Register of daily attendance

Attendance registers are official documents

Daily attendance registers, whether electronic or manual, are official documents providing information on a school’s roll number and the year-level of students. Daily attendance registers may be audited because they support the information provided in the school’s roll return.

Attendance registers must be retained

Daily attendance registers must be retained in the school for a minimum of seven years from the date of the last entry. After seven years, the registers may be destroyed with the approval of the board of trustees of a state or state integrated school.

Attendance register requirements

Attendance registers must be kept on either:

• an E19/1 Form – a paper register completed manually, or
• an approved Electronic Attendance Register (see page 5-5 Electronic Attendance Registers for more information).

Attendance regulations

It is a requirement under regulation 11 of the Education (School Attendance) Regulations 1951 that on the day on which a principal first knows that a student has left the school, the principal shall record that the student has left, noting the student’s last day of tuition.

The last day of attendance is:

• regarded by the Ministry as the leaving date of the student
• the basis for determining whether the student will be included in the roll return for resourcing purposes (rather than the completion of a leaving clearance form and/or formal notice of withdrawal at a later date, as these are simply confirmation that the student has left).

The 20 day rule

Regulation 11 also requires a principal to record that a student has left the school when the student has been absent for any period of 20 consecutive school days, unless the principal has been informed that the student’s absence is only temporary. Documentary evidence of such notification must be retained for audit purposes.

Updating the student type in the student management system

The student type should be changed from regular enrolment (RE) to not attending (NA) in the student management system if a student:

• who is absent on the roll count date, has been absent for 20 consecutive days before the count date
• does not meet the requirements for being included on a roll return, eg a student that is excluded but not yet enrolled at another school.

This allows the student to remain on the school roll for administrative purposes, but the student will not be included in the school's roll count.

ENROL

The following table outlines the action in ENROL the principal must take when a student leaves the school.

If the student is domestic and under 16 years old, a Non-Enrolment Truancy Services (NETS) process will be implemented within ENROL based on the last day of attendance for tuition.