Parents, students, schools on notice

By law, Kiwi kids aged from 6 to 16 are required to go to school every day.

Whā nau, parents and caregivers have the responsibility of ensuring it happens or letting the school know on the day if students will be absent. Family holidays or taking time off for extracurricular activities (not organised by school) are not acceptable reasons for being absent.

Schools and kura are expected to record and report on attendance and let parents or carers know if they haven’t received any notification of an absence.

Regular attendance is defined as going to class more than 90 per cent of the time.

During the campaign for last October’s election, Act leader David Seymour said the country had “a truancy crisis”, claiming 10,000 children weren’t even enrolled. Since becoming Associate Health Minister he has complained about the spike in health-related school absences, saying the number of children kept home for illness had doubled since the pandemic began.

“I think we’re going to have to start being a bit clearer about what exactly is a valid reason to stay home,” he told RNZ.

Only 46 per cent of school pupils attended classes regularly in term three last year, with Mā ori and Pacific students worst affected, Ministry of Education figures show. They also show a record number of students took holidays during the 10 weeks from mid-July to mid-September.

“Attendance is a major problem for us here in New Zealand, the numbers are shameful — there’s no other way to describe it,” Seymour has said.

The Government has drawn up an Attendance Action Plan which Seymour is overseeing. A weekly look at how many students are attending school will be published from next month, ramping up to daily reporting at the start of next year — in contrast to the reporting over the course of a term as happens at present.

The ministry will begin publishing the weekly snapshots from the second week of term two.

A traffic light system will set out requirements and expectations for parents, schools, and the Ministry of Education at different stages of a student’s attendance, with clear obligations for when a student is not attending.

A public communications campaign, public health guidance about when a student is well enough to attend schools, and setting attendance as a strategic priority for school boards are all on the drawing board.