Attendance and Notification of Absences

Student attendance is directly linked to student progress and success in learning. We monitor student’s attendance closely. It is important that students arrive at school on time and attend every day.

Please contact the school if your child is going to be absent.

You can telephone the office at any time and leave a message detailing the reason for your child’s absence. There is also a link on the school website for notification or absences. Absences can also be reported through our app via SchoolAppsNZ. Please notify the school every day your child is away. If your child is going to be absent for any reason other than illness, please inform the school in advance, where possible, of the dates they will be away.

St Mary’s Catholic School uses an electronic attendance system to record the roll and to monitor student attendance. Based on the Ministry’s attendance guidelines children’s absence is recorded using a number of codes. For example:

P= Present
L= Late
M= Medical (This refers to students at home sick or in hospital)
J= Justified absence (This refers to unplanned absence such as a bus breakdown, accident or bereavement, and also planned absence such as attendance at a funeral/tangi.)
E= Explained but unjustified absence (This includes holidays in term time)