Non-attendance or truancy

Needs of student

A student at your school is often away without explanation.

Help available

Attendance guidelines

Attendance guidelines for schools are available.

The Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI) website provides the Attendance Guidelines - Student Support handbook.

This information covers why student attendance is important, how it can be effectively managed and how attendance rates can be improved. It outlines the legal requirements regarding attendance and provides practical advice on how to reduce truancy.

The District Truancy Service

If you have concerns about a student, please contact the Ministry of Education directly.

The District Truancy Service will attempt to locate and return a student to school and report their reason for non-attendance.

To contact your District Truancy Service call your local Ministry of Education office.

Evaluation of District Truancy Services

The Martin, Jenkins and Associates Ltd Evaluation of District Truancy Services (DTS) reports are available to download below. The evaluations include surveys of DTS providers and of a sampling of schools nationally, as well as six case studies of DTS.