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An Auckland principal thinks she has the answer to stopping children playing truant: tripling the number of computers in class.
The number of Glenavon School pupils wagging school has dropped considerably since it has given each child access to a computer - one between two.
When principal Elaine Herbert arrived at the Blockhouse Bay primary school in 2006, a Ministry of Education report claimed a third of the school's pupils could be absent on any given day. Now the school boasts 90 per cent attendance most days.
Mrs Herbert said while there were numerous reasons students were staying away from school, they seemed generally disinterested in class. One of her priorities was to better integrate information technology into classroom learning.
At the time, there were four computers per classroom, making it difficult to incorporate them into daily classes as students had to take turns using them.
But the school could not afford to buy a large number of new PCs, and leasing was also too expensive. However, it found it was able to connect several screens to a single desktop by tapping into the unused capacity of the computer. Now classrooms have up to 30 monitors and computer work is part of most lessons. Students can also use them for their research or social networking before and after school, and during lunch times.
Mrs Herbert said the computers helped students who had previously struggled with writing.
Although there could be others factors helping to reduce the truancy rate, Mrs Herbert said the children seemed more interested in being at school these days.
She said the school had a responsibility to expose children to computers as much as possible, as they would become an integral part of their higher learning and careers. Many of the school's students did not have computers at home, she said.
Since the arrival of the extra computers in 2007, Glenavon's decile ranking has also risen from two to three, as the school's improved learning environment and reputation is proving a drawcard.
