What boards must do#

Under the Education and Training Act 2020 and the Education (School Planning and Reporting) Regulations 2023 a new planning and reporting framework is in place.

Education (School Planning and Reporting) Regulations 2023 – New Zealand Legislation

Te Whakangārahu Ngātahi requires your board to:

• consult your community and develop a 3-year strategic plan outlining how the board will meet its primary objectives, as outlined in Section 127 of the Education and Training Act 2020
• create an annual implementation plan that sets annual targets and actions for working towards strategic goals
• create an annual report that details the school’s progress and finances.

Section 127 of the Education and Training Act 2020 – New Zealand Legislation

Your board’s first strategic plan will be for a period of 2 years (1 January 2024 to 31 December 2025) to align with board triennial elections. From 2026, plans will be for 3 years.

Timeline for 2025#

Your board needs to complete the following in 2025:

• 31 March – Publish your annual implementation plan for the current school year. Send your annual financial statements to your auditor.
• 31 May – Submit your annual report to the Ministry. Publish your annual report online as soon as practicable following this.

Priorities for 2025#

You do not need to develop a new strategic plan for 2025, but your board can amend your current strategic plan if you wish.

If you don’t have a current strategic goal for meeting the Government priorities for Education, it is strongly recommended you add targets for these priorities in your annual implementation plan for 2025. 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.
• Relating to actions you are taking to lift attendance and reduce absence.

Submitting your documents to us#

Up until 30 April 2025#

Submit your planning and reporting documents to us using the Secure Data Portal. You are not required to submit your annual implementation plan.

Secure Data Portal – Applications and Online Systems

Effective from 1 May 2025#

Submit your planning and reporting documents to us using the School Planning and Reporting Application. Guidance is available within the application.

School Planning and Reporting Application Login – Ministry of Education 

The School Planning and Reporting Application uses your Education Sector Logon (ESL). You will need to request access to the School Planning and Reporting Application by contacting your school’s ESL Delegated Authoriser.

Delegated Authorisers will need to set up the School Planning and Reporting role for users as shown below.

Detailed guidance for Delegated Authorisers on how to set up new roles for users is available online.

ESL: Support for Online Delegated Authorisers - Ministry of Education

Technical Support for ESL and the School Planning and Reporting Application is available from the Education Service Desk.

Freephone (NZ only): 0800 422 599 

Publishing your documents online#

You must publish all planning and reporting documents on a website so parents, whānau and communities can access them.

If your school or kura does not have its own website, we can host your documents on our Education Counts website. Send a board-approved request to us.

Email: [email protected]

It is the school board’s responsibility to ensure your planning and reporting documents do not contain any information that may breach an individual’s privacy before you publish them.

Your responsibilities – Office of the Privacy Commissioner

Resources for implementing the framework#

Our toolkit supports your board and principal to implement Te Whakangārahu Ngātahi | Planning Together.

The toolkit sets out the requirements of your planning and reporting documents.

This toolkit includes worksheets that schools may use during the planning process.

Information for Māori-medium settings#

We have designed an information kit for boards, tumuaki | principals and staff in Māori-medium settings and for specified kura boards. It has information about the new requirements, a suggested process and example templates.

The information kit is different from the English-medium toolkit. It includes:

• a definition of a specified kura board and the different requirements for their plans
• example templates for how a tumuaki could report to their board.

Templates#

You can use these optional templates to create your strategic plan, annual implementation plan and annual report. You can adapt them to suit your school, kura and community.

Community planning pack#

This pack provides information about the planning and reporting process for your community. It explains the role the community has in the process.

Contact us#

Your regional office can help with developing your planning and reporting documents.

Regional offices

Assistance is also available from Te Whakarōputanga Kaitiaki Kura o Aotearoa (formerly New Zealand School Trustees Association):

Advice and support – Te Whakarōputanga

Freephone (NZ only): 0800 782 435