{"id":38692,"date":"2013-07-11T23:42:24","date_gmt":"2013-07-11T13:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=38692"},"modified":"2020-12-14T15:59:59","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T05:59:59","slug":"rivalry-brings-out-the-best-in-wondai-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/07\/11\/rivalry-brings-out-the-best-in-wondai-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Rivalry Brings Out Best In Wondai Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Wondai<\/a>
Wondai State School is closing the gap for its children with a large rise in attendance in five years; celebrating success are four of the 34 students who haven\u2019t missed a day all year: Elizabeth Miller, Quanarl Conlon-Chapman, Thomas Bath and Maddison McLean<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

June 10, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Marcus Priaulx<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wondai State School has raised student attendance levels ever since entering its front gates became a public competition.<\/p>\n

Each week children want to see themselves recognised in the school\u2019s newsletter as having been in class every day.<\/p>\n

They pressure mums and dads to take them, even when they\u2019re ill, and teachers make their lessons as fun and interactive as possible to lure them onto their seats.<\/p>\n

Principal Ruth Miller is phoned or fetched to join the mini celebrations held in all the classes that are full on any day.<\/p>\n

Larger events are organised for any class that has 25 days of full attendance in a term.<\/p>\n

Students who have 100 per cent attendance within the same timeframe are taken to a mystery restaurant for lunch with Mrs Miller.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I arrived at the school we could fit all those children in one car,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Now it needs a bus with 34 of its students qualifying last semester.<\/p>\n

In just over five years the Wondai\u2019s school attendance rate has risen to 92.5 per cent.<\/p>\n

This is no mean feat for a National Partnerships school with a low socio-economic student population.<\/p>\n

But Mrs Miller said there was now a sense within children they had to get to school to give their class a chance of winning the attendance competition.<\/p>\n

She said teachers did their best to self-analyse their performance in order to improve their lessons so they could claim victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe make a big deal about any class or person who gets to 95 per cent attendance; that\u2019s only two-and-a-half days missed in a 10-week term,\u201d Mrs Miller said.<\/p>\n

One hundred per cent is always the ultimate goal though.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttendance is our school\u2019s number one priority,\u201d Mrs Miller said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of laughs amongst teachers within the competition because it\u2019s a friendly rivalry and we all have a common purpose. They understand it\u2019s vital for children\u2019s working memory to be extended and they need to be there learning every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four out of five days is not enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cYears ago, we used to think 80 per cent attendance was pretty good,\u201d Mrs Miller said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we strive to have all our children in class every day because it\u2019s vital to their future learning and success as an adult.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have the best chance of reaching their dreams, children need to be in class every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Wondai<\/a>
Perfect attendance all-stars Elizabeth Miller, Quanarl Conlon-Chapman, Thomas Bath and Maddison McLean are now more comfortable in the classroom than they are away from it<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wondai State School has raised student attendance levels ever since entering its front gates became a public competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,395],"tags":[35,26],"yoast_head":"\nRivalry Brings Out Best In Wondai Kids - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/07\/11\/rivalry-brings-out-the-best-in-wondai-kids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rivalry Brings Out Best In Wondai Kids - southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wondai State School has raised student attendance levels ever since entering its front gates became a public competition.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/07\/11\/rivalry-brings-out-the-best-in-wondai-kids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-11T13:42:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-14T05:59:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/20130710wondai1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"385\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dafyd Martindale\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dafyd Martindale\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/07\/11\/rivalry-brings-out-the-best-in-wondai-kids\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/07\/11\/rivalry-brings-out-the-best-in-wondai-kids\/\",\"name\":\"Rivalry Brings Out Best In Wondai Kids - 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