Good vibes about best attendance

Norma-Jean Herewini, 15 (left) and Hannah More, 13, are excited their school has won the lunchtime concert. Photo / Ben Fraser

Students at Rotorua Girls' High School have an extra good reason to go to school tomorrow.

Thanks to achieving the best attendance across four Rotorua schools this month, its students will be treated to a special lunchtime concert.

The Big Day In competition was a joint challenge organised by the Rotorua Attendance Service, involving Western Heights High School, Rotorua Girls' High School, Rotorua Boys' High School and Rotorua Lakes High School.

Since the start of June, students have been encouraging each other to get to class to try to win the concert for their school.

The concert will feature DJ Sir-Vere, K One, Swiss and Sid Diamond. The Mai FM Street Team will also be present, with free hotdogs to give away to students. Tom Hale, attendance service manager and guidance counsellor at Rotorua Boys' High School, said they came up with the idea of the Big Day In so they could engage directly with students who used the attendance service.

"We wanted to address the issue of truancy in a new and innovative way," he said.

"Offering a free lunchtime concert to the school that achieves the most improved attendance throughout the month of June was an incentive-based approach that we thought would work well to engage the immediate interest of students."

He said the Big Day In Facebook page had been an "excellent example" of the level of engagement the initiative had had with students.

"Students from all four participating schools have posted thousands of messages, encouraging their mates to attend school and to lift school-wide attendance ... The feedback from school staff has also been positive."

Rotorua Girls' High School principal Ally Gibbons said it was now about maintaining the high attendance.

"It has been a great initiative and our girls have really risen to this challenge. Our focus now will be on ensuring that the successful strategies we have implemented are sustained."