Star Board Term Two Week Eight

Principal's Message

Kia Ora Koutou

There is so much going on in school- it is super busy. Many come to St Matthew’s because of the opportunities, so perhaps I should rewrite that opening line as “ There are many amazing opportunities being taken up at the moment’ which is great to see, but I also recommend pacing oneself.

Attendance

The government is hot on the Attendance and Engagement of students in schools. Absenteeism across the nation is high. In 2022 the then government released an Attendance and Engagement strategy that outlined a community-wide response to get learners going to school more regularly and being present, participating and making progress.

Attendance has been declining since 2015 across all year levels, equity indexes, ethnicities, and regions; with Covid-19 pandemic compounding the problem.

The objective was to reverse this trend and lift it back up to 70% attending by 2024- to attending 90% or more of school hours, or nine out of ten days. We are fortunate at St Matthew’s because our attendance rates are high but even, we are noticing a higher rate of absenteeism- some caused by holidays and ‘vital’ appointments.

Whānau, parents and caregivers have the responsibility of ensuring their children attend or letting the school know on the day if students will be absent. Family holidays or taking time off for extracurricular activities (not organised by school) are not acceptable reasons for being absent.

Schools are expected to record and report on attendance and let parents or carers know if they have not received any notification of an absence.

Regular attendance is defined as going to class more than 90 percent of the time.

What is Truancy and are you inadvertently condoning it?

What is a truant? A student who is frequently late, misses a class or misses entire days or weeks of their schooling. A truant also can be defined as a person who as a pattern such as being regularly missing on Mondays or Fridays. However, illness or attending a tangi or funeral are acceptable reasons for not attending - but the school must be told.

‘Wagging’ seems a tame almost cute word but wagging school is truancy. Why do we harp on about absence concerns or call you? By law your children are meant to be in school. If they are enrolled, we expect them to be in school at the required times. It is against the laws of the land to ‘wag’. Sometimes schools will look at the wagging as a sign something is bothering a child eg bullying, an issue with a teacher, drug and / or alcohol use, or perhaps a mental health issue.

Will you get into trouble if your child is truant? Until now prosecutions have been rare but that might change. Currently If a child is continually truant from school and it is decided the parent / caregiver is condoning the truancy they can be prosecuted. As parents- talk to the school about strategies to re-engage your child.

Of course there will always be exceptions but let us be honest there are always going to be those occasions in life and school that we will hear “ it was the only time I could get that appointment” , or “ she cannot be at this period because she needs to be at…”, the reality is that if your child is meant to be at school and you provide an out for her not to be then you are condoning truancy.

So, should students or staff come to school if they are sick?

If a person is not well enough to be at school or work then that is an easy question to answer- No.

Parking on Kummer Crescent and Pownall Street

I am so grateful to members of our community who contact me about things pertaining to public safety. But today as an example, usually there is no problem with cars being parked on one side of Kummer Cres, but often our students park cars on both sides of Kummer Crescent close to the corner with Pownall Street. This causes a hazard for vehicles entering Kummer Crescent and exiting Kummer Crescent onto Pownall. This is especially so at 3pm when Douglas Park parents are collecting children from the Kummer Crescent gate and it can cause real congestion and safety issues when St Matthew’s students are being picked up from 3.10.

St Matthew’s student drivers who are driving to school please heed advice that parking directly opposite other parked vehicles on a narrow street with no marked vehicle parking is not the best idea, especially close to an intersection. When there is ample parking available on Pownall Street with marked car parking spaces the wiser choice is to park on Pownall.

Well done, Ruby

The Wairarapa Primary Schools Speech competition is next Tuesday. Our very own Ruby Bremner is representing Masterton in the Year 7 section.

Take care of yourselves, enjoy Mama Mia if that is on the calendar for you, be safe and be well.

Ngā Mihi

Kiri

Around School

Boarding Note

Week 8 has been an exceptionally busy week in boarding. In addition to the everyday action in and around the boarding houses, there has been early morning starts to Whanganui for the Collegiate fixture on Wednesday, and to Palmerston North for the Big Sing yesterday.

What is so great to see is the number of boarders who are making the most of all the opportunities girls have available to them at St Matts. As I have said on all the boarding tours recently, if you are coming into boarding make the most of all that our relatively little school offers!

This photo was taken earlier in the week of three of our Year 9 full time boarders who helped decorate the foyer in Main House for Pride Week. Many thanks to Miss McCoy for this lovely photo of Heidi Didsbury, Sophia Bosch and Addison Duckett who were happy to pose with their creations.

Next week we are super excited to be taking over 100 boarders to Mamma Mia on Tuesday evening. Please remember the boarding houses close late Thursday afternoon and reopen Sunday at 7pm for Matariki next weekend.

Enjoy the weekend

Jo

Dance Workshop

On Wednesday we were very fortunate to have a visit from the Royal New Zealand Ballet where students from our year 7-13 dance classes participated in a Contemporary Dance Workshop with professional dancer Jordana Arnold. These student enjoyed learning choreography from the Tutus On Tour 'Prismatic' repertoire.