By Bridie Smith
For students at Wyndham Park Primary School, turning up at school comes with benefits beyond classroom results.
It means the chance to accumulate points which, each week, can be redeemed for toys such as yo-yos, whistles, fidget toys or board games. But while these tangible rewards get results, students have their eyes on a bigger, tastier prize: pizza.
Wyndham Park Primary School vice principal Laura Boylan hands out pizza to preps as a reward for school attendance.Credit: Joe Armao
Students who turn up every day of term get “perfect points” and are rewarded with a pizza lunch, which yesterday saw almost 150 students reaching for slices of Hawaiian, margherita and meat-lovers.
Principal John Eskander said pizza had been key to the school’s climbing attendance rate, which has gone from 88 per cent in 2022 to an impressive 90.3 per cent last year – comfortably above the 89.6 per cent average recorded by state primary schools last year. And with a first-term attendance rate currently sitting at 93 per cent, the school is on track for another record result.
For Eskander, who introduced the reward system in 2023, the growing pizza bill was money well spent.
“You can’t build academic outcomes if the students aren’t here,” he said. “And we want the growth in attendance data to be reflected in learning data, but we know that that takes time.”
The school also sends “positive postcards” to students with a perfect attendance record for a month – an acknowledgement that the small achievements should also be celebrated as well. The postcards, designed by students with a handwritten note from the teacher, are mailed to the student’s home.
“The reason why we do that is because families, as well as the kids, feel like it’s a bit more special to get something in the mail rather than finding a letter that goes at the bottom of the school bag.”
The primary school in Werribee, in Melbourne’s south-west, has about 400 students, the majority of whom are from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. Two families are currently homeless. One in five students hails from the Karen ethnic minority group and arrived in Australia with minimal education from refugee camps on the Myanmar-Thailand border.
The reasons students don’t turn up to school reflect the significant hurdles they and their families have to overcome, Eskander said. Some can’t afford a uniform, so don’t send their child to school. Others struggle to cover the food bill or lack any means of transport.
Schools are trying raffle tickets, toys, books and sporting equipment as incentives to go to school.Credit: Joe Armao
The school has a full-time social worker and a UnitingCare staff member who visits three days a week to focus on secure, stable housing for families who need it. It also hosts a breakfast club, run by Rotary, and offers English classes for parents.
The school also puts families in touch with support services such as The Smith Family, Foodbank and Anglicare.
“At our school, it really does take a village, it’s a team effort,” Eskander said.
The pizza plan is one of many unconventional approaches schools are using to boost attendance, which is a priority for the Education Department – attendance rates for students in years 1 to 10 have struggled to surpass the 91.9 per cent of 2021.
Even high-performing schools such as Elwood Primary School, with its 96.1 per cent attendance rate, have a system to check in with parents if a student is away for more than three days. Last year, only 9 per cent of students were away for three days or more.
At Hampton Park Secondary College, raffle tickets are offered to students who arrive before the bell, with sporting equipment and books up for grabs.
An Education Department spokesperson said regular attendance was key to success at school.
“We support schools, students and families with a range of programs to help overcome the barriers to learning, including more than $600 million in mental health supports.”
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