Support schools in the management of persistent unjustified absence, and facilitate re-engagement into a school or other legal learning

environment;
after the school has made all reasonable attempts to engage the student
Role of the
Attendance All students that require assistance from the Attendance Service must to be referred via the Attendance Service Application (ASA).
Service:

Schools need to complete initial checks and make contact with the family to discuss their concerns prior to making a referral to the
Attendance Service

Initial checks include:

• Contacting whanau and emergency contacts
• Working with student and whanau where possible to break down barriers to non-attendance and re-engage student in education
School’s role:
• An in-school Attendance Officer or school staff member responsible for Attendance should work with whanau and school in first
instance before referring to the Attendance Service

Only refer a UA case if the student:

• has been absent without a justifiable reason and the above initial checks have been completed
• has intermittent absences, i.e. regular absence on particular days of the week
• has regular absence at certain times of the day, e.g. missing the same class each day/week.
Referring to the
Attendance Schools need to complete the ‘Reason for referral’ section of ASA with as much detailed information as possible and add the most up
Service to date information for the family in the ‘Caregiver details’ section. This will avoid delays in the Attendance Advisor locating the family.

The Attendance Advisor will work in partnership with the referring school to re-engage the student in education
Attendance
Service works
with student
 Once a student has been returned to a learning environment, they may require monitoring to ensure they successfully re-engage

If it is agreed by the school and Attendance Advisor that the student should be monitored, a monitoring plan needs to be created
and agreed on.

The MoE practice manual suggests:

Monitoring Unjustified Absence cases are monitored for 10 days (This can be extended based on the needs of the case)

If extended monitoring is requested there needs to be a valid reason for the extension and agreement with the Attendance Advisor

• School keeps track of student’s attendance daily and informs the Attendance Advisor as soon as they are absent. The AA can
then make contact with the parent/caregiver and provide feedback to the school
• Review the case after an agreed time frame and decide whether the case can be closed or needs further monitoring
• If the student has been re-engaged in education and attendance is being monitored through an external agency (E.g. ROCKON,
Monitoring in Oranga Tamariki) the case can be closed as there is interagency involvement
• The case is closed based on agreement from all parties involved in the plan.
action

Closure:
Once a student has been returned to school, monitored and all parties are happy for the case to be closed, the Attendance
Advisor will close the case and the student will no longer show on your ‘referral list’ on ASA.

If you have cases on your list which you want to be closed, contact your Attendance Advisor and let them know.
Case closure
If a case has been closed and attendance issues arise, the student can be re-referred to the Attendance Service via ASA.