Te Hīkoi will provide a learning programme for Year 9, 10 or 11.
We offer the learner an opportunity to continue their education in a different learning environment.
The learner is placed accordingly by Te Hīkoi staff.
Te Hīkoi is the place the learner will attend while being supported to re-engage with learning and build aspirations. The focus of the programme is to manage:
- Attendance and Engagement
- Academic Achievement
- Personal and Relational Skills
- Provide a safe and healthy learning environment
- Mentor and set goals with learners
- AltEd pick learners up from home eacvh morning and deliver back in the afternoon.
- Re-engagement back into secondary school, further education or training or, where appropriate, employment, through a planned approach.
On the programme, learners are expected to:
- Attend regularly
- Be punctual
- Develop a positive attitude to learning
- Improve their reading, writing and math skills
- Behave appropriately
- Work towards a transition plan to move back into mainstream school, further education or employment
Cellphone Policy 2024 / Vape Policy 2025
Under Government regulations aimed at improving learners’ learning across Aotearoa New Zealand, from 1 April 2024 Te Hikoi will not allow cellphones to be used during the school day. This includes at Course, Trades and on school trips outside the classroom.
Our full policy is here.
In New Zealand, all schools are legally required to be smokefree and vapefree, meaning vaping is prohibited on all school premises, both indoors and outdoors, at all times.
Te Hīkoi Attendance Strategy 2026
This strategy is built upon the Ministry of Education’s Stepped Attendance Response (STAR) framework, aligning with the goal of having 80% of students attending 90% of the time by 2030. At Te Hīkoi, we believe that regular attendance is the foundational step for student success, achievement, and a strong sense of whanaungatanga (belonging) within our school community.
We commit to a proactive, supportive, and consistent approach, focusing on early intervention and strong partnership with our students, parents/whānau, and community.
1. Core Principles and Expectations
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| Group | Attendance Expectation | Key Responsibility |
| Students | Attend every scheduled class, every day the school is open, unless genuinely ill or excused. | To take ownership of their education, communicate attendance barriers, and engage fully in learning. |
| Parents/Whānau | Ensure their child attends school regularly and notify the school of any absence before 9:00am on the day. | To reinforce the importance of attendance, partner with the school to address barriers, and participate in support plans. |
| School (Staff/Board) | Maintain a welcoming, engaging, and safe learning environment, and implement a consistent attendance management system. | To monitor attendance daily, communicate expectations clearly, and apply the STAR framework with support and consistency. |
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2. Day-to-Day Operations (Tier 1: Proactive Support)
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These actions apply to all students and are designed to promote a strong culture of attendance and belonging.
- Daily Monitoring & Follow-up: Attendance is marked every lesson period. All unexplained absences are followed up with a phone call, text, or email to parents/whānau by 11:00am. The Administrator of Te Hikoi sends the texts and enters data from the replies.
- Celebrating Attendance: Recognise and reward students with excellent and improving attendance rates (e.g: termly awards, special privileges, positive phone calls home).
- Positive School Environment: Embed Manaakitanga (kindness, respect) and Hiranga (excellence) into school culture, ensuring a safe, inclusive, and engaging environment that makes students want to be at school.
- Minimise Disruption: Actively seek to minimise school-wide disruptions, teacher absence, and unnecessary interruptions to classroom learning time.
- Transition Support: Proactively check the attendance history and provide a tailored, welcoming transition plan for all new enrolments.
3. The Stepped Attendance Response (STAR) Framework
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Te Hikoi will implement a stepped approach to respond to student absences, with responses triggered by the cumulative number of absence days (justified or unjustified) per school term.
| STAR Level (Absences per Term) | Attendance Description | School Response Action |
| GREEN (Less than 5 days) | Good Attendance (Typically >90%) | Acknowledge and Reinforce: Continue daily follow-up, celebrate good attendance, and ensure a positive learning environment. |
| YELLOW (5 up to 10 days) | Worrying Attendance (Typically 80%−90%) | Early Intervention: Automated system notification and personal follow-up (phone/email) from Dean to whānau to determine barriers. Offer in-school support (e.g: uniform, food, basic health) where appropriate. Document all contact and support offered (KAMAR). Youth Workers will follow up with visits to homes where contact is difficult. |
| ORANGE (10 up to 15 days) | Concerning Attendance (Typically 70%−80%) | Formal Support Plan: Formal letter/notification to whānau. Mandatory meeting with Dean or Youth Worker, Parent/Whānau, and Student to develop a tailored Attendance Improvement Plan (AIP). Plan includes specific school support and monitoring.
Referral to Attendance Services (Under 16) |
| RED (15 or more days) | Serious Concern (Typically <70%) | Intensive Multi-Agency Response: Formal warning letter and urgent meeting led by the Director of Te Hikoi and involving external agencies (e.g: Attendance Service Provider, Oranga Tamariki, Public Health Nurse) to implement an Intensive Attendance Plan. All prior interventions are documented and, as a last resort in cases of uncooperative parents, Ministry-led legal action may be considered. |
4. Roles and Responsibilities
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| Role | Responsibility within STAR |
| Teacher | Mark attendance accurately and promptly for every lesson period, make first-contact follow-up and support students to monitor their own attendance. Attempt to contact Caregivers for unexplained absences. |
| Deans | Oversee daily monitoring, conduct follow-up and intervention for non attenders. Track attendance concerns from their classes. |
| Director of Te Hīkoi | Oversee the consistency of the strategy, lead meetings and work closely with the Deans. Take the lead role in the RED level meetings which may also include outside agency meetings. |
| Youthworkers | Provide targeted, supportive engagement to students with RED level attendance, helping to identify and address non-academic barriers. Work closely with the Administrator and the Director of Te Hikoi. Liaising with whānau as well as external agencies. |
| Administrator | Manage the electronic attendance register, generate daily absence reports, conduct first-line automated communications (text/email) and ensure the 11:00am follow-up is completed. Respond to requests from Deans and SLT for data. |
| Aorere College Board | Receive termly attendance reports, monitor the effectiveness of this strategy, and ensure adequate resources are allocated to attendance initiatives. |
5. Structural & Management Strategies
- Director of Te Hīkoi: Will be responsible for overseeing the entire strategy’s implementation and coordination for 2026. This centralizes accountability and action and is located at Aorere College
- Weekly SLT Meetings: Regular weekly meetings with the Teacher and Youth Worker ensure that attendance remains a high-priority item, allowing for timely review of progress and quick problem-solving at the strategic level.
- Youth Workers: Will focus on home visits, direct support is crucial for the most disengaged students, addressing potential barriers to attendance that exist outside of the school walls. Working closely with the Administrator and Teacher is key.
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6. Data Tracking & Intervention Strategies
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- Weekly Tracking: Tracking the students with Under 70% chronic attendance on a weekly basis by the Administrator indicates an urgent, high-priority intervention focus for the most severe cases of non-attendance.
- External Truancy Agency (Strive Trust): Developing an effective relationship with the new External Truancy Agency is essential. This partnership leverages external expertise and resources for legal or more intensive truancy intervention that the school may not be equipped to handle alone.
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7. Review and Evaluation
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This strategy will be reviewed:
- Termly: The Director of Te Hīkoi will review attendance data against STAR thresholds, identifying trends across different student cohorts (e.g: year level, ethnicity) to ensure equity and adapt localised interventions.
- Annually: The Aorere College Board will review the strategy’s overall effectiveness, seeking feedback from whānau, staff, and students, and making necessary adjustments.
Success will be measured by:
- Increase in the percentage of students attending school more than 90% of the time.
- Decrease in the number of students falling into the ORANGE and RED STAR zones.
- Positive feedback from whānau and students regarding the school’s supportive and proactive approach to attendance.
