Attendance, achievement and assessment

Structured approaches to literacy and te reo matatini PLD opening soon

Applications for cohort 4 of Ministry-funded professional learning and development for structured literacy approaches and Rangaranga Reo ā-Tā (structured te reo matatini) are open from 10 February to 3 March.

Cohort 4 is open to Years 0 to 8 teachers, prioritising those who have not had any prior training in structured teaching approaches. It will be delivered over Terms 2, 3, and 4.

More information – including how to apply, key dates, and the list of approved PLD providers – is available here:

PLD for structured literacy and te reo matatini approaches – Ministry of Education

Consultation underway for learning areas and wāhanga ako  

The curriculum consultation is underway on content for Years 7 to 13 Te Reo Rangatira and Years 9 to 13 maths and Pāngarau. Consultation closes 28 April. For more information, visit:  

Updated learning area and new wāhanga ako content drafts available for feedback – Tāhūrangi

Consultation on the English learning area for Years 7 to 13 will begin later this month.    

You are encouraged to have your say – these valuable insights will help to shape curriculum content that is fit for purpose.

New accelerated learning guidance available

‘Accelerating progress – Leadership guidance’ is the first release of a new resource to help you plan, implement and review approaches to accelerate progress for Years 0 to 8 students | ākonga using The New Zealand Curriculum. It focuses on strategies that can support your school to accelerate learner progress with meaningful connection to whānau and communities.

You can find the leadership guidance on Tāhūrangi at:

Accelerating progress – Leadership guidance – Tāhūrangi

The next two parts will focus on literacy and mathematics for Years 0 to 6 and Years 7 to 8 teachers | Kaiako. These will be available by Term 2 and Term 3 respectively.

New Rangaranga Reo ā-Tā and Pāngarau resources sent to kura

Resources that support the teaching and learning of Rangaranga Reo ā-Tā and Pāngarau, based on the science of learning, have been sent to kura and schools using Te Marautanga o Aotearoa at Years 0 to 8. These have been created specifically for those learning through te reo Māori and are aligned to the newly developed Te Reo Rangatira and Pāngarau wāhanga ako. They will also be available digitally on Tāhūrangi from 10 February.

More information will be available on Tāhūrangi later today:

Home page – Tāhūrangi

Phonics checks and Hihira Weteoro ready for use

For the first time, tools to check how children and mokopuna are progressing in learning how to read are available for all teachers and kaiako.

The phonics checks in English and Hihira Weteoro – a bespoke set of checks created for those learning through te reo Māori – were successfully trialled at the end of 2024. Both support structured approaches to learning are aligned to the updated national curriculum and can be carried out on paper or digitally.

Everything you need to understand and use the checks is available at:

Phonics checks – school guidance – Tāhūrangi
Hihira Weteoro – guidance for kaiako – Tāhūrangi

New implementation supports hub  

We have established a hub to support you to implement the national curriculum. 
Here, you’ll find a list of supports available, our change story and a kete of all our previous news and updates. Access the hub at:

Implementation supports – Tāhūrangi

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study: Field trial

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) monitors trends in middle primary students’ reading comprehension achievement. New Zealand has participated in the study since it began in 2001 and it is one of our key measures of primary literacy achievement. Invitations to participate in the field trial (in March) were sent to selected schools in December last year.

Reminders will be sent to those we have not yet heard from on 10 February. If you have not yet responded, email  [email protected] or call 0800 470 008 as soon as possible.

Thank you to those schools that have already agreed to take part. We will be in touch with your nominated contact person from mid-February.

For more information, visit:

PIRLS 2026 – Education Counts

Lifting attendance

Lifting attendance is a shared responsibility. Up-to-date information, including resources to support you when engaging with parents about attendance is available from our website. This includes the updated Stepped Attendance Response (STAR). Supporting resources for you to embed STAR into practice will be available in the next bulletin.

Increasing school attendance – Ministry of Education
Stepped attendance response – STAR – Ministry of Education

The Education Review Office has also published a guide for parents and whānau.

Attendance – Getting back to school: A guide for parents and whānau – Education Review Office

ENROL update

Start-of-year reminders

Please check that the appropriate staff members at your school have the correct level of access to the ENROL system so enrolments, withdrawals and tasks can be completed by your school. This access can be granted by your school’s delegated authoriser via:

Education Sector Logon – Ministry of Education

Note that training is required to be completed before full access to ENROL is granted.  
Access should be removed promptly for any staff members who have left.

Update to ENROL system

A system update to ENROL is scheduled for 12 February and a change will be made to how the system manages student withdrawals with the leave reason of ‘continuous absence.’ From 12 February:

• any student withdrawn under this category will need a non-enrolment notification (NEN) submitted at the time of withdrawal. 
• If the withdrawal is completed via your Student Management System (SMS) or the NEN is not submitted, a task will be generated in ENROL the following day, prompting you to submit the NEN as soon as possible.

This change is so that students withdrawn after 20 consecutive days of absence are immediately reported to us and to avoid any further delay waiting for NEN tasks to be generated. This will allow for faster referral to attendance service providers and support for the student. We will contact your ENROL contact with further details when updates are live.

Health, safety and wellbeing

Minimising physical restraint – updated rules and new resources

In December 2024 the physical restraint rules were updated with key changes:

• From 7 February 2025, school employers need to get all new, beginning, and overseas teachers to complete the compulsory online module ‘physical restraint – understanding the rules and guidelines’, within 10 weeks of starting at the school. 
• Removal of the option to email physical restraint incident reports to us as notifications should be sent through the online incident reporting system (rule 11). 
• The sponsor of a charter school has been added to the rules’ definition of an employer.

The ‘Aramai He Tētēkura Minimising Physical Restraint’ learning resource supports rule 12b with four modules for kaiako | teachers to recognise and respond to student | ākonga distress in mana-enhancing ways.

The updated guidelines and further information are available at:

Minimising physical restraint in schools – Ministry of Education

Free meningococcal vaccines for eligible rangatahi

Meningococcal disease (meningitis) is a serious and potentially fatal illness. The best protection for rangatahi entering close-living situations (like boarding schools and halls of residences) is to be fully immunised. The meningococcal vaccines are free for eligible rangatahi for up to three months before they move into their facility and during their first year in close living situations. 

For more information see here: 

Meningococcal vaccines – Te Whatu Ora
Home – Meningitis Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand
Be protected against meningococcal disease – HealthEd

Staff can encourage whānau to receive their immunisations from community health providers, including many pharmacies. To find a suitable immunisation site, visit:

Book a vaccine – Te Whatu Ora

If you would like a copy of a meningococcal disease poster or related resources, email [email protected].

Workforce and resourcing

Resourcing information

Beginning teacher time allowances

Applications for 2025 beginning teacher time allowances are being processed. Applications for teachers in their first teaching position since becoming provisionally registered cannot be processed until the teacher has received their first pay at your school. We will start processing these applications from tomorrow when the pay data becomes available.

Because of the large volume of applications received, do allow some time for processing.  You will receive an email notification from Pourato once your application has been processed. All applications will be backdated as per the teacher's employment details.
You can find more information about the eligibility criteria on our website:

Beginning, overseas and retrained teacher allowances – Ministry of Education

End of the banking staffing year

The 2024 banking staffing year has closed and funding code changes will no longer be accepted.

The balancing period runs from pay period 23 to pay period 26 (22 January to 18 March 2025) and helps you under or overuse your banking staffing to achieve a nil balance.

For advice, contact your school financial advisor. Further information can be found at:

Managing staffing usage (banking staffing) – Ministry of Education

Governance, planning and infrastructure

Planning and reporting reminder 2025

For 2025, you do not need to develop a new strategic plan; however, your board can amend your current strategic plan.

However, you will need to develop:

• an annual implementation plan for the 2025 year, required to be published on your school website by 31 March. This does not need to be submitted to us. 
  Regulation 8 of the Education (School Planning and Reporting) Regulations 2023
• an annual report on the 2024 school year, required to be submitted to us by 31 May and published on your school website. 
  S134(1)(b), s136 and s137(1) of the Education and Training Act 2020

We recommend that your implementation planning includes a focus on the two core priorities of increasing student attendance and achievement alongside (or as part of) targets for meeting your current strategic goals.

This could look like setting targets relating to:

• actions you are taking to implement/prepare to implement curricula, assessment and aromatawai changes (where relevant, this could include establishing baseline information for where your students are at in relation to new curricula being implemented in 2025)
• implementing attendance action plan priorities and related actions to lift attendance.

For support, contact your local Te Mahau office:

Regional offices – Ministry of Education