Attendance Management Plan V3.

The Ministry of Education attendance goal: is to get 80% of students to attend 90% of the time. MOE Attendance dashboard link.

​The following is Don Buck School’s Attendance Management Plan to achieve this.

Don Buck School has procedures to record and monitor attendance, and to identify and follow up concerns. We share attendance expectations with students and their parents/caregivers, and staff are responsible for reminding students of these expectations.

Recording attendance

We record attendance accurately and ensure the information is available in emergency situations to ensure all students are accounted for. We monitor absence patterns using our student management system, and parents/caregivers are notified of any concerns.

Classroom teachers, learning support staff, and office staff work together to ensure attendance is recorded correctly. Relievers, itinerant teachers, and specialist teachers provide attendance information as necessary to the relevant teacher, or directly to the school office.

Students are recorded as present or absent using set attendance codes. An absence may be justified (e.g. for medical reasons) or unjustified (e.g. for an unapproved holiday or other unsatisfactory reason), and is marked as such in our attendance register.

Monitoring attendance

The school office receives attendance information from classroom teachers and/or relievers, itinerant, or specialist teachers, and is responsible for checking and updating attendance information (e.g. due to students arriving late or going home early). Office staff follow up absences, monitor for changes or trends in student attendance, and coordinate with relevant staff as needed.

Staff are encouraged to report any attendance concerns to the deputy principal.

Students not meeting the threshold for regular attendance may be referred to Attendance West. https://attendancewest.com/

Student absences

If there is a justified reason for absence (e.g. due to illness, a funeral or tangihanga, or other approved reason at the discretion of the school), the principal may allow a student to be absent from school for up to five days (Education and Training Act 2020, s 45). In the case of planned absences, requests must be made to the principal at least one week before the planned event. The principal has discretion to approve or deny requests, based on criteria including:

• the benefit to education for the student (including qualifications and experience of course providers as relevant)
• the length of time away from regular school programmes that the activity will require.