An Attendance Management Plan (AMP) is a formal requirement for all NZ state and state-integrated schools from Term 1, 2026, using the STAR (Stepped Attendance Response) framework of absence thresholds.
What is an Attendance Management Plan (AMP)?
An Attendance Management Plan (AMP) is a formal requirement for all New Zealand state and state-integrated schools from Term 1, 2026.
An AMP outlines how your school will:
- Monitor student attendance
- Identify emerging attendance concerns
- Take timely action when absence thresholds are reached
- Record and report attendance interventions
AMP uses the STAR (Stepped Attendance Response) framework to define absence thresholds that trigger a required school response.
| Threshold | Days Absent in a Term | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Green | Fewer than 5 days | Regular attendance |
| Yellow | 5 – 9.5 days | Emerging concern |
| Orange | 10 – 14.5 days | Significant concern |
| Red | 15+ days | Serious concern |
When a student reaches a threshold, the school must record an intervention (action taken).
These recorded interventions are automatically reported to the Ministry of Education through Edge.
Edge supports AMP by helping your school:
- Track absences
- Identify students at each STAR threshold
- Record and manage interventions
- Communicate with caregivers
- Maintain a clear audit trail for MoE reporting
For more information visit the Ministry of Education website.
Where to find AMP Functionality in Edge
AMP support is built into several areas of Edge.
| Task | Location in Edge |
|---|---|
| Entering attendance |
|
| Reviewing student attendance records |
|
| Viewing students grouped by attendance thresholds |
|
| Recording and managing interventions |
|
| Attendance analysis |
|
| Communicating student attendance with caregivers |
|
Data Entry (Attendance)
There is no change to how attendance is entered.
How attendance contributes to AMP
The Ministry of Education’s “days absent in term” calculation uses:
· All recorded absences, classified as justified or unjustified
· Part-day absences
Edge completes these calculations for you automatically, in line with Ministry of Education guidelines.
For more detailed information on attendance codes and classifications, please refer to the Ministry of Education website.
Identifying Students Who Have Reached STAR Thresholds
Edge helps you quickly identify students who require intervention under your school’s Attendance Management Plan (AMP).
Students who require intervention are those whose absence levels within a given term have reached a STAR threshold. For example, a student recorded at the “Yellow” threshold has been absent from school for between 5 and 9.5 days.
When this occurs, the school must take appropriate action to support improved attendance and record what has been done.
By identifying these students early, staff can ensure responses are timely, appropriate to the level of concern, and properly documented to meet Ministry of Education reporting and compliance obligations.
Option 1: Student Attendance Summary
Navigate to Attendance → Attendance Records → Student Attendance Summary
The Student Attendance Summary screen will allow you to:
- Review a student’s attendance status in relation to STAR, including the thresholds reached for each term and the calculated number of absence days contributing to those thresholds.
- Access and manage interventions for a given term
- View the last five interventions recorded
- Review attendance history by ‘This Week’, ‘Last 4 Weeks’, ‘This Term’, ‘Year-to-Date’, or the ‘Previous Year’ in a rollcall view.
TIP: Select a ‘Truancy Code’ (Justified, Unjustified, or Present) from the ‘Attendance by Truancy Code’ picklist or click a segment in the pie chart to highlight the corresponding records in the roll call view below.
- Export a student’s attendance history for a selected date period.
Option 2: Auto Groups (STAR Groups)
Navigate to People → Memberships → View Classes and Groups
Auto Groups automatically organise students into dynamic groups based on a wide range of data, including current STAR thresholds.
In the left-hand panel, under ‘Groups’, select the relevant STAR threshold group. For example, ‘Absent between 10-14 days this term (auto)’.
From here you can:
- Drilldown on a student’s name to access their student profile
- Print a list of students that meet the selected threshold
- Generate and send an email communication to caregivers
- Send notifications to caregivers through the Mobile App
Option 3: Interventions
Navigate to Attendance → Attendance Records → Interventions
The Interventions screen allows you to review student attendance in relation to STAR thresholds, check whether appropriate AMP responses have been recorded, and take action where required.
You can:
- Filter records by Term, Threshold, Student or Student NSN
- Sort data by clicking the column headings
- View the number of days absent contributing to the threshold
- View the number of interventions recorded for each student by term and threshold
- Create interventions for an individual student or in bulk
- Export a listing of students that have a recorded threshold, based on the filters that you have selected
- Export a listing of students and their recorded interventions, based on the filters that you have selected.
Creating and Managing Interventions
Interventions form part of your school’s Attendance Management Plan (AMP) process.
When a student reaches a STAR threshold through continued school absence in a term, the school is required to take appropriate action and document the response provided.
This action is recorded as an intervention and is automatically reported to the Ministry of Education (MoE) through Edge.
Click here for more information on Managing Interventions
Using Communications as an Intervention
Targeted communication with caregivers is a common Attendance Management Plan (AMP) intervention.
Navigate to People → Community → Communications.
Communications allows you to:
- Send messages to targeted groups (such as the caregivers of students who meet a specific STAR threshold)
- Personalise emails using keyword tokens that merge and insert data stored in Edge
- Create and use templates for faster message creation
- Log sent communication against students, creating an audit trail of what was sent, to whom, and when
To generate a communication:
- Under ‘Select Recipients’, click the ‘Groups’ option, and select the required STAR auto group. For example, ‘AMP Yellow Threshold 5 - 9.5 days (Auto)’.
- If you have a predefined template, select it by clicking the ‘Use Template’ button.
- In the ‘Mail Merge’ field, use attendance keyword tokens to personalise the communication for each student. For example, when contacting caregivers of students who have reached the AMP Orange Threshold 10–14 days, you can insert a table showing all attendance records for the term.
TIP: Communication using auto groups relating to STAR thresholds can also be generated from People → Memberships → View Classes and Groups.