Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa

Let us keep close together, not far apart

With the cancellation of the Attendance and Engagement Strategy Agreement, the MoE reinvested the funds into the Attendance Service nationally. ACES Attendance Service Team has now established:

• 9 Full Time Attendance Advisors who will work in 9 areas across Auckland City. An Attendance Advisor has been assigned to each school for face-to-face contact and could be the school’s first point of contact for advice and guidance. This role includes visiting the schools on a regular basis.

The Attendance Advisor in your School may not be the person who responds to a case referred to the Service. Irma Oberholzer (Attendance Service Team Leader) will triage and assign cases based on:

- Ākonga’s address

- History with ACES Attendance Service

- Attendance Advisor’s individual workload

The case will then be allocated to an Attendance Advisor who is available to respond.

The Attendance Advisors Team also includes:

• 1 Full Time Non Enrolled Specialist

• 4 Part-Time Attendance Advisors who carry other role responsibilities e.g. Youth Workers, Managed Moves, or working the sub-contract for Waiheke Island

See below map

The Attendance Service has previously provided guidance (based on information from the MoE Guidelines for Attendance Service Document) that the Principal had “discretion to remove ākonga from the School Roll” when there is a pattern of continuous erratic attendance, whānau / families have not kept the school informed and; the School has followed their internal process following up non-attendance (e.g. referral to the Attendance Service), ākonga can be non-enrolled.

This is NO LONGER CORRECT.

The guidance from ACES Attendance Advisors will now be aligned to the Education & Training Act 2020 and Student attendance guide - Ministry of Education (2024).

See below highlighted the two statements for schools to follow when non-enrolled ākonga.

Attendance Records:

6 Duty to record attendance for each half-day

(1) The principal of a State school must ensure that the attendance record records the student’s attendance for each half-day that the school is open for instruction.

(2) However, if the student is no longer attending the school, the principal must ensure that the attendance record records—

(a) that the student is no longer attending the school; and

(b) the last day of the student’s attendance.

(3) The information referred to in subclause (2) must be recorded as soon practicable after the principal knows that—

(a) The student no longer attends the school on a permanent basis; or

(b) The student has been unjustifiably absent from the school for 20 consecutive school days or more, unless the principal has been informed that the student’s absence is temporary.

Kia tāea = Kia akoranga = Kia angitū. He waka eke noa tātou.

Arrive/Attend = Learning = Success/Opportunity. We are all in this together