A Horowhenua primary school has seen results from a scheme aimed at improving school attendance and work ethic.

James Los’e has been principal of Foxton Primary School for a year and, faced with low attendance rates, he came up with a behaviour management plan to make sure all the pupils come to school.

Children’s attendance had sometimes been as low as 57-60% and occasionally the school wouldn’t hear from children or their parents for a couple of days.

So he offered the year 8 children a reward of going to Australia, where they went on a week-long tour last month for a graduation present, if they came to school. The junior children’s reward was a camp in Hawke’s Bay.

“[To have gone on the trip] you must be a good leader in the school system, you have to give back to your community, but most of all just be good people.”

Attendance had become more of a problem since the Covid-19 pandemic, as some adults and children were anxious and dealing with mental health issues, Los’e said.

“My aim this year was to try and get our kids to have faith in the school system again, coming to school, doing all the right things, being in class.

“If they did all those things there would be benefits, not just educational benefits, but lifelong change benefits.”

At the start of the year, Los’e asked the children to come up with a plan. Going overseas, something most hadn’t done, seemed ambitious, but they settled on the Gold Coast.

“I asked them ‘do you believe in me? Because I believe in you. I’ll make this happen’.”

The board of trustees got the ball rolling with some funding, then Los’e fundraised about $40,000.

He wanted to give the children an incentive for hard work and he was willing to do it again next year as it was the “drop that makes the ripple”.

“At the beginning, parents weren’t ringing up to say my kid’s away, or we’re at a tangi this week, or I’ve been sick or can’t get to school, we’ve got no petrol, as embarrassing as that may seem, they wouldn’t be able to do that.”

But he talked to parents about what a difference having their children at school could make.

Attendance increased as Los’e challenged them to be accountable for their actions and something changed.

“This was one of the ways that I came up with that would engage them in schoolwork and get them to school. If you’re not at school you can’t be involved, you can’t make choices.

“It may seem a bit far-fetched for some people, but we’re only a little school and we’re a little town where you have to make your own way, you have to tear down your own walls.

“It’s one way to show the community – don’t let Foxton define who you are as a person.”

The school was classed as decile one under the old decile rating system.

Teacher Elaine Dyason, who also went on the trip, said it was an incentive for the children to work hard.

“There were some absolute firsts for these children, some breaking down fears. Quite a few of them have never been away from their parents.”

The trip included shopping, an Aboriginal cultural event, and visits to theme parks.

The school’s head boy Exavior Tepaki said they had to do a lot of work to earn the fun experience.

The school’s junior pupils went on camp to Hawke’s Bay and visited places affected by Cyclone Gabrielle earlier this year, where they learnt about resilience and how people were dealing with the situation.