Here, Everyday, Ready, On time.
Working closely with the Education Welfare Officer, an attendance initiative called HERO was planned. HERO, standing for, Here, Everyday, Ready, On time was an idea we came across online. We made the initiative workable in our school.
How it worked:
- School notice board displayed large HERO letters, information explaining the initiative and information highlighting the importance of good school attendance.
- Posters on most classroom doors.
- HSCL Coordinator visited classes as often as possible, daily if possible, asking the class “Who is a HERO today?” Present, ready with books, pencil etc, and on time…A lucky dip bag (pencils, pens, erasers, sharpeners, highlighters, bubbles…) was used to pull out the names of a number of HEROs in each class, each day. This worked really well in all classes.
- Book tokens were purchased for raffles at the end of the 2 week period. Students who were genuinely sick but had notes explaining their absence were also included in this draw.
- Having multiple streams of 4th, 5th and 6th, the class with the highest % attendance in each class group was rewarded with some time in our local Youth Cafe, playing pool, board games, drinking hot chocolate and having some popcorn. This was a big hit with these students.
HSCL Coordinator, Tuam.