Today we continue our sharing of information around the importance of attendance.

We define attendance as when learners are at school and in the class they are supposed to be in. If learners miss a week or more of school in a term they have ‘non-regular attendance’. Learners who miss a week each term will have missed out on a year of schooling by the time they are 16.

In New Zealand, a growing number of ākonga are missing 3 or more days of school each fortnight. This is known as being chronically absent and means they are attending less than 70% of the time.
As caregivers/whanau, you can often underestimate the amount of school your children are missing and you may be unaware of patterns that are emerging. That is why Mana College is going to make the ongoing impact of non-attendance on students’ learning 'front and centre' for you. Attendance data is 'live' on the parent portal so you can check whether your child is in class at any time. 

Attendance and engagement reports are emailed to whanau weekly and this information is also on the portal. It is really important you look at the data and information we provide and have those conversations with your child. You can also expect us to contact you if there is a more serious attendance problem.

Please ensure you contact the school by 9am if your child is going to be away. This can be by phone, email or txt. Please also be aware that any requests to take your child out of school for an extended time, eg overseas holidays, non- school sports trips etc, must be received at least a week prior to the absence and have approval from the school.

Please support us by ensuring your child attends school every day and by notifying us when they are unable to and the reason why.