Attendance Management Plan

Tua Marina School Attendance Management Plan

This Attendance Management Plan outlines Tua Marina School’s approach to identifying, responding to, and reducing student absences. It aligns with the Ministry of Education’s Stepped Attendance Response (STAR) and reflects our school’s CALM values of Community, Active involvement, Learning, and Manaakitanga. The plan provides a practical, operational framework for all staff to follow to improve student attendance, well-being, and engagement.

1. Tua Marina School’s Strategic Priorities and Goals

1. Improve regular attendance from 38% (Term 3, 2025) to 70% by the end of 2026.
2. Reduce chronic absence (15+ days per term) to below 10%.
3. Reduce unjustified absences to below 20%.
4. Strengthen whānau partnerships and remove barriers to attendance.
5. Use Hero to track, monitor, and respond to attendance patterns in real time.
6. Improving attendance supports engagement, wellbeing, and achievement for all tamariki.

2. Tua Marina School’s Roles and Responsibilities

The Tua Marina School Board will:

• Take all reasonable steps to ensure students attend school when required.
• Approve and publish this Attendance Management Plan on the school website.
• Receive termly attendance reports including Hero data trends, patterns, and interventions.
• Monitor school progress toward attendance targets and compliance with the STAR framework.
• Review this plan at least every three years.
• Actively minimise disruptions to the school day and week, e.g. use callback days, parent-teacher meetings held after school

The Principal will:

• Lead the implementation of this plan and ensure all staff understand their roles.
• Investigate, respond to, and record actions taken for absences as per STAR thresholds.
• Report attendance trends and interventions to the Board each term.
• Oversee communication with parents, staff, and agencies regarding attendance concerns.
• Acknowledge attendance improvements through newsletters and assemblies.
• Lead referrals to Attendance Services as needed.

The Senior Leadership Team will:

• Oversee follow-up actions and review Hero entries fortnightly.
• Support teachers and ensure interventions are actioned promptly.
• Assist referrals to Attendance Services as needed.

Team Leaders will:

• Review weekly attendance summaries and discuss patterns during team meetings.
• Support teachers with early interventions and whānau engagement.
• Guide consistent application of the STAR process.

Classroom Teachers or School Admin will:

• Record attendance twice daily in Hero (by 9:00 am and 1:45 pm).
• Follow up on unexplained absences within 24 hours.
• Engage with whānau and record all communications in Hero.
• Promote attendance through classroom culture, communication, and positive recognition.

Parents/Guardians/Whānau will:

• Ensure tamariki attend school daily unless sick or otherwise excused.
• Reinforce positive attendance habits.
• Maintain communication with the school regarding any absence.
• Engage in school attendance processes and support when attendance issues arise.

3. Procedures and Supporting Documentation

Supporting documents include:

• Attendance policy in Schooldocs and the School website.
• STAR Stepped Attendance Response (see below).
• Communication templates for whānau contact.
• Attendance service referral procedures.
• Wellbeing and pastoral care processes for addressing barriers to attendance.
• Every Day Matters data for trend monitoring and evaluation.

4. Monitoring and Reporting

• Classroom teachers record attendance twice daily in Hero (by 9:00 am and 1:45 pm).
• Team Leaders review weekly attendance summaries and discuss patterns during team meetings.
• The Senior Leadership Team oversees follow-up actions and checks Hero notes for interventions.
• The Principal reports termly to the Board using Every Day Matters data.
• Attendance data is analysed by year level, gender, and ethnicity to identify barriers.

5. Legislative Compliance

This plan supports compliance with the following legislation:

• Education and Training Act 2020
• Education (Attendance) Regulations (pending)
• Education Attendance Rules

6. Review Cycle
Reviewed: December 2025
Next Review: Term 4 2028
This plan will be reviewed annually by the Senior Leadership Team for operational effectiveness and formally every three years by the Board.

7. Community and Agency Collaboration
Tua Marina School works with Attendance Services, Public Health, Oranga Tamariki, and community providers to remove attendance barriers. We participate in Marlborough Attendance Hui and collaborate across the Marlborough Principals Association to share strategies and align supports for ākonga.

8. Attendance Management Procedure – Stepped Attendance Response (STAR)
Our STAR framework ensures consistent, timely responses to student absences. Actions are flexible and adapted to individual student needs. All actions and communications must be recorded in Hero under Attendance Interventions.

Step 1 – Regular Attendance (0–4 days absent per term)

Step 2 – Worrying Attendance (5–9 days absent per term) 

Step 3 – Concerning Attendance (10–14 days absent per term)

Step 4 – Serious Concern (15+ days absent per term) 

Attendance Management Plan

Tua Marina School Attendance Management Plan 2026