Attendance Update – Term 1, 2025

Thank you for all your support with attendance this term.

Attendance continues to be a top priority as we strive for 80% of our students to be attending school for more than 90% of the term. To achieve this we need to aspire to reach an average daily attendance rate above 94%.

How we are tracking:

Note attendance rates by year level as per below and attendance by days of the week on average.

A reminder about what can you do to support your child and the the school:

• Make sure you phone or email in any absences or appointments for your child.
• Ensure your child is at school before 8.50am when our first warning bell rings in the morning for both Springs and Waiōrea.
• Period 1 starts at 9.00 am and students should be in class and prepared for lessons to start by then, hence our 8.50 am warning bell.

What we are doing to support attendance:

• Both Springs and Waiōrea have new Attendance officers that have been in place for a term.
• Years 11-13 are receiving a weekly attendance update by email with their overall percentage and daily attendance for the previous week.
• You will receive a text message period 1 if your child is absent from school.
• If they are still absent during period 2 and it is unexplained you will receive communication from the relevant Attendance Officer ( text/ email/ phone call/ home visit).
• Heads of House will also follow up on attendance.
• Chronic attendance concerns do require a referral to the Ministry Of Education Attendance Service.

Attendance Summary Notes:

• Waiōrea and Springs Attendance officers are in place.
• Students in Years 11-13 are receiving a weekly summary of their attendance and we will consider rolling this out to Juniors at the same time as their reports early next term- we may also trial sending the summary to families and caregivers.
• Whānau teachers, Heads of House and Year 13 Academic staff still monitor overall attendance and in particular any single period absences.
• Attendance officers monitor students away for part and.or full days and follow up on chronic attendance as well as patterns of attendance that need monitoring.
• Families are responding positively to our Attendance Officers and are keeping in touch re: absences.
• Referrals are being made to the Attendance Service and their new staff have been very responsive so far.
• They also accept referrals for students aged over 15 years and 6 months up to the age of 16 and help them find with a meaningful pathway.