Kamo Primary School students Xavier Harris, Miri Henare, Trey Williams and Caysha Parry helped come up with the campaign messaging. Photo / Tania Whyte
Kamo Primary School students Xavier Harris, Miri Henare, Trey Williams and Caysha Parry helped come up with the campaign messaging. Photo / Tania Whyte
Nearly 500 Northland students have returned to school since the launch of a new truancy campaign.
The campaign, Let's Get to School - Te Tai Tokerau, began on August 10 after concerns were raised over the number of students missing school in the region.
Ministry of Education data for the week of the campaign launch showed 79.2 per cent of Northland pupils were attending school.
This rose to 81 per cent in the week starting September 5. The 2 per cent increase meant 493 students were back at school, according to the Te Tai Tokerau Principals' Association.
Association president Pat Newman said the region's existing problem with attendance had worsened since Covid lockdowns.
"A lot of adults up in Te Tai Tokerau have never had a good experience with education so it's not that important to them.
"A lot of people have also been grafting for coin and you've got kids having to stay home to look after other kids while people work."
Newman, who is also principal of Hora Hora School, said the campaign had been focused on advertising and social media campaigns to encourage pupils back to school.
Pat Newman, principal of Hora Hora Primary School and president of Te Tai Tokerau Principals' Association. Photo / Tania Whyte
"It's definitely got some positive results out of it and we're now moving into the next phase.
"For instance, at Hora Hora School I know we've got a lady knocking on doors of some of our high truancy [students]."
This initiative was different, he said, because it was about encouragement and helping families whose children were not attending school.
"Let's make kids remember what it was like to be at school and how much fun it was and what you're missing out on.
"The message actually wasn't just getting back into schools - the very big message was that old one that it takes a whole community to raise a child."
Grandparents, aunts, uncles and neighbours could all help support parents to make sure their children got to school, Newman said.
Schools have another problem to deal with once students returned, he added, and it was not just catching up on missed school work.
"The whakama (shame), the social stuff of coming into a place you've been away from and your mates have moved on and you haven't, all those sorts of things.
"I urge every school to sit down and think, how are we going to handle those kids?"
Duane Allen, principal of Northland College. Photo / File
Duane Allen, tumuaki (principal) of Northland College, said the goal of the campaign was to have 90 per cent attendance at Northland schools.
"I think it's awesome to know that we do have support from the Ministry of Education, from a principal's perspective, from my colleagues as well, and I appreciate that.
He said Northland College had also set up a reward system to compliment the campaign tools, and had seen an improvement in attendance.
"We've been very clear with our kids about the expectations around attendance, and we've seen some really significant improvements in our attendance."
The campaign is a partnership between Northland schools and the Ministry of Education.
Students from Kamo Primary School, Hora Hora Primary School, Tikipunga High School, and Taipa Area School came up with the campaign name, slogan "For the future of our tamariki", and key messaging for the initiative.
The latest phase of the campaign included schools from 15 schools across the region, that have posted videos on Facebook encouraging their fellow students to return to school.
Attendance rates had already begun to improve before the campaign's official launch. An attendance rate of just 78.1 per cent on July 25 meant nearly 800 students had returned to school in six weeks.
