Stepped Attendance Response

Friday, 28th March 2025 at 7:40am

One of the things we are continuing to focus on in 2025 is student attendance. You will hear us talking about this with you, with our students, and it remains a strong subject of conversation in the staff room.

If a student misses one day of school every two weeks, they miss more than a whole year of school by 16 years of age. As a parent or caregiver, you, alongside our school, play a key role in building strong habits of regular school attendance (attending school over 90% of the time).

All students are legally required to attend school every day and it is a shared responsibility to make sure students attend and engage in learning from when they first start school. If you're struggling at home with getting your child to school, talk to us so we can work together. Our school is committed to supporting your child to attend school.

The government’s Stepped Attendance Response (STAR) is the support programme that the Ministry of Education is rolling out to help clarify why attendance is so important and what we can do to maximise educational opportunities by having more children with “regular attendance” at school.

Our school continues to build a culture that fosters attendance every day by having:

• School staff who have strong relationships with students and family.
• A school culture that recognises your child and your family for who you are, where you come from and what you value.
• A school whānau that takes all practical steps to make sure your child is at school and progressing in their learning.
• A school that is safe and welcoming for everyone in our school community.

The STAR is to help the educational community in New Zealand to set clear expectations and have a regulated, formalised and graduated approach when attendance starts to slip. When students reach certain “absence thresholds” that would take them below the 90% for “regular attendance” the government has set up a guide to the responses that schools will take. These responses are designed to bring students and their families back into school. We will send formal letters to inform you if absences grow and will use resources and systems inside the school to remove barriers for attendance for your child. We may also need to use outside agencies to help you get your child back to regular school attendance.

Clear communication is key to understand the reasons for absence and develop a plan to manage the situation. We will be in touch with you, but if you have any attendance queries and issues, please contact us so we can work together. Please get in touch through the level deans or the Attendance Office or phone 817 8173 ext 234) if there are any questions you have or help that you need.

Year 9 Dean: Lucy Morrin ext 281 Year 9 Assistant Dean: Hamish Mackay ext 265

Year 10 Dean: Gabrielle Perry ext 218 Year 10 Assistant Dean: Nikunj Barot ext 218

Year 11 Dean: Grace McCormack-Clark ext 221 Year 11 Assistant Dean: Dr Angelo Tedoldi ext 221

Year 12 Dean: Matt Ollerenshaw ext 209 Year 12 Assistant Dean: Joanne Nolan ext 209

Year 13 Dean: Lola Le Grange ext 245 Year 13 Assistant Dean: José Torres ext 245