'Pretend sick'? School questions whether absent children are actually ill

A central North Island school is under fire after questioning on social media whether some absent kids are really sick. 

The post to Waiouru Primary School’s Facebook page yesterday noted 13 students were absent, 10 for illness/medical reasons, two for “explained and approved” reasons, and one whose absence was “explained and not approved”. 

“Sometimes we think some of our students are only pretend sick. It’s like real sick … but pretending because they don’t want to come to school”, the post continued, before listing things the school could do to help the “pretend sick”. 

The post intended to use humour to highlight the importance of school attendance, principal Tania Heke said in a statement. 

“We acknowledge this was an error in judgement and we have apologised to our school community. We haven’t received any direct concerns from our school community, and we have also communicated how our formal complaints process remains available to anyone wishing to raise a concern.” 

The Facebook post also included a list of ways the school could help kids who are “pretend sick”, starting with “tell you to harden up”, with other options including having a rest in the sick bay before going back to class, being allowed to play in the library on cold days and to “be kind to you and ensure you have a fun day at school with us”. 

“They say laughter is the best medicine, and as it happens, we are really funny!” the post said. 

Other options included for the school to “care about you enough to ensure you are achieving” and to ring parents “if your pretend sick turns into actual sick”. 

In “extreme cases of pretend sick”, house calls could also be arranged by request, the school wrote, adding a smiling emoji. 

The post sparked more than a dozen mostly negative comments, although emoji reactions were more evenly split. 

“What a great way to build partnerships with your parent community … not”, wrote one woman, who added that pretend sick could mean a child was bored with lessons that were too easy, or felt psychologically unsafe or that their “whānau normalcies aren’t represented in my classroom”. 

Others described the post as “judgy”, “odd”, “dumb” and “not funny”. 

“‘Explained but not approved’ ... like who gives yous the right? ‘Pretend sick’ … how do you know? This post will certainly make some parents feel horrible … do better!” 

This morning, the school – which had a roll of 93 at its last Education Review Office assessment in February last year – posted a response to the criticism, saying “no offence was intended” and the school recognised there were “many genuine reasons” kids might struggle to attend school. 

Attendance concerns raised by parents or noticed by the school were treated with care and empathy, but rates were also “not where they need to be”. 

Heke said the Ministry of Education’s attendance target was for 80% of students to attend more than 90% of the term by 2030 “and we are committed to working towards this”. 

Waiouru Primary School is in the central North Island, where Waiouru Military Camp is also based. Photo / Google Maps 

The school had location-specific challenges and pressures that could affect regular attendance, and worked closely with families to understand and address barriers, taking a practical and individualised approach to supporting students, she said. 

“This includes providing access to warm clothing, free second-hand school uniforms, kai and transport, as well as connecting families with additional support where needed.” 

They also worked alongside the ministry, health professionals and attendance services. 

Waiouru Primary and its community were “significantly affected” by the flu over winter, with a temporary decline in student and staff attendance, Heke said. 

“Encouragingly, students who attended regularly earlier in the year are returning to positive attendance patterns as they recover from illness and the knock on impacts.” 

A serious flu season swept the country this winter, with school communities among those hard hit, but hospitalisation figures last month showed the peak had passed. 

Associate Education Minister David Seymour speaking at Parliament in 2024 about the new school portal for attendance. Photo / Marty Melville 

School attendance has been the focus of ongoing attention, with Ministry of Education attendance data last year showing almost half of all school pupils didn’t attend school regularly in Term 3. 

Associate Education Minister David Seymour told RNZ last year the ministry was proactively contacting schools and truancy officers to ensure parents condoning truancy were referred to the ministry to be considered for prosecution. 

The Act leader also made school attendance management plans mandatory from the start of this year. 

Asked during the 1News leaders’ debate this month whether parents should be allowed to take their kids out of school for a family holiday, National leader Christopher Luxon said, “No.” 

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said: “I would prefer they didn’t.” 

Cherie Howie joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.