ATTENDANCE 2023
Last Year the MOE released a new Attendance Strategy for all schools and within these, new Attendance expectations.
Research clearly shows the link between Attendance and Achievement. There is a direct link that if students have attendance below 90-95% their chances of gaining the NCEA level they are working towards are significantly weakened.
The Education Act 1989 requires all students between the ages of 6-16 years to be enrolled and attending at school. The parent/caregiver for a young person is responsible for ensuring young people are enrolled in a school and attend regularly.
This new strategy outlines some new attendance categories for schools and attendance expectations They are:
All students should maintain attendance rates of 90% or better for the full school academic year. This is what we are expecting of all students from this year onwards as mentioned previously.
Below is the new classifications for all schools in NZ.
Attending Regularly (Attending more than 90%, an average of 9 days a fortnight)
Moderately Absent (Attending more than 70% up to 80% - missing 2-3 days a fortnight)
Chronically Absent (Attending 70% or less – missing 3+ days a fortnight)
Did you know?
Missing 1 day a fortnight (90%) equates to 4 weeks in of school missed in a school year. This adds up to a whole year of education missed from Year 4 - Year 13.
Did you know?
Missing 2-3 day a fortnight (70-80%), or 1 or more days per week equates to 8-10 weeks of school missed in a school year. This adds up to a 2.5+ years of education missed over their school life.
Did you know?
Every day missed is like missing 2 days of learning in terms of content knowledge.
In recent years much of the attendance data shared by the Ministry of Education makes for concerning reading. next week we will break some more of this down. In the meantime please ensure your child is at school everyday to allow them to achieve highly.
Absences - Any absence from school must be phoned into the school office. This must have a clear reason for absence, not just 'Won't be at school'. We are required by MOE to code all absences very strictly and the majority of student absences that are occuring are Explained and Unjustified. We also require a medical certificate for students who are away unwell for 3 days or more.
Late to School - Students are required when the warning bell goes at 8.35am each morning to be heading to class with their tools for learning for and 8.40am start each day.
Students who are late will be required to complete a Lunchtime Catchup that day, for their lateness. Being on time and time management are important future lifelong skill students will require in jobs and all aspects of life and we expect them to be able to do this each day.
SCHOOL REMINDERS 
