The Importance of Punctuality and Attendance at School

Why Being on Time and Attending School is Important

Every day counts! At Te Kura ō Ngā Kākano ā Salford we celebrate our school values in all areas of school life, in the classroom and beyond. This contributes towards a positive attitude towards learning for all and the expectation of high attendance to ensure every learner has the best opportunity to succeed, academically and socially.

Punctuality

Being at school on time (even with 5 - 10 minutes spare) is important for vital connection and social time. This time allows children to make their way through classroom routines to be prepared for their day. They can check in with the teacher and spend time catching up with their friends all in a relaxed manner while preparing mentally for the busy day of learning they have ahead.

By being 10 minutes late each day, 50 minutes of learning time is lost each week.

Children also miss the daily briefing, notices, reminders, discussions about what is happening during the day, morning responsibility opportunities, instructions and focussed learning in the time that they are not in class.

Children who are consistently late often arrive into class stressed with heightened levels of anxiety because they are aware class has started and they will still have their morning routines to work through or get their lunch to heat ups etc before joining in with learnong. Teachers then need to take time to calm the child and go through instructions and other relevant information with them to set them up for the day. This takes the teacher away from a class that was up and running for the day and uses up valuable teaching time.

Government Targets

The National Government has set a target of 90% attendance for New Zealand tamariki in schools. This means that learners should NOT have anymore than 5 days of absence per term. Good attendance habits established in the primary schooling years lead to success in learning and life further on.

Attendance is reported to the Ministry daily.

The law in New Zealand is very clear: you must send your child(ren) to school - full time, until they are the age of 16. The only exceptions are sickness (including dental / medical treatment), attending a funeral, an emergency that requires the students presence or if a student is representing their country at an officially sanctioned sport, cultural competition or event. These absences are 'Justified'.

Communication with the School

It is imperative that whānau communicate all absences to the school before 9:00am. Absences to be communicated include: sickness, appointments, lateness and early finishing. These can be communicated through the Skool Loop app or by phoning 2179521.

We have a legal requirement to follow up all children who are not at school. Any absence that the school has not been informed of will be followed up with a phonecall.

If we need to leave a message and do not recieve a response to the phone call, the absence will be recorded as 'Unknown/ Unexplained'. These quickly become recoded as 'Truant'

If your child is absent for 5 or more days due to illness a doctors certificate will be required.

Absences Due to Travel or Holidays During Term Time

All absences due to travel or holidays should be advised to the school in advance in writing via the Principal.

There are times when opportunities and events arise requiring travel to be undertaken during term time, this should be a rare occurance and only in exceptional cirucmstances.

The school cannot authorise holidays during school time. Any time away for travel will be recorded as either 'Holiday in Term Time or Explained but unjustified' in attendance records and Ministry of Education reports.

The Impact of Time Away From School due to Holidays During School Time

Educational progress and achievement is impacted for children who are absent for extended periods of time

The absence creates difficulties in catching up on missed learning

Additional learning support opportunities may not be available to children who have attendance of less than 90%

Disrupted classroom routines and friendships. Often when learners come back they have missed what has been happening at school and sometimes new friendships will have formed

Teachers do not set additional work if learners are away for holidays as their priority is on teaching the learners who are at school

Having Difficulty Getting Your Child to School

We all have days where, for a myriad of reasons, we do not want to go to work or school and there are very genuine reasons for this at times. While allowing your child(ren) to stay away from school may bring immediate short term relief this can quickly become a habit of school avoidance which is exceedingly difficult to break. Once a regular pattern of absences is developed it is harder to get back into routine, the learning that has been and gone is more difficult to catch up on and the learning keeps building on what has already passed. This all results in gaps in knowledge as the stepping stones to build and connect learning together have been missed.

Resilience to continue persevering and being at school every day, even when things may be more challenging than usual (no one finds everything easy all the time - that isn't learning) is a necessary skill to have for everyone.

Staff are here to help where they can if you are having difficulty getting your child(ren) to school. Please just let us know so that we can all work together to support your child and their growth, socially, emotionally and academically.

Every Day Counts

How much does 10 missed minutes of school a day add up?

If a student misses:	That equals:	Which is:	Over 13 years of schooling, this is:
10 minutes per day	50 minutes per week	Nearly 1.5 weeks per year	Nearly half a year
20 minutes per day	1 hr 40 minutes per week	Over 2.5 weeks per year	Nearly one year
30 minutes per day	Half a day per week	4 weeks per year	Nearly 1.5 years
1 hour per day	One day per week	8 weeks per year	Over 2.5 years