Steven Covey, author of ‘The Habits of Highly Effective People’ has always emphasised that while we do work in Quadrant 1 at times, it is not sustainable long term.  Because we are now well into the third term of the year and operating at maximum capacity, as a sector, we are fatigued.  Our challenge is how to shift ourselves and our schools to Quadrant 2, where the work we do is planned, focused and ‘Important but not urgent’.  As leaders, we also need to plan visits to Quadrant 4, to create cognitive ‘down time’, often the place where our most creative thinking happens.

Looking Ahead: The goal of 90%

At the start of 2022, we had 90% of students across the country attending school regularly (Defined as 9/10 days in a row at school).  Using this definition, regular attendance had dropped to 58% by the end of Term 1, due to traffic light settings and the impact of the Omicron variant of COVID.  Term 2 figures will be worse because of continuing COVID and winter illnesses. 

As a leader, a critical creative challenge we have right now is how to get all students who are well, at school every day. 

At Westport North School, a ‘Sports Acadamy’ was set up in 2014 to address student attendance, engagement and behaviour, using an integrated curriculum approach aligned with students’ strengths and passion for sport.  This innovation has served to lift attendance, engagement and student achievement.  In Term 2, Whitiora School in the Waikato launched ‘Te Puumanawa o Whitiora’, a wellbeing innovation involving school leaders, a social worker, a counsellor, whānau, hapu and local iwi.  In Northland, principals and school leaders have been developing a social media campaign by students, for students, to encourage missing students back to school. 

These are just three of any number of innovative ways school leaders have begun to work towards the goal of 90% regular attendance at school.  We are all looking forward to a time where the management of COVID does not dominate our days, so we can be in and stay in the creative leadership space.

If we are to achieve success in learning, we need students to be at school.  Step 1 is to keep our schools operational.  Step 2 is to make schools the best place to be.  Step 3 is to have all students well, present and participating every day.  To do this, let’s aim for Quadrant 2.