Students who regularly attend school are much more likely to gain qualifications and have positive outcomes beyond school than those who have lower attendance rates.

Attendance will continue to be both a school and government priority in 2025. Our attendance data for the first three terms of this year is outlined below.

PNBHS Attendance Summary 2024

While these statistics indicate improved attendance since the COVID-19-affected years, they remain worryingly below historical data.

PNBHS Attendance Summary 2016

While there is much in the media highlighting truancy as a national problem this is not the issue we face as a school. Typically, absences because of truancy in any term are below 0.5% and are followed up by our Year Level Deans. The biggest change has been the number of students who are explained as being too sick to attend school. Following this up and changing habits is a challenging issue.

We believe it is unlikely the overall health of our student population declined between 2016 and 2024. We know that some young men face challenging health circumstances and there is still a recommended isolation period associated with Covid-19. However, this does not explain the marked decline in regular attendance over this time.

Yes, we are aware that young men get sick and at times are too unwell to attend school. However, for too many families, school is not the priority to should be. Attendance at school must become a higher priority if we - both as a school and at a national scale - are to arrest the concerning trend of recent years and lift student achievement to the levels it should be at.

The New Zealand Ministry of Education's definition of regular attendance, 90% and above, is itself a fairly low target. 90% attendance means missing half a day of school each week, which equates to 19 days (nearly four weeks) in a school year and a total of 95 days over five years of secondary school education.

A recent report from the Education Review Office included the following statements about attendance:

"Attendance matters. Students who were chronically absent are significantly more likely to leave school without qualifications and then, when they are adults, they are more likely to be charged with an offence, or live in social or emergency housing. Attendance is critical for life outcomes; students with chronic absence have worse outcomes. At age 20, over half (55 percent) have not achieved NCEA Level 2, and almost all (92 percent) have not achieved University Entrance. This leads to having significantly worse employment outcomes. At age 25, nearly half are not earning wages and almost half are receiving a benefit.

Chronically absent young people cost the Government nearly three times as much. We know that being chronically absent has large individual costs in terms of income, health, and social outcomes. The poor outcomes of young adults who were chronically absent from school also pose a sizeable cost to the Government. They are particularly costly in corrections, hospital admissions, and receiving benefits."

While it is pleasing that the percentage of young men at PNBHS in the 'chronic absence' category is low, this group still comprises approximately 54 young men, three times larger than it was in 2016.

Attendance and achievement data for Palmerston North Boys' High School clearly reflect the national patterns.  Young men with lower attendance rates are more likely to fail to gain an NCEA qualification before leaving school, while young men who are classed as regularly attending school are more likely to achieve the University Entrance qualification than their peers who have lower levels of attendance.  Simply put, every day counts. Please Make School the Priority for your son.