New Zealand school attendance hits four-year high despite flu season

School attendance in New Zealand reached its highest level for any Term 3 since 2022, despite a challenging flu season, according to provisional data for Term 3 2026. The Associate Education Minister David Seymour said 52.2 per cent of students met the criteria for regular attendance, defined as being in class for more than 90 per cent of the term.‍​​​​​​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‍

This represents a 1.7 percentage point increase from 50.5 per cent in Term 3 2025. Compared with Term 3 2022, when regular attendance was 45.8 per cent, approximately 53,000 more students attended school regularly in Term 3 2026.

Schools are now required to implement an attendance management plan with escalating interventions for declining attendance. When a student has been absent for five days, schools must contact parents or guardians to determine reasons for the absence and set expectations. At ten days absent, school leadership meets with parents, guardians and the student to identify barriers and develop plans to address them. Cases where absence escalates beyond fifteen days are escalated to an Attendance Service Provider.‍​​​​​​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‍

The government allocated $140 million in additional funding for attendance improvements over the next four years under Budget 2025. A 2024 Ministry of Education and ERO review found the previous attendance services system was not working effectively, Mr Seymour said. The renewed services are now better resourced and can reach twice as many students.

The government’s target is for 80 per cent of students to attend school more than 90 per cent of the time by 2030.‍​​​​​​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‍

Source: New Zealand Government (beehive.govt.nz), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Changes may have been made. Distributed via BLINK Wire. Original release