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<h2><span data-contrast="auto">Recent MoE figures show 47 percent of students attended school regularly in Term Two this year.</span></h2>
<p><span data-contrast="auto"> Although an improvement on 2022 Term Two, where regular attendance hit a low of 39.9 percent, it is still one of the worst attendance figures on record. </span><span data-ccp-props="{";201341983";:0,";335559739";:160,";335559740";:259}"> </span></p>
<p><span data-contrast="auto">Chronic absences were down slightly, at 12.5 percent compared to 13.9 percent this time last year. </span><span data-ccp-props="{";201341983";:0,";335559739";:160,";335559740";:259}"> </span></p>
<p><a href="https://www.schoolnews.co.nz/latest-print-issue/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Read the Term 4 edition of <em>School News</em> HERE</strong></a> </p>
<p><span data-contrast="auto">The statistics also show that attendance varied by ethnicity, with a third of Māori and Pacific ākonga regularly attending school, compared to half of NZ European students and 59 percent of Asians. </span><span data-ccp-props="{";201341983";:0,";335559739";:160,";335559740";:259}"> </span></p>
<figure id="attachment_28927" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28927" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="size-medium wp-image-28927" src="https://www.schoolnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/sam-balye-w1FwDvIreZU-unsplash-300x212.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="212" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-28927" class="wp-caption-text">Photo by Sam Balye on Unsplash</figcaption></figure>
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<p><span data-contrast="auto">Boys showed slightly higher regularly attendance than girls, as was the normal pattern. </span><span data-ccp-props="{";201341983";:0,";335559739";:160,";335559740";:259}"> </span></p>
<p><span data-contrast="auto">Primary school students had higher regular attendance at 49.8 percent while secondary students saw 41.7 percent regular attendance. Tai Tokerau had the lowest regular attendance at 32.8 percent. </span><span data-ccp-props="{";201341983";:0,";335559739";:160,";335559740";:259}"> </span></p>
<p><span data-contrast="auto">Term Two attendance was worse than Term One attendance, where almost 60 percent of students were regularly attending school.</span><span data-ccp-props="{";201341983";:0,";335559739";:160,";335559740";:259}"> </span></p>
<p><span data-contrast="auto">Secondary Principals Association <a class="wpil_keyword_link" title="president" href="https://www.schoolnews.co.nz/2014/10/message-from-nz-principals-federation-president/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-wpil-keyword-link="linked">president</a> Vaughan Couillault said it was no surprise that Term Two figures were lower than Term One figures due to winter illness. </span><span data-ccp-props="{";201341983";:0,";335559739";:160,";335559740";:259}"> </span></p>
<p><span data-contrast="auto">&#8220;The main reason for students not attending is still illness, short-term illness, that&#8217;s the most significant contributor and&#8230; there&#8217;s a lot more seasonal illness in term two and term three,&#8221; he said.</span><span data-ccp-props="{";201341983";:0,";335559739";:160,";335559740";:259}"> </span></p>
<figure id="attachment_28928" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-28928" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="size-medium wp-image-28928" src="https://www.schoolnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/AdobeStock_48913667-300x223.jpeg" alt="" width="300" height="223" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-28928" class="wp-caption-text">Illness contributed to low attendance figures in Term Two. Photo: AdobeStock by RioPatuca Images</figcaption></figure>
<p><span data-contrast="auto">Other countries have also seen a decline in regular attendance. Across the ditch, Australia had its worst ever attendance rate in 2022 at 49.9 percent. </span><span data-ccp-props="{";201341983";:0,";335559739";:160,";335559740";:259}"> </span></p>
<p><span data-contrast="auto">In England, regular attendance fell to 55 percent in 2020-21. </span><span data-ccp-props="{";201341983";:0,";335559739";:160,";335559740";:259}"> </span></p>
<p><span data-contrast="auto">Recent research suggests that families in England changed their attitudes around keeping children home, similar to findings in an </span><a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/478411/education-report-highlights-poor-school-attendance-parents-views-on-missing-class" target="_blank"><span data-contrast="none">ERO report last year</span></a><span data-contrast="auto"> on New Zealand families. </span><span data-ccp-props="{";201341983";:0,";335559739";:160,";335559740";:259}"> </span></p>
<p><span data-contrast="auto">This change in attitude may partially account for why figures have yet to reach pre-pandemic levels; regular attendance was 57.7 percent in Term Two of 2019. </span><span data-ccp-props="{";201341983";:0,";335559739";:160,";335559740";:259}"> </span></p>
<p><span data-contrast="auto">Outgoing Police Minister Ginny Andersen said &#8220;We would really like to have a cross-government set of targets because it&#8217;s great to kick this around as a political football, but the real ones missing out are the young people learning, so we want to make sure we&#8217;re doing everything we possibly can to increase those attendance rates.</span><span data-ccp-props="{";201341983";:0,";335559739";:160,";335559740";:259}"> </span></p>
<p><span data-contrast="auto">Part of that is having the conversation that schools have got a duty to make sure they&#8217;re chasing up, but so do the parents&#8230; parents take their kids on school holidays during the term because it&#8217;s cheaper. </span><span data-ccp-props="{";201341983";:0,";335559739";:160,";335559740";:259}"> </span></p>
<blockquote>
<p><span data-contrast="auto">&#8220;As a parent, I&#8217;m guilty of doing that, and we should not be doing that &#8211; we should be prioritising our children&#8217;s attendance at school.&#8221; </span><span data-ccp-props="{";201341983";:0,";335559739";:160,";335559740";:259}"> </span></p>
</blockquote>

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