Nelson school attendance service starts whānau engagement with more staff on ground

Nelson’s school attendance service is about to go from one worker to three, as the government tries to reverse falling attendance rates in Aotearoa.

Two attendance kaiāwhina (helpers) have started work to support whānau of children not enroled or “chronically absent” from school across the city, with a third kaiāwhina due to start next week,

The attendance service was redesigned last year after figures showed just under 60% of students were regularly attending school (going to 90% of classes, or at school for nine days a fortnight).

Students chronically absent (attending school less than 70% of the time) had nearly doubled, to 8.7%, since 2015.

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Manager of Nelson’s boosted attendance service, former Nelson Intermediate school teacher and deputy principal, Mike Foster, said the team currently had about 60 students to support across 34 schools.

Nelson Intermediate took over the Ministry of Education contract to provide the attendance service in the Nelson region from Christchurch organisation Te Ora Hou Otautahi last year, following a $40m regional response fund announced by government aimed at getting 70% of students regularly attending school by 2024.

Motueka High School now has the contract for the service in Motueka, Golden Bay, Murchison and Tapawera.

Ministry’s Hautū (leader) Te Tai Runga (South) Nancy Bell said the ministry had “worked with schools to agree the best way to deliver the Attendance Service, which resulted in a locally responsive service, based in communities they serve”.

Foster said he and fellow kaiāwhina Josh Smith started the job at the end of term one (ended in April).

The kaiāwhina were “hands on” staff – those “supporting the whānau, the kura [school] and the plan” to get students either enroled at school again, or back into some form of education, he said.

“It’s going to be a big job, and we’re sort of building a plane as we’re flying.

“But we’ve got a great team, they’re all passionate … they want to help these kids.”

He and Smith had been “building some really close relationships” with people including youth aid officers, and support agencies.

A wide range of factors from anxiety to housing could be driving absenteeism, Foster said.

“Where I’m really keen to put some energy into, is to support students around … mental health, and trying to tap into some of those avenues as well.”

Two of the 82 new attendance officers announced by the government earlier this year, had also been earmarked for Nelson, Foster said.

Attendance officers would work with kura and senior leaderships teams to support them with regular attendance, he said.

Principal of Nayland College Daniel Wilson said workers who could reach chronically absent students couldn’t come soon enough, after the departure late last year of the only such worker for the Nelson area.

While the school’s attendance rate improved at the school at the start of the year – with 12% of students not in school any one day over term one, compared to 17% at the end of last year – schools such as his had “limited resource” to reach “chronic truants”.

Motueka High School Principal John Prestidge also hoped new staff across the area of their contract could start as soon as possible.

Two more attendance advisors had been appointed to support the one person already in the job, and another was about to be appointed, he said.

An attendance officer was also currently being advertised for the area.

The next few months were “critical” in helping avoid truancy, because it was easier to keep students engaged with school in the first half of the year, rather than seek to re-engage them after a period of non-attendance, he said.