Okay.

Good morning everyone. It's, uh, it's great to see.

It's great to see a large number

of people joined, um, or joining.

I'll kick us off. Um, I'm Mark Keith.

I'm a project manager here at the Ministry of Education,

and I have been leading the redesign

of the attendance codes.

There is a lot to get to cover today.

I'm very excited, uh, to outline to you some, um,

what's likely you've, uh, you may have already seen them if,

if you are here, but I'm very excited to outline to you

what I believe are some very positive changes

regarding the attendance codes.

Um, and before we kick off, just a few housekeeping things

that I would like to run over.

Um, I do see that everyone's mic is turned off.

Um, we will have the opportunities

for questions at the end of this session.

Um, and you're also more than welcome to interact, um,

with the, uh, with us via, via chat.

All I ask is that you raise your hand

so I can see which order, uh, in order, uh,

for which order to address you.

The, uh, second to that, this meeting will be recorded,

but only the presentation itself.

Um, and so if you've got any questions concerning that, um,

please, I'll put my email in the chat.

Um, and you're welcome to get through to me.

Um, Rebecca, just while we've got you, um,

I think I missed a few points out, um, from the recording.

Can you just outline, um,

what you were saying a moment ago, please?

Uh, Kura. Uh,

so the recording will be using the presentation, uh,

to be able to share this with people

that weren't necessarily able to attend.

So it is purely about, um, mark, uh, Tina and Jared

and, uh, their presentation and their responses.

So, uh, not using anything outside of that.

Cool. Thank you very much.

Um, I will have that written down for the next time.

Um, the, cool.

So before we start, I would, um,

I would really love it if Marika, Tina,

and Jared in that order could please introduce themselves.

Um, and then we will launch a presentation and kick into it.

So, Marika, over to you.

Koho. My name is Marika.

Um, I'm senior advisor here at the Ministry,

and my role today is to support Mark with this.

Thank you.

Um, I'm Tina Lech, uh, based here in ua,

but my substantial role sits in Wellington.

I am the manager of TE supporting the attendance codes, uh,

And manager planning

and advice, uh, for Nelson Mob West Coast,

and just supporting Mark today.

Thank you very much. Um, okay, let's crack into it.

Okay. There will be plenty of time for questions at the end,

so, um, please jot them down in the chat.

Um, if you, and you can start to jot this down at any time.

So let's kick into it. Okay.

Jared, does this, uh, can you see the presentation Okay?

Yep.

Can see it? Good. Okay. Cool. Bananas.

All right, let's kick off. So the, uh, welcome

to the inaugural, um, sector information session.

The, these will be running for the next, um,

for the next week and a half.

The purpose of today's session really is to outline, uh,

what you need to know about the revised attendance codes.

I want to do my best to outline, um, uh,

what's changing when it will land, um,

how we came about this, uh, how we, you know, essentially

how these were redesigned.

Um, what were some of the things we heard when engaging

with principals, um, who you can go to, um, to contact

for additional support.

Um, but most importantly provide you with an opportunity

to ask questions.

At the end of the day, this really is all about you

in terms of what's changing,

and I appreciate that a lot

of this information you've likely already seen, um,

'cause this has been communicated via

the school bulletin a couple of times, um,

and is on a, uh, interim attendance code website.

So first off, if you have, uh,

if you haven't had the opportunity, please do go back, um,

and get a copy of the score bulletin.

I would encourage you to follow the link.

Um, there is a section on the attendance codes.

Um, there is a website that's being created, um,

and that is where all information about the revised

attendance codes will be housed.

And so what you're going to find on there is a lot

of information that we are going to outline today.

For example, the comparisons table, um,

the attendance code decision tree, um, and, uh, how

and how to get in contact with the ministry, um,

if you need further support.

In addition to that, one thing I wanted to state as well is

that the more fulsome attendance code guidelines,

which supplement the attendance code decision tree, um,

those will be uploaded, uh, before years end.

Um, so do please periodically check back, um,

on that website.

They will be, um, they will be uploaded,

uh, in due course.

Um, after the presentation, when we get

to the question section, I will put a link, um,

into the chat for those that aren't familiar with it.

Um, but with that said, in terms of what's changing, um,

some pretty big changes.

The attendance codes have been to,

to my knowledge in existence from around 2006.

And there haven't been too many, um,

haven't been too many changes.

Um, and if there have, there have only the there've, uh,

there've been, um, that've happened kind

of sporadically over time.

This is the largest review

that I believe has ever been conducted.

And so as a result from term one next year, that's day one,

term one, all state

and state integrated schools will be required to record

and report daily attendance

using a revised set of attendance codes.

So what does that mean?

Well, what we've done is we have reduced the codes.

We've removed 11 of them.

So we, we went from 26, we've now got 15,

and we have merged them into existing present justified

and unjustified absence categories.

One of the important things that we started out is we,

we haven't created any new codes at this point.

I'll, um, Debbie, can I please ask you

to put yourself on mute?

Thank you. Um, in terms

of why were the attendance codes changed, this was something

that, what I can say is this was something that

was based off of a identified need, um,

previous reviews, 'cause this hasn't there.

Um, there have been previous attempts at this,

but previous reviews

and feedback from the sector have consistently

called for the need to have a simplified set

of attendance codes.

Oh, and excuse me. Uh, thank you Tiffany.

Um, have called for the need for a simplified set

of attendance codes to make it easier for schools

to administer to improve the consistency

of data recording and reporting.

And so in terms of how the codes were redesigned,

this definitely was not something

that was done in isolation.

Um, in national office, this was something

that was actually done quite collaboratively.

So myself and, um, some very talented others, um, we

had a pretty good starting point in terms of

what we had heard from the sector.

So we had enough to create a start for 10.

We took that start of the 10,

and we spoke to a number of schools.

So I spoke, you know, myself

and others, we spoke to

around a 39 school staff from 37 schools all across the

country, um,

and had an opportunity to, to simply say to them,

look, does this work?

If not, why not?

And we feel that on balance, what you're about to look at,

um, is a, uh, really does hit the mark in terms of

what the revised codes, um, have come to look like.

We also spoke to, um, 11 Kura affiliated

with Naura Iwi

and also a, um, also the Ang Iwi leaders group.

And so there, this has been a, as I said, a very

collaborative process within the, uh, uh, timeframes allowed

to this piece of work.

And we have tried to factor in, um,

and we have listened.

Um, we, we definitely have listened.

And one thing that I will share just to demonstrate that,

um, was throughout this process, one of our earlier, um, one

of our earlier considerations is we were considering, um,

the holiday for turn time, the G code.

Um, we were considering, um, collapsing that.

Um, but through strong sector feedback, they told us

that actually, no, we would really appreciate if you the

ministry could retain that.

And, you know, it's a parent condoned absence

and it enables proactive conversations with parents.

So we listened. So we, we kept that in.

Um, but for the most part, the, um, what I can share is

that the school leaders

and administration staff that we spoke to felt that, uh,

the groupings themselves made logical sense.

I'll speak more to what I heard

as well as we go through this.

So what we have here is a table that demonstrates

what the codes were.

Quite a lot of them, uh, now,

and now you can see what the codes are.

Okay? And so,

and then you can see what they've been merged to.

Now, as we were going through this, during these sessions,

there were a few codes that we sought to, uh,

we weren't looking to change at all.

This was the present code, the late code,

the two exam related codes, the index,

um, the question mark.

Um, and as I said, we also left the holiday

during term time and truant.

So with that said, everything else was up for grabs.

And so all, um, as I said,

the schools were very much in favor of merging all

of those areas that you saw, including a, um,

including alternative provision.

The, what we will see, what we are going to do,

and what you will see,

and this will come clearer on in a couple of slides,

time was one of the things that schools were telling us.

As I said, mark, we are not clear about the difference

between truant and, um, and explained,

but not approved, or in other words, a unjustified absence.

And so the, as a, the more fulsome guidelines,

which will be available soon,

will go a great step in the right direction

to providing much needed clarity.

Um, the descriptors,

which have all been completely reworked from the ground up,

um, provide a consistent, um, a a consistent

and concise feel for, for what these codes actually are.

So let's we'll progress through them,

but recapping on this, we've got the present codes,

which both onsite and offsite,

and that will be reflected in the attendance code decision

tree We will look at next.

And as I said, the the way that these codes work is,

is as simple as if you were,

if you were previously using an S for, you are now using,

um, an n present, but out of class.

And for the SMS providers that enable this, if you want

to record added granularity.

So for example, if you're sitting there thinking, okay,

well, um, we used to be able,

we used the s code in order to, uh, in order

to physically track where a student was, um, and now,

and now that that functionality no longer exists

for the SMS providers that enable you to do so.

Um, you please enter in, um,

in the free text field when you select a code,

add in notes to support this.

One thing I wanted to state as well is that the,

what we had learned through this was that, um, inadvertently

a number of schools, and I suspect probably most

of you on this call, um, have historically used the codes

for some of these codes anyway.

Not only to have proactive informed conversations

to track patterns of attendance,

but to also physically track where students are.

That's definitely what I learned when I spoke

to a number of school leaders.

And one thing I just wanted to state was the purpose

of the codes was never intended as a pseudo mechanism

to physically track students.

That has been a workaround that the sector have

utilized the codes for.

Um, but that was never their intended purpose.

And so with that said, um, we did hear a number

of concerns from those that we spoke to, um,

however they were comfortable on balance, um,

that they still had the ability within their SMS, um,

to add in the, uh,

required contextual background information if required.

In the event that your SMS provider does not have said

functionality, um, I would encourage you

to contact your SMS providers.

Um, however, my understanding is that the majority do.

But, um, so with that said,

the attendance code decision tree really had the end user,

had you in mind when we developed this, we wanted this to be

a modern look and feel with a, with simplistic easy

to access navigation.

We acknowledged that, uh, you know, with the requirement

to be recording attendance, um, every day to record

and report attendance every day, we thought, you know what,

let's give them something that's, uh, hopefully said,

and forget, don't want you to spend any more time

navigating this document than you need to, um,

and want it to be as simplistic as possible.

So what we've got here is a very easy

to follow attendance code decision tree,

which outlines is the student present?

Yes, no. Are they in class? Yes, no.

Is the absence approved? Yes, no.

And so what we have here is a, as you can see,

we've got the 15 codes.

Um, you've got the, essentially the absence codes,

and then the, uh, so the presence codes,

and then the absence codes broken down into justified

and unjustified absence.

What we've also got was through our, uh,

stakeholder engagements.

We had a number of people saying to us, look,

we would really appreciate if you could delineate the,

for the, uh, exam leave and the unsupervised exam study.

We had a number of primary scores that said, mark, we, we,

we don't really use those codes.

So if you could delineate those in the decision trade,

that would be greatly appreciated.

So we've done exactly that.

There is some new terminology that you, um,

may be a bit confused about or haven't seen before.

And so if we go back up to this slide here,

so we have the, um, alternative provision.

So this is, um, yeah, as you can see here, this is, uh,

forms of work experience, alternative education team,

parent unit, et cetera.

These are all forms of alternative provision.

The board approved offsite learning,

and I suspect there will be a variety of questions

regarding that later.

Um, that was previously approved off site learning.

Um, yeah, so that was, uh,

we had offsite class course and distance learning,

but then also offsite school organized activity.

And what we have done here

is all we've done is we've really aligned it

to section 53 of the Education

and Training Act 2020, which, um, enables

board approved offsite learning.

So we will, we will, um,

provide more information on that a little bit later.

Um, we've also got explained and approved,

and that will be some new terminology.

I believe it was previously called justified other.

Um, but what this is, is it's outlining

that the reason for absence has been explained.

But, uh, but the,

but the reason given, um,

is it is approved within the school policy.

So therefore, we have labeled this explained and approved.

Conversely, with the explained,

but not approved, it's the same thing.

So the absence, um, an attempt has been made

to explain the absence, but the absence

provided does not fit within school policy.

Therefore, it is a form of unjustified absence truant.

As I said, we have left that untouched.

We will talk through shortly the main differences

between truant and explained, but not approved.

Um, we haven't touched the holiday during term time,

and we've just slightly relabeled the question mark.

Um, but one thing we also have is,

and we'll click into the next slide, is a series of

revised or revamped descriptors.

And so what we have here is

that the main ones are wanted to point your attention to.

'cause a lot of these are very self-explanatory is,

and, and as you can see,

because the redesign of the codes is, uh, you know,

one, you know, one or more codes have been merged

into something else, the descriptions reflect that, right?

So if you look at present that out of class,

student is present,

but out of class due to onsite school activity,

internal appointment, temporary removal from class

or time in the sick bay, those are simply the four codes

that, that proceed, you know, that came together

to create this new code board approved offsite learning.

Really important one here, student is present

and board approved offsite learning, including courses,

school organized activities, and work experience.

Like I said, that gives greater effect to, to greater effect

to section 53 of the act.

Um, that has always been a legislative provision.

And what we have done is we have just caught,

essentially brought the guidelines

and the codes, um, up to speed for something

that in theory should have been present this entire time.

The, um, what I wanted to touch on here as well is for the

truant code, um, there was a lot of confusion when,

when I spoke to the sector about the difference

between truant and unex, um, and explained but not approved.

The main, uh, the true intent of the truancy code is

to, uh, as we've got it there,

student is absent without explanation

or permission from a parent slash caregiver, eg.

Skipping class. So truet really is, um, it really is

for when a child is wagging or skipping class.

And the previous definition, which I believe was a, um,

no information has been provided

or the information that has been

provided is considered trivial.

We felt that that wasnt a, um, upon revision.

We didn't feel that that descriptor, um, was as clear

and concise and

or as accurate, um, as what the true intent

of truant coders.

Um, and further supporting the guidelines, there will be

a, uh, not exhaustive,

but a list of examples that give greater effect to

how you can interpret these codes.

The intent of the attendance code decision tree is not

to be, um, a one stop shop.

Its, its intent

or its purpose, is to act as a quick reference guide.

The attendance code guidelines, their purpose is

to provide an opportunity to understand

or greater granularity.

Some examples or nuance scenarios.

The, uh, guidelines themselves, um, won't be static.

Um, and they do have the opportunity

to be updated not too often.

Um, but, you know, as, um, unique examples

and scenarios arise, uh, there is always the opportunity

to reflect those, um,

in the attendance code guidance in general.

Um, with that said, the, another thing

that we've made a very clear call on is the M code.

And so we had a lot of school principals tell us, mark, um,

how do we, how are we supposed to deal

with mental health related absences?

We have students who, um, have to go home due

to anxiety related reasons.

We're not really sure what to do.

Do we code it as a form of distance learning?

Uh, is it a, is it a form of illness and medical absence?

Uh, what we have done here is we've made a deliberate, uh,

we've, we've put a stake in the ground,

and it's a part of, it's a, you know, it is a, it's a form

of mental illness, and it is a part of the, um,

we have included that within the m code for illness

and medical absence.

Okay? So I knew this wouldn't take as long

as I thought it might.

Um, I suspect a number of,

you have quite a lot of questions.

Um, I am going to stop sharing the presentation so I can,

uh, so I can see what's coming through.

Um, and then I will put up a, actually

before we do that, I will put up the slide for

where you can go to for further support.

Um, as I said previously,

if you require any support

with your student management system, please do reach out

to them In the first instance, if you have a question

that relates to the existing codes

that are in effect for the remainder of term 4 20 24,

please email the everyday matters mailbox.

That's the mailbox at the bottom of that slide.

For anything regarding this change and

or the revised codes

that come into effect from term one next year,

please email the attendance codes review mailbox

that you can see on your screen.

These will be, um, I will put these in the chat shortly, um,

for those, uh, for those

that might not be taking these down.

But yeah, just a reminder, anything

regarding the pre existing codes, which are still to be used

for the remainder of this year, please contact

everyday matters as you normally would.

However, anything about this, about the change itself, um,

or the revised codes,

please contact attendance codes review.

So with that said, I will stop sharing.

Sure, mark. I was just saying we've got the first question

in the chat now.

So, uh, Tara has asked,

what happens if you have tried every way

of contacting parents, uh,

to find out why their child is absent?

What code do you put then?

That is a great question.

Um, if you can't get a hold of them, I, um,

and feel free to step in here, Jared.

My understanding is that you are to use the question mark

or the unknown temporary code until a reason

for absence has been ascertained.

Yeah, it is, it's a question mark until it's, uh,

you can answer, but if you do

not, I understand that question.

It's quite a good, it is a good question.

If you do not get an answer, you cannot leave it

as question mark for the everyday matter reports.

It has to be adapted for those reports.

So, um, it would've to become either a T

or an E, I'm guessing it's a T

because there's no explanation.

Um, and so

it wouldn't, it would be a t marking as t it wouldn't matter

what it is because our question mark, e

and a t are all unjustified absences anyway.

So when you are having follow up with the whanau

and the aconga, then you would be having a conversation

around those unjustified absences.

Um, and you could have that conversation then,

but yeah, I'd be, I'd be marking it as a T.

Thank you. And Donna's also asked, how long do you keep it

for a que as a question mark?

Um, I think you answered that,

but when going to a daily reporting, does it have

to be changed before the EOD?

No, it doesn't have to be changed

by the end of the day, no.

So what we do with the daily reporting,

we will be reporting question marks.

It's only by the end of the term that they need

to be changed for the everyday matters reports so

that we can produce those reports.

Although some of them will stay as question mark.

Um, it does report that now.

So it's just about the school, um, process, um,

and what the follow up is.

So you'd have that in your policy or your processes.

Thank you. We've got a question from Anna in the chat.

What about high school students

who are representing their region or New Zealand

and international competitions surely justified?

Yeah, and it's an interesting one

because the queue for the board approved.

Um, so if they're representing the school, um,

it would be queue as board approved,

so it would actually be a presence.

Um, but when they're representing their region,

it's not school organized, um,

they're representing their region

or they're representing, um, the country, then it can be a,

a justified, a JA justified absence.

However, um, it would be for the board to decide as well.

So if the board decided that that was actually a, um,

a presence, then they could do that.

I think we, we get into that, that queue

and the guidance mark.

Yeah, no, that, that's exactly right.

And yeah, so historically, um, for, for a brief presentation

of, um, for sporting and

or cultural events kind of at that, at

that national level has historically been a form

of justified absence.

One thing I did want to touch on though,

and this is just regarding the question mark,

because there has been a change that was,

I believe implemented last year,

and, um, despite, uh, reasons A, B,

and C, there seems to still be a little bit

of confusion out there.

I know I'm fielding uh, a couple

of questions on this myself.

Um, but the, the question marks the unknown temporary code,

it no longer automatically switches, um, to a truant code,

which it historically does.

Um, and so they, yeah.

So I just wanted to outline that for those that may be, um,

that may have that looming question.

Thank you.

Okay. So, um, Catherine's asked, uh, regarding, uh,

students who are representing their region.

I'm Catherine's asked if it's the same for primary,

I'm guessing. Yes.

Yeah, it's, it's the same for primary. Yep.

And we've got a question from Tanya in the chat.

How about in this example, if the whanau is asking

for absence for training for the sport also,

so ag missing an hour every day

for two weeks prior to the competition?

Yeah, it's a, that's a difficult one.

I under, uh, we've had that before.

Um, it's

for the competition is the justified absence.

The training is an unjustified absence.

It should be outside of school time, that training.

Um, but again, the QJ

and E code will be up to, um, school boards

to decide in terms of their policies.

Um, but we will be providing some guidance in the,

in the revised code guidance around that.

And Don has given a hot topic on Facebook for principles,

how to code absence due to students joining heco

or other related marches.

Yeah, interesting. 'cause we had the same thing

with the climate strikes.

And, um, so I, I use this example

'cause I was a, a deputy principal at a,

at a secondary school, um, for the climate strikes.

We, if the parents had approved it, we gave them a,

a justified absence because we saw the value in

that in terms of connecting to their culture.

But again, that will be down to a school,

a school decision and school level.

Um, but, um, I'm not sure if anyone else wanted

to, to have a stab at that one.

No, I think that's exactly right, Jared.

I think it is a school level decision. I

Think it definitely could fit in that, um, that Q code,

um, particularly in, um, kapa, like, uh,

and I guess it really will go back to that,

that self-governing schools and,

and exercising around what schools deemed

to be offsite learning opportunities, um, and some schools

and students taking part in it, um, alongside whanau

and the learning that goes, that goes alongside it.

Um, not just culturally, but historically.

So I think that will come up at board level around

what they need to be acceptable

or not acceptable in terms of that site stuff.

I think that kind of, that's a good question in terms

of the, um, for KO Maori

and for, um, so special character schools in terms

of boards, uh, having the ability to make decisions, um,

based on that special character or,

or the COPA of their school.

Um, so it's a, it's a really good question.

We've got another question from Donna coming in.

So rural schools, when students go with whanau

to appointments outta town,

even though student does not have the appointment,

but due to family organization have

to take other kids with them.

Yeah, we have this, uh, so I said

before I manager for Nelson Mobile West Coast Week,

I have have this on the West coast

because it's an isolated community, so they, they have

to take, uh, you know, other kids with them if there's, if,

if one has an appointment, um, so for a,

for the doctor dentist appointment.

So that would be a, a decode for the student who,

who's going to that.

Um, has that been rolled into a code mark?

Sorry. Yeah, so the, um, for the student attending,

you know, so like, um, if I'm student A

and I'm attending a, um, a doctor's

or a dentist appointment, I'm coding

that is DI would think Jared, that if the sub, um,

if I'm the, lemme just read this correctly.

Uh, rural schools, when students go with whanau

to appointments out of town,

even though the student does not have the appointment,

but due to the family organization,

they have to take other kids with them.

So I would assume that if you are, uh, tagging along

for the ride, um, due to whatever reason, then um, the child

that's attending or the, the, they would be classified

as a D but the ones that aren't would be a form

of unjustified absence. Yes.

Yeah. But I guess this is where we need to, again,

that's sports decision.

If it's a E or a J

and the board, if they're an isolated community,

might decide, um, that it's a j

but this is where it's really important for schools to have,

uh, clear policies.

Yeah. Um, you know, just

'cause we don't wanna disadvantage isolated communities.

Um, but I see what Tanya's put in the, the chat.

So yeah, a decode is, is a half day, um, code

or it has been historically.

Um, I think that's changing

with the regulation changes next year, mark.

Um, but yeah, it, the second half

of the day is an m if there is travel involved,

um, for that.

So it's a, an M code.

So for example, if you were traveling from the west coast

to Christchurch for an appointment, stayed over for a day,

it would be an m uh, yes.

And, and the board

of trustees will be given some guidelines.

We are gonna quite keen

to have some very clear examples in the courage guidelines

around, you know, what's sort of in scope and outer scope.

Yeah. And, and one thing I wanted to say is the, um, yeah,

we acknowledge that not all appointments can be made

outside of school hours.

So there definitely is provision for, um, you know,

for the decode for those, uh, for those appointments.

And really the end of the day is, you know, as, as long

as a student can still make up to four hours of,

of tuition in any given day, then you know, we,

we do want the decode

to also incorporate travel time as well.

Um, thank you.

Did we answer the one from Anna?

Yeah, I think, so. This was around, um, guidelines given

to board of trustees around the decisions.

So there, the codes that are in school policy are

the, um, Q code now will be a board decision.

Um, then the school policies are J and e, um,

and L for late, uh,

counseling appointments will be coded as D.

So the question from Catherine,

what about a code for counseling appointments?

D those will be if they're external appointments,

D if they're internal appointments, then it will be n uh,

so secondary schools who have have counseling in schools

and other, uh, schools

who have counseling provision within the school.

We have a, a question from Tanya in the chat.

For a child with age, for example, autism, uh,

sometimes can make it to school, child might be brought

to school but doesn't get out of car

or is sometimes returned home.

What sort of codes would we use for those situations?

Um, I think this is where we, um, take us as sort

of student-centered approach and,

and for the best of this individual student.

Um, couple, couple of different

examples is it could be a a n

for medical if they're absent for the day.

Um, it could be that they are going

to be learning from home, um, if they've got some, um,

some work that's provided for them.

So it could be an N which is a present code.

Um, the other thing is that there are, um, transition plans.

So they could be on a transition plan, um,

which I'll have to find the link to that, um,

to provide that guidance.

But there is, um, for students with learning support needs,

there are, uh, transition plans that, um,

there is also the health school code

that could be used as well.

So I think it's kind of a case by case basis for that,

but I wouldn't want them to be disadvantaged.

Catherine has asked, um,

on GTP if only there for half days, et cetera.

So I'm not sure what GTP is.

I graduated transition plan.

Um, yeah, so they would be, depending on

what the arrangement is, so if it is, um,

learning from home, then it would be an n If it is

that they're taking the afternoon off, then it would be a J.

But yeah, we would definitely do our best

to incorporate a lot of these questions.

Um, and a, uh, into the guidelines where possible,

And Donna's asked, uh, we mark ahead of time

as a moment in time, so if present in class

for half an hour, then go home, what do we do?

Yeah, that's a, that's a good question

and something that came up a lot with, um,

see secondary schools, it's kind of every hour

that you do the role or every time they move classes.

So, um, you kind of mark them present for that class.

And then the next one you, you change.

But in the primary setting, when you're sort

of doing the role once

or twice a day, then it's a bit different.

Um, it would be the practice of the school.

Um, but we are marking half day attendance, so I would say

that if they've turned up for a little bit,

it'd be present in the morning

and then absent in the afternoon.

Um, but yeah, individual school is,

will be down to practice, I guess.

Yeah, that, uh, Tanya, how about students

who leave eg early EG 2:00 PM Some parents want

to avoid parking issues at school, eg, like a lake road.

I think that's, um, that's an unjustified absence.

Um, it's an e Um, I would be having conversations

with the parents there about the importance of, uh,

attending the school day.

Um, yeah,

So we've got a, um, follow up comment from Tanya,

but they are still there for the half day for two hours.

And then we've also got a hand raised from D

Yeah, no, I understand.

I understand that, um, that would've been marked present,

but I guess this is, this is, uh,

practice rather than process and,

and best practice would be, uh, to be following up with the,

to say that this is an,

an acceptable reason for being absent.

Um, I, I underst yeah,

I I get that one there.

I mean, everything is nuanced

that we're always dealing in the grave

because I've had examples in the past where I've had

wanted to get the bus earlier

because they had anxiety

around getting the bus and things like that.

So, so everything is, we're dealing in the gray

and it's individual practice in case by case with students,

but I, if it's a, if it's a parking issue, I, I believe,

you know, I think that's an unjustified absence.

What in I'm having Yeah, more morina.

I'm having issues with the chat, sorry,

I'm not unable to type.

Um, down here in Bluff, um, majority of our Tam Titi,

so, um, when they head off to those, um,

I'm assuming from the corridor that I've just heard,

that would be under the bot related codes, is that correct?

Yeah. Thank you.

And Marion? Kiara, yes.

It seems to be very popular at the moment

that we have the day off for our birthday.

Parents are collecting the child

or they're sending in a message to say

it's little Johnny's birthday today, we struggle with this.

Yeah. Uh, yeah.

So that's an e it's an e it's a explained, not approved.

Um, and I just wanna

encapsulate those four codes.

So question mark truant, um, explained but not approved

and g the holiday during term time, all of those are unex,

uh, unjustified absences.

Um, and when we are having conversations with our whanau

around, um, around presence

and absence, then we can get into

that these aren't acceptable reasons from the Ministry

of Education to be absent from school.

Um, so our birthday is not an acceptable reason to be,

um, away from school.

Thank you.

And is it Michelle?

Yep. Kiara, Jared. Um,

just inquiring about whether there is a stated time that,

uh, around the medical leave that schools can request, um,

medical certificates or other Yeah.

Is there any, or is that a policy that we have to

create ourselves or is there a

Yeah, so in the moment in the guidance, it's uh,

it says example three days.

Um, I think it's school policy,

but then it's got an example of three days.

We are working through that guidance at the moment.

I know that general practitioners in Nelson have been

pushing back to schools

around requesting medical certificates

because it's been putting pressure on the practitioners just

to get those, those certificates.

Um, so as we work through the guidance, uh,

I think this is a conversation that we have to have Mark

around, um, what that guidance is gonna be.

But it is, it historically has been in, in school policy.

Uh, I remember my school policy was five days,

but we would only enforce that if we, um,

as on a case by case basis.

Um, yeah. So we'll have to have this conversation

and make sure that the guidance that we provide is clear.

Yeah, tha thank you Jared.

And just further to that, the, um, the thresholds

for when a medical certificate is required does need

to be defined by school policy.

Um, but yeah, you will do expect to see a change, um,

in the ministry stance on this one.

And so from where we are coming from,

like we don't really require a, you know,

we don't really require a medical certificate

unless deemed medically necessary.

Um, and so, but there will be further guidance

that gives effect to that.

But yeah, just to reiterate, three thresholds

for when a school requires a certificate,

whether it's three, five

or other, um, that is to be determined by school policy.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, just to finish that one off.

Um, mark and Jared, will there be guidance come

through the bulletin about if there is an update

or will we find that in a different area?

There will be, um,

or have to look at timings, um, that, um,

but there will be, um, if possible to do so.

This will be communicated, um, via the school bulletin, um,

potentially the school Gazette as well, uh,

through the Education Gazette.

Um, and also, um, will likely be useful

to provide some form

of proactive communication in the early new year as well.

Um, I don't expect people to enjoy a well-deserved holiday,

um, and for the attendance codes to be front of mind.

So, um, definitely want the this to be present,

um, for students.

But, um, yeah, we will look to, uh, formally

communicate this out, but we are working at pace, uh,

and we are looking forward to having, um,

we are looking forward to having

this shared as soon as we can.

We do have, um, a question from Donna in the chat.

Uh, should we move to mark the role at the end

of the day periods not at the start?

And what are the rules?

Um, I can, I can fully answer that.

We, there are no ministry guidelines around that.

I think it's daily, it needs to be completed, so it's,

that's probably down to a practice decision at a,

at a school level, um, around

when you would be marking your, um, your attendance.

Um, but yeah, like we said, we'll put, we, uh,

from the start of next year, we will be, uh,

pulling that data daily.

So daily reporting of attendance data becomes next year.

Um, but, so it'll kind of be by the end of the day.

Thank you. And we've got a question in

the chat from Alison.

Should all seniors be marked X from the first day

of study leave until the last day of NCEA exams?

And should their leaving date be the same last day

of NC QA exams or the last day of the school term?

Yeah, that's a really good question.

Um, so, so I think this is where

the v in the X code are important.

So the V code is for, um, and it's for study leave

or, um, internal exams during the year,

like practice exams or mock exams.

Sorry, my color on my screen's just got funny.

Um, but the X code is for your N-C-A-N-C-Q-A exams.

Um, they, the way that it's reported is different.

So the, um,

the V code is, is marked as a, as a type of presence.

The X code is actually not, um, marked as a type of absence.

So it's removed.

It's effectively the same as a,

as a removing them from the role.

So the X code isn't reported to the ministry

and it's not included in regular attendance data.

So practice for NZQA, uh, exams would be

that when they go on exam leave, I would be marking them

as X up until the day that school has finished.

So the last day of school.

And that way it is not reported, um, to the ministry.

Um, there are some flowing effects of doing that,

but um, that's more

of a longer conversation than that,

but it's, it's not reported.

We've got a question in the chat for TA from Tanya.

Did you consider making a code for students who left early

to capture time loss, eg, like late code

and the example L equals late or left early?

We did. Um, you definitely, uh,

great minds thinker like Tanya and you're not alone.

Um, but we, uh, one thing, uh, we had a variety of

what I would call design constraints, um,

when we said about creating these codes.

And one thing that we were not looking to do at this point,

not to say that it won't be explored at a later point in

time, um, but we weren't looking to create any new codes.

Um, and so we did have, um, a number of school, uh,

we did have a, a number, I'm gonna say maybe a couple

that said, yeah, well, what about the

concept of a late code?

Um, we did discuss it, um,

but on balance, we, um, we didn't progress with that.

Um, and then just to follow up with

that question from Donna, so

how do we capture the last time, uh, in your EMS?

Uh, you should be able to record time left.

Um, so you should be able to write a note, um, in that

to record if a student leaves early

in the time that they left.

Um, so you could keep that as present

and then record that they've left early.

And that would be a good way to, to do that, to record that.

Marianne?

Yes. Um, just speaking about SMS programs,

have all SMS contributors, uh,

been privy to all of this

and are they likely to have it all ready and up

and running for 2025?

I can answer that one.

Um, so we are working with SMS, um, all

SMS vendors at present, um,

and the changes to the revised attendance codes, um,

I have confidence that they will be made.

Um, all ch all required changes will be made in time

for day one, term one next year.

Um, and as far as I'm aware, um,

I at least have not been privy to anything

that would counter that, uh, in terms of their inability

to make said changes.

So yes, um, the,

these changes should be made in time for next year.

That's great. Thanks, mark.

We've got a question in the chat for, from Alison

and noting that it's hit 8 54.

So have there been any changes

to the caregiver notification slash text guidelines?

IE notifying FA au If two

question marks occur in the morning,

That's, uh, uh, not a ministry, um, decision,

that's a school policy decision.

So that would be, um, around how the school manages,

um, attendance.

Um, there has been some work going on

and some other work streams, uh, around star,

which is the step attendance response.

So, um, and that's, uh, been launched this year, um,

if you haven't seen that around following up on, um,

ongoing absence.

Um, and I do know

that there is some other work stream going on,

and I know Minister Seymours

and out this, uh, around schools needing

to have an attendance management plan.

Um, and so there could be some guidance coming, uh, midway

through next year, uh, around that with a a,

a look at potentially for, I think that's due

to come in in 2026, uh, pending some decisions.

Um, so that's at the moment, not not a ministry area,

it's a school, um, process and practice area.

Um, uh,

but happy, um, uh, to provide some guidance to your school,

um, Alison as well in that area.

Oh, well, I think that's probably all the time

that we have for today.

Um, if you do have any further questions, um,

the link, please scroll up to the top of this chat.

There was the, um, there was the website

that Marika, um, put through.

I, um, I will just get the,

I'll just quickly find this for you.

Um, so if you've got any questions that relate

to the revised codes or the,

or this upcoming change, um, please do email this mailbox.

Um, if there's anything, um, that relates

to the preexisting codes for the remainder of this year,

please use those codes.

Um, otherwise, yeah, definitely I'm very keen

to give you three minutes back,

but I just wanna say thank you very much, um,

for your attendance this morning.

Looking forward to rolling these out

and please do not be a stranger.

Any questions, more than happy to answer them.

But have a fantastic day. Thank you very much.