I hope everyone had an enjoyable Easter long weekend. The weather certainly came to the party...what a treat to have lovely sunshine all weekend. 

Transition to School

We really enjoy welcoming our new families to Woodstock School. Each Wednesday afternoon we have School Visits for soon-to-be 5 year old children who are transitioning to school. This is a lovely time for parents to support their children to feel confident about what it means to be a learner at school.

Visit from MOE

This morning we hosted Ministry of Education's Marcus Freke, Director of Education for Waikato, and Alan Munro Manager of Integrated Services. Marcus and Alan enjoyed a tour of our school, taking in our new inclusive playground, our logo and values, our histories mural, renovated Block A corridor, Conductive Education Unit, and seeing DMIC, Structured Literacy and Targeted Numeracy teaching in action. It was an opportunity to highlight some of the positive things happening at Woodstock School. We really appreciate Marcus and Alan taking time out of their very busy schedules to visit, and they were most positive about their visit. 

Attendance

I want to address the recent discussion in the media about the government's focus on improving school attendance in NZ. According to an ERO report published last year, NZ compares to Australia and the UK as follows:

At Woodstock we have recently completed a Kahui Ako Attendance Survey of our students to find out what influences attendance at Woodstock. 

The Attendance Survey Results - what our children said: 

What are some of the reasons you come to school?

It is pleasing to see that out of 117 respondents, close to 100 children said they come to school to learn. In addition to Friends, Teacher, Sports and Fun, the Other category included the Playground, Swimming, and that 'school is a safe place'. 

What are some reasons that prevent you from coming to school?

Sickness was the most common reason for not attending school. Tangi/funeral, emergencies, appointments and a small number mentioned bullying as deterents to school attendance. We were surprised to see the high number citing appointments as reasons for missing school. We encourage children to return to school straight after an appointment rather than taking a whole day off. 

The 'Other' reasons for not coming to school were predominantly: taking holidays during term time, family event, or parent 'let me stay home'. 

Between 2015 and 2019 there was a 12% drop in the rate of regular attendance in NZ. By 2022, the rate of regular attendance reached 40% as you can see in the ERO graph above. 

In the ERO Attendance Review (21 Feb 2023) ERO identified the most important drivers of attendance in NZ as: Parents' attitudes (how comfortable parents are with their child missing school), Learners' attitudes (seeing school as important and helpful for their future) and What happens at school (how hard the schoolwork is, if they can participate in activities, if they like or don't like the people in their class, if they like or don't like their teacher, and if they are interested in what they are being taught). 

What are we doing about it at Woodstock?

We are actively promoting regular school attendance. We are encouraging positive Learner Attitudes (school is important, learning is important, school is a great place to be). We are ensuring that the teaching and learning at Woodstock is engaging, targeted and high quality. We have introduced incentives for regular attendance (such as Leo the Lion). We work in partnership with families to help overcome barriers to attending. What happens at school is cool! We offer lots of activities that our students will enjoy (electives, sports, production, singing assembly, Kapa Haka, Pasifika, and special events like Swimming Sports, the Colour Run, the Gala, etc.) so that our children find school fun, engaging and a safe place to learn. 

What parents can do?

If your child is unwell they need to stay home. If they are well they need to be at school. Parents can help by establishing expectations and home routines around bedtime, organising bags/lunches etc. the night before, and consistent morning routines to get to school on time. 

In this attendance survey, 'holidays during term time' has shown to be a reason why some of our children at Woodstock are missing school. We are so lucky to have short terms with two-week breaks where families can take holidays together. Taking holidays during term time is discouraged. We understand that sometimes the destination distance or family events are beyond your control, and it is often cheaper to book during term time. However, where possible holidays should be planned outside of term time. Events like a birthday or a special day's shopping are also not considered valid reasons for being away from school. 

What we have noticed at Woodstock School is that our children like school and they want to come to school. I am pleased to share that we are currently achieving our attendance goal for the year (to have >70% regular attendance). Last year in March we had 69% of our students attending regularly. Currently we have 74% of our children attending regularly (regular attendance = attending more than 91% of the time). This improvement in attendance is wonderful to see. We want to continue to maintain or improve this result. Well done to our families and to our staff. When children attend regularly, they feel more connected and it gives our children the best chance to do well in life. 

One more week of school and then we have a two-week break to look forward to. Have a great weekend everyone. 

Ngā mihi,

Paula