Attendance

Notifying School of an Absence...

• Absences can be reported via the HERO app, telephone message, or email and should be done before the start of the school day 8:45am.

• If your child is going to be late for school please let us know as well. All children who are late must report to the office when they arrive at school to sign in via our VisTab system

• Reasons for your child's absence must be given so we can correctly code these, according to the Ministry of Education codes (see below). 

• If you do not let us know your child is at school and we are unable to get hold of you, your child will be recorded as 'Truant'.

• If your child has a prolonged medical absence it is helpful to have a medical certificate to include in our records.

• If you need to remove your child from school during the day you must let the class teacher and school office know that this is happening.

• Parents can see a record of their child's attendance term by term on HERO

At home parents can support school attendance by:

• Talking about why school is important.

• Being positive about school and setting good habits from day one.

• Preparing your children the night before school – encouraging them to pack their bag.

• Ensuring they get enough sleep (at least 8-9 hours per night).

• Setting a good morning routine to get them to school on time and relaxed, with everything they need.

• Asking what they did at school and praise them for their efforts.

• Ensuring that family holidays are taken during school holidays.

At school we can support parents with school attendance and punctuality by:

• Supplying uniform items.

• Working with you to develop strategies to support your child, or eliminate any other barriers that may prevent school attendance.

• Seeking external support for you or your child, such as access to the school counsellor, referral to RTLB etc.

• Having a whānau support chat with the Principal and/or class teacher

School absence procedures:

• Our student management system (HERO) is used to record absences. 

• Daily rolls are also extracted at 6pm by the Ministry of Education each day to compile a record and report of student attendance across the country.

• Class rolls will be taken by 9am and 1:30pm daily.

• Every absence must be coded correctly.

• The office administrator will follow up on any unexplained absences by text or phone call.

• If there is no response the absence will be reported to the principal to follow up.

• Follow-up actions may include:

  • contacting parents/caregivers to outline attendance expectations.

  • meeting with students and their parents/caregivers to discuss strategies for improving attendance.

  • working with relevant staff to better meet the needs of students at risk of disengagement.

  • analysing attendance data for patterns of absence.

  • seeking support from the attendance service.

• The Principal and staff work together to provide support for families around regular school attendance.

• School-wide attendance information is regularly reported to the Board of Trustees.