children who arrive after this will be recorded as “late” and need to sign in at the office and take a “Late slip” to their teacher. 

✅Parents need to keep the school informed of their current phone numbers and address.

How To Report Your Child's Absence

The following methods of explaining student absences, either before or after the event, will be accepted from parents/caregivers: 

📞Ring the school from 8am on 549 0105

✉️Send an email to absence@katikati.school.nz

📱Text a message to 021 041 5234

🚶Call into the office and advise the school in person

The School’s Role

✅Staff will follow up on any unexplained absences.

✅The attendance of children who are of concern, including those children with a number of sporadic absences, will be monitored by the teachers initially and then our Attendance Officer (Sandra Bridgman) in liaison with our Attendance Supervisor (Ro Richards).

✅The Principal can use her discretion to determine whether certain absences are deemed to be justified or unjustified, if the reason is not listed in our policy.

✅If a child is away for three consecutive days with an unexplained absence, the Attendance Supervisor will contact parents by text, phone or letter offering support and  requesting additional information. 

✅If your child is absent regularly or for extended periods, the DP’s may reach out to you to discuss the situation or invite you to come in for a meeting.

✅If attendance does not improve, a referral will be made to the Tauranga Moana Attendance Service who will make contact with parents to provide support to ensure expected attendance is achieved. 

We always have such wonderful support from our community and we look forward to working with you to enable your child to be at school learning.

Ngā mihi nui,

Andrea Nicholson

Principal, Katikati Primary School