The Otago and Southland attendance rate had the third-highest regional increase in New Zealand, from 61% in term 1 last year, to 63.6% in term 1 this year.
Nationwide, the main driver of absence continued to be short-term illnesses, which included Covid-19 and other seasonal illnesses.
North Otago Primary Principals Association chairman and Pembroke School principal Brent Godfery said children were missing school because of more serious illnesses, which were taking them out for longer.
"Illnesses are taking kids out for a week or more, not one or two days.
"The illnesses we are hearing about are Covid, influenza and respiratory illness.
"Two of our children this term have been hospitalised by illness."
Teachers were also experiencing illness. Pembroke had been lucky to have had only one or two staff sick at the same time, but it had still meant classrooms had to be split.
While the increase in attendance was showing a trend, there needed to be more analysis around illness, he said.
He called for more comparison between primary and secondary school data.
"Data I have seen show primary schools are usually getting better attendance."
He attributed the increase in part to a good summer and in part to more of a general public focus on attendance.
He did not think it was because of the government’s policies on attendance.
"I would love to see the government stop focusing on attendance which, to me, is a way of taking the focus off their lack of support and adequate resourcing for students with learning and behavioural needs.
"They talk about wanting achievement to rise, but are avoiding putting money into the areas teachers and principals consistently ask them to resource properly."
He said the government’s policies had little to do with the increase in attendance because it was already improving before they were introduced.
He was disappointed this year’s Budget did not contain any significant funding to help schools improve attendance rates.
"Once a young person stops engaging with school, it’s often very difficult to bring them back so we need more pastoral care staff in our schools to be the ambulance at the top of the cliff and work with these students and their families before we lose them from the system.
"If the government is serious about lifting school attendance rates significantly, it needs to find solutions to these underlying issues."
