Kia ora koutou

Congratulations to all of the students who participated in the cross-country in beautiful weather this week. Attendance is a hot topic with the government and Ministry of Education and we are currently analysing the large number of our students who sit around 86-89% in our attendance statistics. These students are considered to be irregular attenders and the Ministry of Education watches these students carefully and actively - as well as those chronically below this.

Every day counts - including cross-country and other whole school events. Students and parents should check their attendance graphs on Helix to ensure that they are over the magic 90% school attendance mark. It is easy early in the year to improve the attendance results and graph, but much harder later in the year when there is less time to improve the days present. Even at 90% students are missing one day a fortnight and this adds up to missing 500 periods over their time at school. More than this, education, socialisation and belonging at school are incredibly important for qualifications, confidence and wellbeing going into the rest of their life - which lasts decades longer than the short five years at school. Attending every day sets students up for the best outcomes.

Please see the amended donations letter attached which corrects the School Council donation to $40, still well below what is charged in other schools. Paying the school donations supports your child’s education and 33% is tax refundable, making donations considerably lower than they appear here. See Mrs Spalding in the school office if you need help with this.

Have a wonderful weekend. Good Luck to our Otago Athletes at the Caledonian this weekend and the Volleyball Sirens and B team at the Edgar.

Ngā mihi nui