Otago was the only region to reach the government's target of 94 percent daily attendance not once, but twice in the past five weeks. File photo. Photo: 123RF
More children have been attending school each day than at the same time last year, according to the latest data
After five weeks, daily school attendance is running at an average of 88 percent, up from 85 percent at the same time last year, and has exceeded 90 percent on several days.
In Taranaki, Marlborough, and Otago daily attendance on one or two days exceeded 94 percent, the figure required to meet the government's 2030 target of 80 percent of children attending more than 90 percent of the time.
The figures showed daily attendance at the third of schools with more barriers to achievement as measured by the equity index ranged from the mid-seventies to mid-eighties.
Attendance at the third of schools with the fewest barriers ranged from the high eighties to low nineties.
Term one usually has the highest attendance rates.
Ōtāhuhu College principal Neil Watson said his school's numbers were in the high eighties, four or five percentage points better than the same time last year.
Watson said students and their families seemed to be responding to reminders that those who attended school regularly earned significantly more money down the track.
"What we have noticed is that we're seeing an increase of about four to five percent each week on where we were this time last year and that's really pleasing. I think some of the messages are hitting home with regards to students who attend school regularly earn significantly more money down the track in their lives and I think that message is resonating and I think there's a lot of working being done in each school and across the country to lift our attendance rates to where they should be," he said.
Watson said 94 percent daily attendance was possible.
"It's do-able. It's a challenge and obviously we have the impact of weather and winter illnesses. We had 95 percent of our Year 13s here yesterday so definitely do-able, it's being able to do that consistently is something we've all got to work on," he said.
Burnside High School principal Scott Haines said its daily attendance was in the high eighties and early nineties most days, which was similar to last year.
He said he was making sure his students knew 98.8 percent of students with an attendance rate of 90 percent achieved their NCEA qualification last year.
"The message I'm sharing with students is if you attend 90 percent of the time or more, come to school every day, you are doomed to succeed. You are all but guaranteed to get NCEA. But the inverse of that is those stats look very poorly for those students who attend less than 80 percent, the pass rate drops to less than 50 percent."
Haines said despite his school's good attendance figures, it needed to improve attendance among Māori and Pacific students and boys.
He said unlike other schools, Monday rather than Friday was the school's worst day for attendance.
"For us it's a Monday and Monday morning's particularly bad," he said.
Haines said an attendance officer was working with students and there appeared to be no one reason for the Monday dip.
He said the government's goals were a stretch target.
"I'm a father of a teenage daughter and I know that seeking to maintain an average of 90 percent or better last year was quite a stretch goal. You only need one round of Covid and a couple of days out on a national gym competition or something else that is a valid and just reason for taking a teen away from school and those numbers drop very quickly."
Otago was the only region to reach the government's target of 94 percent daily attendance not once, but twice in the past five weeks.
Kim Blackwood from the Otago Primary Principals' Association said attendance in the region had been improving in the region since the Covid-driven lockdowns of 2020.
She said local schools had high expectations for attendance and were focused on strong relationships with families and addressing pastoral needs.
But she said socio-economic challenges were generally not as widespread in Otago as in some other regions.
Blackwood said achieving 94 percent daily attendance on a regular basis was something to aim for.
"It's important to have something to strive for but in every household there's a reason why a child doesn't attend school and it's understanding what that looks like. For mine it could be that it is just about a sickness but for somebody else it's the challenges and the no-food-on-the-table or nothing to provide to send them to school for lunch and those types of things," she said.
"The challenges definitely look different from school to school. As principals, we want everyone to be in school and being educated but the flip side is there are challenges for families and the key is understanding them and working with them."
Associate Education Minister David Seymour said the government had prioritised attendance and it was having a positive impact on the number of students getting back to school.
"While there's still plenty of work to be done to increase attendance across New Zealand, I've been really impressed by the work of many schools to prioritise time in the classroom. For example, I recently heard of a school that requires 95 percent attendance for students to participate in school sports.
"If we continue to make small steps like this, we will be on track to achieve our target of ensuring 80 percent of students are present more than 90 percent of the term by 2030," he said.
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