Supporting Positive Attendance at Te Puna Wai o Waipapa

Stepped Attendance Response (STAR)

The Government’s Stepped Attendance Response (STAR) is a nationwide initiative that supports students’ attendance at school by setting out expectations for schools, students, whānau and the Ministry of Education. We have set attendance targets as a school and we will regularly review these targets, clearly communicating with parents both daily and targeted when attendance is impacting student success in learning. We will continue to send out weekly attendance summaries each Friday for all adolescent students.  Where a student is struggling to attend regularly we will refer the student and family to attendance supports and we will do everything we can to reduce barriers to attendance. 

The STAR response will focus on Years 9-11.  This is because the way attendance data is collected by the Ministry is impacted by the way our school offers senior students independant study time in alignment with our school’s special character. That doesn’t mean students in Year 12 and 13 are not followed up for attendance concerns, it simply means that follow up will be done by Tutors and Year Advisers and will look very similiar to our STAR response for Years 9-11. We collect period by period data for Year 12 and 13 so we have accurate attendance data.

The Government’s targets are to have 80% of New Zealand attending school 90-100% of the time. This equates to less than 5 days absence a term. Please see the graphic below that explains the steps in the STAR response.

What can you expect from the school?

The same text messages to inform you that your child is absent. Texts are sent in the morning and afternoon each day.

Tutors will follow up on any absences at tutor times.

Weekly attendance summaries are emailed home to all whānau on a Friday to inform parents of the week’s attendance.

This email also contains a graphic of the school attendance supports.

When your child reaches the 5 day a term absence threshold you will receive an email from your child’s Tutor teacher with an offer of supports. At ten days this letter comes from the Year Adviser and again we offer a range of supports which might include the offer of working with our Attendance and Engagement Mentor, Trent Hiles to support improved attendance.

At 15 days absence in a term, the Year Adviser will arrange a meeting between the school, whānau and the student to discuss in more detail the barriers to attendance. An attendance plan is co-constructed to support improved attendance.

At 20 days absence in a term, a review meeting is held with a member of senior leadership and the Ministry of Education may become involved.

We recognise that there are many reasons for a student not attending school and we are here as support for the student and whānau. We want the same thing – students that flourish here. ‘Ka puāwai te koru, ka puāwai te tangata!’ As the koru opens so to does the person.

Here is a link to more detailed Information about the STAR attendance response and our attendance plan.

Attendance Plan 2026

Rowan Milburn

Principal

Please click here to read

We have recently completed our three year strategic plan and one educational outcome that is underlying all three of our goals is improved attendance at school. We have such a close connection between being at school and achieving well. We also acknowledge that attendance can be really difficult to improve and we are really relying heavily on support from our families to get rangatahi out the door and to school. When they are here we can take over and focus on their learning and achievement.

We have put together an attendance plan to outline what we are doing to support attendance based on our goals and would invite you to have a read. As always feedback is most welcome via my work email – rw@hagley.school.nz

Is Your child struggling to attend regulary?

Here are key points that can help