Attendance Matters

Kia ora koutou, greetings,

Before discussing attendance I have to mention Hood! - our 2023 Major Production. Opening night was Thursday evening and with a great turnout, the audience was entertained from start to finish with stunning choreography, catchy punch lines, quality acting, and a super soundtrack to boot. Don't miss the opportunity to see this fantastic performance. Tickets will be available at the door (if it doesn't sell out first) - Friday at 7 pm, Saturday matinee at 2 pm followed by the last performance at 7 pm. 

Now on the attendance. Towards the end of last year, the Government released a strategy document "Attendance and Engagement Strategy".

This strategy sets targets for attendance and provides suggested actions to meet those targets. 

The targets:

Three are three measures including:

• Percentage of ākonga attending school regularly (attending more than 90%, an average of 9 days a fortnight)
• Percentage of ākonga who are moderately absent (attending more than 70% up to 80%, missing two to three days a fortnight)
• Percentage of ākonga who are chronically absent (attending 70% or less, missing three or more days a fortnight)

Our target for 2024 is at least 70% of students attending more than 90%, 6% of students attending more than 70% up to 80%, and at most 5% of students attending 70% or less. 

The actions:

Highlight we are all responsible for improving attendance - school, ākonga | student, and parents/caregivers.

Provide a welcoming environment where ākonga | students feel safe. 

Provide an engaging curriculum that reflects the identity, language and culture of their ākonga | students. 

Develop educationally powerful connections with whānau where our teachers can connect with their ākonga | students.

The current situation:

In term one this year our 90%+ attendance (regular) rate was 61.9% (compared to 43.7% in term one of 2022). This signifies a huge improvement, predominately due to the reduction in COVID-19 disruptions, but also with improvements in communicating attendance with whānau | families, and the support of parents and caregivers to have our students in school.

To draw a comparison pre-COVID-19, data for regular attendance was 71.7% in term one of 2019 (the 2024 Government target is 70%). 

So we are very pleased with the improved attendance and hope to see this continue. 

Together we can support our tamariki | children and rangatahi | youth on their educational pathway.

Finally an update on the Strike Action:

This week both NZEI and PPTA agreed to suspend all industrial action through to and including the 30th May 2023. What that means is our rostering home plan currently looks like this (but please be aware this could be cancelled closer to the time):

Week 6: 29 May - 2 June: Thursday 1 June - Year 12 rostered home

Week 7: 5 - 9 June: Tuesday 6 June - Year 9 and 10 rostered home

Thanks for your understanding.

Ngā mihi nui | thank you,

Mike Hart
Tumuaki | Principal
Te Kura o Te Poho Rakahua
Oxford Area School