Attendance Procedures - To be reviewed formally Term 3 2026

Lake Tekapo 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 to ensure all students are accounted for, including for emergency situations. The school provides attendance data to
the Ministry of Education each day, as required by the Education and Training Act 2020 and Education (School Attendance) Regulations 2024. We
monitor absence patterns using our student management system and notify parents/caregivers 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.
We record students as present or absent using Ministry of Education 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 we record this 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 principal.

• The Ministry of Education collects attendance data from the school, including​

• - the proportion of students who attend regularly
  - students with fi ve or more full days of unjustifi ed absence in a term
  - absences remaining unexplained at the end of each week.

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Student Absences
Parents/Caregivers are expected to notify the school as soon as possible (before or during the school day) if their child will be absent. A reason for
absence must be provided no later than the end of the school week. Lake Tekapo School will contact parents/caregivers directly if no explanation is
provided for student absence.

Under the Education and Training Act 2020 (s 45), the principal may allow a student to be absent from school for up to five days 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). For 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.

If a student does not arrive at school or goes missing during the day (including from an EOTC event), we check there are no errors in how attendance
information was recorded or updated (e.g. if a student has gone home due to illness). If necessary, we follow up with parents/guardians and/or
emergency contacts. We may also follow our Missing Student Procedure.

Following up Unexplained Absences
Lake Tekapo School takes all reasonable steps to ensure students attend school while it is open, including following up unexplained absences.

Our follow-up actions may include:

● analysing attendance data for patterns of absence
● contacting parents/caregivers to outline attendance expectations
● meeting with students and their parents/caregivers to discuss strategies for improving attendance
● discussing school programmes with relevant staff to better meet the needs of students at risk of disengagement.

Under the Education and Training Act (s 48), the board may appoint an attendance officer who has authority to follow up absences with students and
their parents/caregivers directly.

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Reporting to Parents:
Attendance:
One of the things we are continuing to focus on in 2025 is student attendance. You will hear us talking about this with you and our students regularly, as it remains a priority for the government.

If a student misses one day of school every two weeks, they miss more than a whole year of school by 16 years of age. As a parent or caregiver, you, alongside our school, play a key role in building strong habits of regular school attendance.

All students are legally required to attend school every day and it is a shared responsibility to make sure students attend and engage in learning from when they fi rst start school.

You must let the school know if your child is going to be absent or intends to be absent for a portion of the school term for whatever reason, like a tangi or medical procedure. Family holidays or taking time off for extracurricular activities (not organised by school) are not considered acceptable reasons for being absent.

Our school continues to build a culture that fosters attendance every day by having:
● School staff who have strong relationships with students and family.
● A school culture that recognises your child and your family for who you are, where you come from and what you value.
● A school whānau that takes all practical steps to make sure your child is at school and progressing in their learning.
● A school that is safe and welcoming for everyone in our school community.

Understanding the Attendance Codes:
This year the government has changed the codes that we use to report attendance at school. Each day we mark the attendance as ½ days (am and pm)using our school management system, MUSAC Edge. This data is now automatically reported to the MoE at the end of the school day.

Reminder:
● Please let us know by text, email or phone by 9.15am each day that your child will be absent from school
● Also include the reason for the absence e.g. sick, doctor’s appointment, tangi etc. We are no longer able to accept a lack of reason for the absence and are required to follow-up.
● Unless the absence is for a set period of time that you have notifi ed us of (e.g. funeral for 3 days) please let us know each day that your child will be absent. This is for safety reasons, so we know where your child is and not missing on the way to school. Just a text, email or phone call to say,
“Still sick” is fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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