Attendance, regular attendance is one of the most important factors that contributes to a student’s success at school. This is true in terms of not only their academic achievement, but also their social and emotional development. People forget that even 90% attendance equates to one day off school every two weeks, or 20 days off over the course of a year.

At Massey High School, we want every student at school every day and taking every opportunity in every lesson.

With this in mind, some of our attendance procedures have been subject to extensive review. This with a view to arresting the decline we have seen in attendance – a decline which can be attributed to the disruption of the past few years, and the behaviours and habits that were developed as a result.

Procedures will be refreshed with our staff at the beginning of the week, beginning with the role of the Tutor Teacher in being the first step in ensuring that our students are at school as much as possible. For most of our students, the initial step is often enough to ensure that we know where they are if not at school (e.g. justified medical absence etc.). For a few of our students, this is the first step in a chain of support that now culminates with the ability to refer a student to the new West Auckland attendance service – a service that can work alongside the school to support students (and their whanau) back into regular attendance.

The refreshed procedures will also be presented to students in each year level over the coming weeks – ensuring that they are fully aware of the steps to follow should they miss a class or miss a day.

For Students

At the end of each day, every student marked absent, will receive a report to their school email address which reminds them which period(s) that day that were missed – with a reminder of the process to follow to either amend the attendance (if they were involved in an activity outside class) or to provide their tutor with evidence from home as to why they were absent.

For Parents and Caregivers

All parents and caregivers will receive a new attendance report at the end of each week. This report will illustrate which days or periods in a day that their child has been marked absent. As with the report to students, it will contain a reminder of the process to follow to provide the school with evidence for the absence. It will also contain updated information on assessments that were not submitted, and information regarding upcoming assessment deadlines.

For Staff

Staff will also receive new information on a timely basis that provides them with a snapshot of classes missed, enabling supportive conversations to be undertaken with students, and for contact to be made with home.

Arts Week

My thanks to all involved in the planning, organisation, and running of events through Arts Week. From Soiree on Monday, ‘Moscars’ on Tuesday, and Dance Showcase on Wednesday and Friday, it was another reminder of the incredible talent of our students at Massey High School. Our staff in the Faculty of Arts spend countless hours supporting students in their rehearsals, practices, reshoots, and editing – and of course our students put everything into their performances and films. Special thanks as well to students who worked to organise the week itself – from our Arts Prefects to technical support. 

Tournament Week

While on the subject of practices/trainings – thanks you to all who gave their time to support students at Tournament Week. The feedback from accommodation, other schools, and supporters has been fantastic. Thanks to Nikki and Georgie for their roles in ensuring that our students could take up the opportunity.

Debating

Finally, our Senior Open Debate Team can look back on their achievement this year with immense pride – whilst they stumbled at the last (as the result of a narrow 2-1 decision) it must be remembered that this incredible group of students have finished as one of the two top debating teams in Greater Auckland and have defeated impressive teams from Mount Albert Grammar, Auckland Grammar, and ACG Parnell to finish in the top two. When you unpack their journey, it really is a monumental achievement. Congratulations to the team.

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