Attendance Management Plan

Effective from the opening of Te Pae School in 2027 | Year 1–8 | Cohort entry
*To be reviewed once students are onsite in 2027

Our commitment

Every student will be known, valued and supported to attend, participate and learn. Te Pae will respond early, consistently and respectfully, working in genuine partnership with ākonga and whānau to understand and remove barriers rather than treating absence as a stand-alone behaviour.

1. Purpose and scope

This plan sets out how Te Pae School will promote regular attendance, identify absence promptly, respond at the national Stepped Attendance Response (STAR) thresholds, record actions, support re-engagement and report progress. It applies to every enrolled student, including enrolled five-year-olds, and to all absences—whether justified or unjustified.

2. Legal and policy foundation

The plan gives effect to the Education and Training Act 2020, the Education (School Attendance) Regulations 2024, the School Attendance Rules 2026 and Ministry of Education guidance.

• The Board will ensure Te Pae takes all reasonable steps to support enrolled students to attend whenever the school is open for instruction.
• The Principal will ensure an approved electronic attendance register and Ministry-approved attendance codes are used for each required attendance period or half-day.
• Parents and legal guardians must ensure every enrolled child attends each day the school is open, unless there is a lawful reason or approved arrangement.
• Attendance information will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020 and shared only where lawful and necessary to support attendance, safety and learning.

3. Objectives and success measures

• Establish a strong culture from opening day that ‘every day matters’ and regular attendance is a shared responsibility.
• Act on every unexplained absence on the day and intervene before patterns become entrenched.
• Ensure equitable, culturally sustaining and mana-enhancing responses for Māori, Pacific peoples, migrant and refugee-background whānau, disabled and neurodivergent ākonga, and families experiencing hardship.
• Work towards the national target: at least 80% of students attending more than 90% of all school time by 2030.
• Maintain accurate, timely attendance and response records, with no unresolved data-quality issues carried beyond the next practical working day.

4. Roles and responsibilities

5. Daily attendance procedure

1. Before school: Whānau notify the office through Hero, email or phone before 9.00 am whenever a child will be absent or late, and provide the reason and likely duration. Contact channels will be published and kept simple.
2. 9.00–9.15 am: Kaiako mark the electronic roll on HERO using the correct Ministry code. Students arriving after the roll report through the office so their status can be updated.
3. By 9.30 am: Administration checks unmarked or unexplained entries, confirms known school activities and contacts a parent/guardian by text or phone.
4. If no response: A second contact method and all listed caregivers/emergency contacts are tried. Any immediate safeguarding concern is escalated to the Principal or delegate without waiting for an attendance threshold.
5. By end of the day: Reasons received are coded accurately, and notes are entered where follow-up is required. Unexplained absence remains coded in line with Ministry guidance until verified.

Ongoing: Kaiako warmly welcome the student back, avoid shame or public questioning, support missed learning where needed, and pass emerging patterns to the Attendance Lead.

Attendance codes

Present codes: Justified absence codes

Unjustified absence codes

Planned absences

Whānau should give at least one week’s notice for a planned absence wherever possible. The Principal will consider whether an absence may be treated as justified under the current rules; family holidays during term time are not automatically justified. Approval of a reason does not remove the absence from STAR totals: all days absent count towards the 5-, 10- and 15-day term thresholds.

Cohort entry and transition

A child’s agreed cohort entry date is their enrollment start date. Before that date, Te Pae will work with the whānau and early learning service on a transition plan where helpful. Once enrolled, attendance expectations and this plan apply in full. Attendance history will be requested for students transferring from another school and shared appropriately when a student transfers onward.

6. Te Pae attendance response

Thresholds reset at the beginning of each term, but Te Pae will consider previous terms, repeated patterns, lateness and prior interventions. We may respond earlier than a threshold where there is a concerning pattern, an unexplained absence, an immediate safety issue or a known barrier requiring prompt support.

7. Understanding and removing barriers

Attendance conversations will begin with curiosity: ‘What is getting in the way, and what would make tomorrow easier?’ Staff will avoid deficit assumptions and explore factors with the child and whānau, including:

• health, disability, fatigue, anxiety, sleep, medication, appointments or access to health services;
• neurodivergent needs such as sensory overload, executive-function demands, ADHD-related routines, dyslexia-related avoidance, communication differences or school refusal;
• belonging, identity, racism, bullying, peer relationships, behaviour responses or a lack of cultural safety;
• curriculum access, learning difficulty, giftedness, engagement, transitions or fear of failure;
• transport, housing instability, uniform, food, caring responsibilities, family work patterns, digital access or financial pressure;
• bereavement, tangihanga, religious or cultural commitments, family violence or other complex circumstances.

Support options

• a named trusted adult, soft-start/check-in routine, visual timetable, predictable transitions, movement or sensory breaks and access to a calm space;
• reasonable accommodations and an individual education, wellbeing or transition plan, without informally shortening the child’s school day outside a lawful, documented arrangement;
• breakfast, uniform, stationery, transport or connection to practical assistance, handled privately and respectfully;
• restorative responses to bullying or conflict, culturally matched support, interpreter access and engagement with whānau at a time/place that works for them;
• targeted teaching, accessible texts, assistive technology, strengths-based learning and supported re-entry so missed learning does not become another barrier;
• coordination with health professionals, Learning Support, Attendance Service, social services, iwi/Māori or Pacific providers, and other agencies with consent or other lawful authority.

8. Individual Attendance Support Plan

An individual plan will normally be developed by the 10-day threshold, or earlier when needed. It will be co-designed with the student and whānau, written in plain language and stored securely. It will include:

• the student’s voice, strengths, aspirations, identity and sense of belonging;
• attendance pattern and agreed understanding of the barriers;
• a realistic attendance goal and short review period;
• specific actions, named people, dates and supports at school and home;
• reasonable accommodations and a safe, welcoming return plan;
• how progress will be checked and communicated; and
• consent, agency involvement and escalation steps where applicable.

9. Recording and information management

• Attendance is entered in the approved SMS every day the school is open for instruction and transmitted to the Ministry through the SMS process.
• Ministry-approved codes are used consistently. Codes are corrected promptly when reliable information is received.
• At each 5-, 10- and 15-day threshold, the required response activity is recorded in the SMS, including date, contact/action, outcome, supports offered, responsible person and next review.
• Contact logs, meeting notes, plans, warnings, referrals and evidence of support are retained securely and factually. Sensitive information is limited to staff who need it.
• Administration and the Attendance Lead check missing marks, coding anomalies and SMS data-quality reports and resolve issues promptly.
• Where a student leaves, Te Pae follows current ENROL requirements, confirms the destination where possible and shares relevant attendance history lawfully to support continuity.

10. Monitoring, targets and reporting

Because Te Pae is a new school, 2027 will establish an equity-aware baseline. The Board will confirm annual attendance targets after reviewing opening-term data. The following minimum measures will be monitored:

The Principal will report to the Board at least once each term on overall and regular attendance, threshold volumes, response completion, trends, barriers, impact of interventions and recommended resourcing. Student-level matters will be reported only where governance action is required and with privacy protected.

11. Communication and attendance culture

• Explain expectations and notification processes at enrolment, cohort-entry transition, whānau evenings, on the website and through Hero.
• Use plain language, translated or interpreted communication where needed, and accessible formats for whānau with literacy, language or disability needs.
• Share attendance information regularly and privately with students and whānau; frame it around learning, connection and wellbeing rather than punishment.
• Celebrate improvement, persistence and belonging without rewards that shame children with health, disability or whānau barriers.
• Design engaging, culturally responsive learning and minimise avoidable disruption to the school day and week.

12. Escalation, safety and external support

Thresholds do not replace professional judgement. If an unexplained absence raises an immediate concern for a child’s safety, staff will follow Te Pae’s safeguarding and child protection procedures immediately. For persistent or complex absence, the Principal or Attendance Lead may request support through the Attendance Service portal and coordinate with other services. Prosecution is a last resort. Ministry guidance indicates cases should be referred for prosecution consideration only after all reasonable re-engagement actions have been taken and documented, supports have been offered, and chronic absence has continued for two or more terms. Any school-led or Ministry-led legal step will be authorised by the Principal and considered in line with current legislation and guidance.

13. Review and assurance

The Attendance Lead will complete a termly implementation audit covering roll completion, coding, threshold-response records, timeliness, plan reviews and data quality. The Board will review this plan after Te Pae’s first year of operation and at least annually thereafter, using attendance outcomes, whānau and student voice, staff feedback, equity analysis and Ministry updates. The plan will be reviewed earlier following a material legislative or Ministry change, audit finding, serious attendance event or evidence that a process is creating inequitable outcomes. Following Board approval, the current plan will be published on the Te Pae website. Public versions will contain no personal information.