MENPS News

Kia ora koutou

As you may be aware, national statistics around school attendance have painted a dire picture for a number of years, and the government has set ambitious targets to address this as part of a review of Ministry of Education requirements and processes.

To give an idea of the scale of the problem, regular attendance nationally was just 51.3% in Term 3, 2024, which I'm sure everyone would agree is a truly shocking statistic.

At MENPS, our whole school regular attendance is (fortunately) well above the national average (typically, around 95% of students above 80% attendance for the year, with 75-80% attending 90%+).

Even as a school with a relatively low number of unauthorised absences or ongoing attendance issues, however, this isn't something to take for granted, and there is always room for improvement.

The attendance initiatives underway nationally include a new 'STAR' framework, as set out below;

• Target: 80% of students attending >90% of the time by 2030
• Stepped Attendance Response (STAR): a new framework setting out obligations for schools and parents to address non-attendance
• Mandatory Reporting: attendance data aggregated daily by the Ministry of Education
• Interventions: increased funding for attendance services, potential fines for chronic non-attendance, and a promise of new support for families facing barriers to regular attendance

According to Ministry guidelines (that form the basis of our Attendance Management Plan), attendance rates are categorised as follows;

• Regular: Attending >90% of the time (misses 5 or fewer days on average per term)
• Irregular: Attending 80-90% of the time (misses 6-10 days per term)
• Moderate: Attending 70-80% of the time (misses 11-15 days per term)
• Chronic: Attending <70% of the time (misses more than 15 days)

Parents/caregivers have a legal obligation to ensure their children attend school regularly (Education and Training Act 2020, s244). At Mt Eden Normal Primary School, we ask parents to:

• Notify the school as early as possible if their child will be absent or late
• Arrange appointments (wherever possible) and travel/holidays outside school hours or during term breaks
• Work collaboratively with the school to address attendance concerns
• Engage with support strategies offered by the school
• Keep children at home only when genuinely sick (not for minor ailments or trivial reasons), with the exception of other special absence codes, such as bereavement

While most children will inevitably experience legitimate absence due to illness within any given year, aiming for 90%+ attendance is the shared goal, which you can monitor for yourself across the year via the HERO app.

If you would like to learn more about our approach to attendance management, please click the link to view our Attendance Management Plan for 2026.

As always, we appreciate the support of all our families in ensuring our learners benefit from regular attendance, which is critical for continuity of learning, progress, achievement and fulfilling potential for every child at school.

Ka kite anõ i a koutou

Alan Jackson, Principal

Friday 20th February:

• Second Hand Uniform Shop Open - 8:15am - 9:15am

Tuesday 24th February:

• MENPS Swimming Champs - Yr 5 & 6 - 9:30 - 12:30pm - DIO pool

Wednesday 25th February:

• Mid Term 1 New Entrant Cohort - Visit 1 - 9:00am - 10:30am

Thursday 26th February:

• Zone Swimming - all day - DIO pool

Join us for a relaxed afternoon in the sunshine as we kick off Term 1 together!

📅 3rd March

⏰ From 5pm

📍 Mount Eden Normal Primary

Bring along your whānau, a picnic blanket, and your own kai, and enjoy connecting with other MENPS families.

There will also be ice blocks, drinks, and snacks available for purchase — please bring cash.

It’s a wonderful chance to meet new families, catch up with friends, and celebrate the start of another great term at MENPS.

We can’t wait to see you there! 💙

Ps: if you’d like to make candy floss or sell goodys, please let us know, we appreciate your help :-)

Get ready for one of the most exciting events of the year!

📅 20th March

📍 MENPS Field

The MENPS Colour Run is a fun, high-energy event where students run, walk, skip or dance their way around the course while being showered in vibrant, colourful powder! It’s all about participation, laughter, and school spirit — not speed.

This event is also a fundraiser for our school. Donations and fundraising will be managed through our Raise It / GoFundMe page (details coming soon). Every dollar raised helps support important school initiatives and resources for our tamariki.

💛 All kids are welcome to join the fun!

More information about sign-up and fundraising will be shared soon.

Let’s make it our most colourful day yet! 🌈✨

The Central East Auckland Weet‑Bix TRYathlon is back on Sunday 22 March 2026, and MENPS will have a school tent on site for families to meet, relax, and cheer on our tamariki. All MENPS kids are welcome to stop by the tent — even if they registered separately or under a different team. If your child would like to join the MENPS team, you can register here:

https://raceroster.com/registration/4fc6077c-9fb7-4b68-95c4-f59430adba9c/entry?team=859892

A Race Roster login (email + password) is required, and children will be automatically linked to the MENPS group.

Please note:

Parents must remain onsite and supervise their children throughout the event.

This is not a school fundraiser — any optional donations go directly to Weet‑Bix charities.

• - Colour Run fundraising coordinator - follow everything that worked in 2025 to get this crucial fundraiser set up for promotion in week 2. The fundraising partner/platform does all of the hard work - we just need someone to liaise with them on set up and then promote the event to the school community in the lead up to the run.
• - Colour Run event coordinator - over the first two years the run course has been tweaked, lots of the equipment is in storage to be repurposed. We need a coordinator to own this in the weeks before the run and to lead a team to set up the course, oversee the event and help with pack down on 20 March. This is literally a messy job as you’ll get covered in colour but seeing the kids have an amazing time on the day will make it all worth it!
• Annual Menps Cultural Festival& Matariki Celebration

Our annual festival has become a community staple, whether you’d like to perform, dance, sing, share a craft or food from your country, let us know and we will weave it in to the fabric of the

festival.

When: Sunday 21st June 2026

Where: Mount Eden Normal Primary School

Time: TBC

Interested in volunteering your time in any capacity or showcase your culture? Please email the

team on menpspta@gmail.com

• [Kapa Kahui food coordinator& volunteers. ] Menps is hosting this years Kapa Kahui for the Auckland Central School’s Kapa Haka showcases! It’s a big honour for Menps to host and a great opportunity for the pta to feed the expected crowds.

📅 Date: 2nd Apr 2026

📅 Time: afternoon to evening

Would you like to get involved? Please reach out to: menpspta@gmail.com

Save the date for PTA AGM on March 10, 7 -8:30pm, staff room.

• Co-Chairperson - We need a new parent/caregiver to bring their enthusiasm and energy to the role as we look ahead to a new year of events. The team are keen to repeat what has worked before but open to how things can be improved. This role is perfect for a Year 3 or 4 parent and is a commitment that is very flexible around your other commitments - you can lead remotely via whatsapp and the PTA inbox. There are only 5 meetings a year on site.
• PTA Secretary - The PTA meet once a term(second Tuesday of every term).The PTA secretary's role involves: 1. Sending out a meeting agenda and meeting invite one week prior to each PTA meeting. 2. Recording meeting minutes and distributing after the meeting. 3. Maintaining a contact list of PTA members and making sure they are notified of regular PTA meetings. Time commitment is approx. 1 hour per mouth. No experience required - any questions,please email: menpspta@gmail.com

• 8.15 - 9.15am (20th Feb)
• In the PTA Room: follow signs from Valley Rd gates OR
• Order by emailing Jane at menpspta@gmail.com.
• Pay via Cash or Bank transfer.

Email menpspta@gmail.com I Follow us on Facebook

Refer to the PTA website for information on the various fundraising and community activities

Co-Chairs Svantje Reiber+vacant position

Secretary April Alsari

Treasurers Minaxi Chandra+ vacant position

PTA Advisor Chantal Brunner

Communications Gina Miao

School Representative Hilary Edwards

Full team of amazing parents/caregivers listed here

Kia ora,

We are a group of students from Albany Senior High School: Carter Bucknell, Nyah Lareisha Ng,

Damia Wood, Isabella Green, Jeremy Ouwejan, Mia Woods, Natalie Osmond, and Bon Bravo

Kezimana. We are excited to invite you and your students to participate in a unique and impactful

event, TOmanako 2026: Art by Youth for a Peaceful World. This event promotes peace, inclusivity,

and a nuclear-free world.

For more information, you can visit our website and find our posters, photos of previous years'

events, and contacts: www.sginz.org/tumanako

How to join us?

To register, please click here:

https://forms.gle/DR9BMHftGAwtoLAX9 all the information about the art forms can be found here;

Students' artworks should be sent to Albany Senior High School or SGINZ Culture Centre, 536 Albany

Hwy, 40 Eaglehurst Rd, Albany, Ellerslie, Auckland 0632 Auckland 1060.

If you are submitting a video, please send it to Carter Bucknell or Nyah Lareisha Ng

If you have any questions, please contact the email address below:

Student - Carter Bucknell: stu24206@ashs.school.nz

Student - Nyah Lareisha Ng: stu24066@ashs.school.nz

The teacher in charge is Soh Chin Patten, spatten@ashs.school.nz