Right Place, Right Time, Right Attitude
Thursday, 27th February 2025 at 1:59pm
“Right place, right time, right attitude.” It’s not a new phrase. It’s not novel, surprising or exceptional. But it is important.
Turning up late for movies is no good. You miss out on the first chase scene. You miss out on the explanation of who is who. You miss the little label at the bottom of the screen that tells you the action is in Latvia. Or Mogadishu. Or Dunedin. And you disrupt everyone else who has paid their money and already sitting down, on time ready for the film.
Turning up late for school is also very disruptive within the classroom. The disruption to the learning for a student who habitually turns up late can be devastating. Those key explainers at the start of lessons give a context for the rest of the information. The late student misses big ideas, key things to look out for and the general direction of the whole lesson.
Turning up late is also disrespectful to the teacher and the other students who have their learning interrupted. A lesson is planned carefully so that the ideas that need to be covered can be done so, in the time available in the school year. Whilst the teacher has to explain to the late student what is going on in the tasks for that lesson they cannot be helping others with their learning. It is a matter of disrespecting other students and has an impact on their progress too.
Turning up late is also a habit that is detrimental to life as a whole. We are told that life in the 21st Century is busy and getting busier. By not building the habit of punctuality a young person is unreliable and so not preparing themselves for a future beyond school.
At school, those minutes missed at the start of a day build up. Arriving at school ten minutes late every day for a school year is the same as missing seven days of school. Fifteen minutes late means that a student misses two weeks of teaching and learning time.
We do recognise that sometimes “life” does have a habit of throwing in glitches and difficulties. If a student is going to be late for school, please let us know. The road traffic in Auckland and around school can be challenging in the mornings, but this is something that is known about so please can we ask for your support in helping students arrive at school in good time for the start of the school day.
If your child is going to be late to school, or absent for the day due to illness etc, please contact Helen Wigham at Student Reception via email: [email protected] (or) phone 817-8173 ext 205.
Chris Woodward
GBHS ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL
