School Information

Attendance Procedures

Hobsonville Point Primary School has procedures to record and monitor attendance, and to identify and follow up on concerns.  We communicate attendance expectations with students and parents/caregivers regularly. 

Attendance is recorded accurately to ensure all students are accounted for, including for emergency situations. We submit daily attendance data to the Ministry of Education, as required by the Education and Training Act 2020 and Education (School Attendance) Regulations 2024. We monitor absence patterns using our student management system HERO and notify parents/caregivers of any concerns.

Absences

Reporting Absence 

Parents are required to report any absences through our student management system HERO as soon as possible.   This includes any students who are running late or will be leaving early for an appointment.  

Is my child well enough to attend school?

Please use this guidance by Te Whatu Ora -Health NZ to decide if your child is well enough to come to school. 

School Follow-up on absence 

The Hobsonville Point Primary administration team, responsible for day-to-day attendance, will follow up on unreported absences as follows:

• An absentee message will be sent out to parents by 10am if we have not received a HERO absences notification.

• This message may be resent whilst we await an update

• The school will code the young person’s absence as Truant (T- Unjustified) if no information is communicated. Please see information on Truancy below

Lateness and leaving early

All students who arrive late or are collected early MUST be signed in/out on the VISTAB Tablet at the main administration office and notify their teacher of their arrival/departure.  

School Follow-up on absence 

The Hobsonville Point Primary administration team, responsible for day-to-day attendance will follow up on unreported absences as follows:

• An absentee message will be sent out to parents by 10am if we have not received a HERO absences notification.

• This message may be resent whilst we await an update

• The school will code the young person’s absence as Truant (T- Unjustified) if no information is communicated.

School hours 

The school building opens at 8:30am for students to enter classrooms.

School begins at 9am 

There are 2 breaks for each age group - one short break for morning tea and a longer break for lunch.  Please see your common directly for break times as we run 2 different break timetables due to the construction on site.

School finishes at 3pm

Recording attendance 

All students are recorded as present or absent using set attendance codes specified by the Ministry of Education.  Absences are classified as either justified (for example, medical reasons or approved circumstances) or unjustified (such as an unapproved holiday or reasons that do not meet Ministry guidelines). This classification is recorded in our attendance register each day.  The Ministry of Education collects attendance data daily. All absences — whether justified or unjustified — are counted toward a student’s total attendance percentage and subject to the school’s attendance follow up processes.

Classroom teachers and the administration team monitor patterns of absenteeism and will contact whānau to put in place support to improve attendance.  If absences continue students will be referred to our Learning Support Coordinator, Administration team, and/or Senior Leadership team to engage the next level of support and interventions to improve attendance. 

 Commonly used attendance codes at HPPS

P - Present - Student is in class

D - Medical/Dental appointment - Student is attending an approved external appointment 

Q - Board approved off site learning - Student is present in board- approved off-site learning

Q - School Trip/ Activity - Off site trips and camps 

Justified Absence

M - Illness / Medical e.g. Short term illness/medical reason

J - Bereavement and/or Exceptional Family Circumstances  (can be up to 5 days - approved by the Principal) 

J - Explained and Approved leave for non-school event  eg. To participate in regional/national sports team or attend a cultural or religious event (can be up to 5 days -  approved by the Principal) 

Unjustified Absence

E - Explained but not approved 

G - Holiday during term time 

T - Truant

Please see this link for more information about attendance codes

Breakdown of Attendance Codes 

Present 

Students are required to attend school on time and every day school is open for instruction.  Regular and acceptable attendance is defined by the Ministry of Education as fewer than 5 days of absence in a term.  This is attending 90% 

D - Medical/ Dental appointment 

All appointments where possible should be scheduled outside of school hours; however, in the event that this is not possible, please ensure accurate details are given when notifying and signing the student out so the absence can be coded correctly. If the justification does not meet the threshold for a justified absence (see below) then it will be marked as E- explained and unjustified. 

Q - Board Approved Off Site Learning 

A student is learning off-site and the learning has been approved by the school board.  This can include Board approved cultural, academic or sporting activities, e.g., Kapahaka, community events, inter-school events and sports tournaments.  Emergencies such as where the school is temporarily closed and students are learning from home also comes under this code.  Families seeking enrolment in a privately funded programme or ‘day school’ are required to submit a written application to the Principal. The application should explain the reasons for the request and must be received at least two weeks before the intended start date.

Q - School Trip/ Activity

All school-organised trips and activities will be coded as Q - (Approved offsite learning).  Wherein the student may not be on-site but continues to engage in school learning activities, e.g. school camps and school sports competitions.

Justified Absences 

Please note that all absences, whether justified or unjustified, are reported daily to the Ministry of Education. In accordance with the Ministry of Education Attendance Management requirements (2025), all absences are managed in line with our school’s Attendance Management Plan.

M - Medical (Justified)

When a student is unable to attend school due to a short-term illness or medical reasons, parents must notify the school each day of absence with information regarding the reason.  This will be recorded using the Medical code M  (Justified).  If no explanation is received, it will be marked T (Truant - Unjustified), If the absence continues beyond a reasonable recovery period, it may be marked E (Explained and unjustified).  

J - Bereavement and/or Exceptional Family Circumstances (Justified)

We understand that bereavement and exceptional family circumstances take time, and we ask that you keep us informed about any challenges your whānau may be facing.  Based on the information you provide, we can mark up to 5 days of absence as J (Justified), on a case-by-case basis. If the absence extends beyond 5 days, from the 6th day onwards, it will be recorded as E (Explained but not approved) 

J - Explained and Approved leave (Justified) 

The Principal may approve leave of up to 5 days for a student to participate in a regional or national sports team or to attend a religious or cultural event.  Approval must be requested by email to the principal at least 5 days prior with sufficient information.  Approved leave will be marked as J (Explained and approved). Any further absence directly after the 5 days of leave will be marked as E (Explained but not approved)

Unjustified Absences 

All unjustified absences will be subject to the school’s Attendance Management processes in accordance with the school Attendance Management Plan 2026 

E - Explained but not approved

When a student is absent for reasons that don’t meet the requirements for Principal discretion for approval.  This includes reasons such as celebrating a birthday, visiting relatives, caring for a sibling or personal appointments such as a haircut.  

G - Holiday during term time (Unjustified)

When a student is absent due to a holiday being taken.  Both domestic and overseas travel during term time is unjustified and will be coded G.  A holiday taken during the school term is recorded as an unjustified absence because students are required to attend school on all days the school is open for instruction. Time off for family holidays during term time does not meet the criteria for a justified absence under the Ministry of Education attendance requirements.

T - Truant 

When a student is absent without explanation or permission from a parent/caregiver.  

Attendance Goals 

The Government target is for 80% of students to attend regularly, that is to attend school more than 90% of the time. 

In accordance with requirements from the Ministry of Education, we follow the Stepped Attendance Response.

Good Attendance 

Less than 5 days absence in a school term

Worrying Attendance 

Up to 10 days of absence in a school term 

Concerning Attendance 

Up to 15 days of absence in a school term 

Serious Concern Attendance 

15 days or more of absence in a school term.