Changes to schools and the network: Options for managing changes in growth

Find here a list of changes that may be made to manage growth in your school.

Level of compliance Main audience Other

Inform

  • Boards
  • Proprietors
  • Administrators
  • Principals and tumuaki

Boards must be aware of the rules, legislation and Ministry requirements for the below options if they need to manage changes in growth by taking one of these actions for their school. Note that some of the options are directed by the Minister and/or Ministry, and some are voluntary.  

Enrolment schemes

Goal

Avoid overcrowding, or the potential for overcrowding without excluding local students.

Action

Establishing an enrolment scheme.

About enrolment schemes 

Legislation

Education and Training Act 2020

Sections 71-75: Purpose and principles, when schemes are required, how they work, and additional entitlement to enrol in certain circumstances.

Schedule 20: How schemes are developed and operated, what they contain, and amendments.

Change of classification

Details

‘Classification’ refers to whether a school is a primary, secondary, intermediate or composite school. A change of classification is when a school changes from one of these to another.

Action

A school (eg: primary) changes classification (eg: composite). Other examples include:

  • a secondary school becomes primary
  • a composite school becomes intermediate or secondary.

Legislation

Education and Training Act 2020

Section 189: Defines the classification of schools.

Section 198: Changes of classification. 

Changes to year levels

Details

A school changes the year levels within its class of school.

Action

  • Recapitation - increasing the year levels of a primary school from Year 1-6 to Year 1-8.
  • Decapitation - reducing the year levels of a primary school from Year 1-8 to Year 1-6.
  • A composite school changes its range of class levels (eg. from Year 1-10 to Year 1-13).
  • A contributing primary school that has a bilingual unit can apply to retain Year 7 and 8 students in the bilingual unit.

Legislation

Education and Training Act 2020

Section 194:

  • Recapitation - increasing the year levels of a primary school from Year 1-6 to Year 1-8.
  • Decapitation - reducing the year levels of a primary school from Year 1-8 to Year 1-6.

Section 195: A composite school changes its range of class levels (eg. from Year 1-10 to Year 1-13).

Section 194(4): A contributing primary school that has a bilingual unit can apply to retain Year 7 and 8 students in the bilingual unit.

Changes to designation

Details

State schools (that are not state integrated) may be ‘ordinary’ or designated as Kura Kaupapa Māori, or designated character schools. A change of designation is when the Minister changes a school from one of these to another.

Action

  • A state school becomes a Kura Kaupapa Māori school or a designated character school.
  • A designated character school becomes a state school or a Kura Kaupapa Māori school.
  • A Kura Kaupapa Māori school becomes a state school or a designated character school.

Legislation

Education and Training Act 2020

Section 200: The Minister may re-designate or remove designation from a school.

Gender-based changes

Details

A school changes from being a boys’, girls’ or co-educational to another of these.

Action

  • A boys’ school becomes a girls’ school or co-educational school.
  • A girls’ school becomes a boys’ school or co-educational school.
  • A co-educational school becomes a boys’ school or girls’ school.

Legislation

Education and Training Act 2020 – Section 191

Changes to rolls in state-integrated schools

Details

When a school is integrated into the state system, it has an integration agreement which includes:

  • a stated maximum roll number and the number or percentage of non-preference students who may be enrolled. Non-preference students are included as part of the maximum roll
  • the number of positions at the school that must be filled by individuals who actively support the school’s special character (these are called ‘tagged positions’)
  • the details of the school site and buildings
  • the school’s special character
  • the details of the school’s proprietor.

These aspects can be changed if agreed between the proprietor and the Minister of Education.

Action

  • Max roll increase – a board (or proprietor) seeks to increase its maximum roll.
  • Max roll decrease – a board (or proprietor) seeks to reduce its maximum roll.
  • There can also be changes to the school’s location, its property on its current site (for example, if more classrooms are added when a maximum roll increase is approved).
  • A state-integrated school can seek to have its special character amended or updated (for example, to change its proprietor).

Legislation

Education and Training Act 2020

Schedule 6, clause 7(3): Allows for the terms of an integration agreement to be varied by a supplementary agreement.

Integration agreements for state-integrated schools

Cancellation of a state-integrated school’s integration agreement

Details

The Minister, the proprietor, or both, can agree to begin a consultation process that could result in the integration agreement being cancelled. Once the integration agreement is cancelled the school may become a private school and the proprietor can choose to close it.

Action

Cancellation of a state integrated school’s integration agreement.

Legislation

Education and Training Act 2020 – Schedule 6, clauses 11-14.

Integration agreements for state-integrated schools

Combined board

Details

A board can be the board of two or more schools. A combined board might be a response if a small school is having difficulty attracting or retaining suitable staff or board members.

Legislation

Education and Training Act 2020

Schedule 22, clauses 7-8: Allows for the Minister to create a single (or ‘combined’) board from a number of schools or institutions.

Schedule 22, clauses 10-11: Allows for the Minister to split Boards of Trustees of schools or institutions that were previously combined, and establish new, separate Boards of Trustees.

Principal of more than one school

Details

A combined board can appoint one principal to lead more than one school. Having one principal for two or more schools might also be a response if a small school is having difficulty attracting or retaining suitable people for the role. This option is best suited when the schools are located close to each other.

Action

Principal appointed to lead more than one school.

Legislation

Education and Training Act 2020 - Section 129

Special programmes

Details

Special programmes take a different approach to learning from the rest of the school in which they are being offered. They must be approved by the Ministry, and:

  • provide
    • special education; or
    • Māori language immersion classes; or
    • any other type of specialised education to overcome educational disadvantage; or
  • be a programme
    • that takes a significantly different approach to address particular student needs; and
    • that would not be viable unless it could draw from a catchment area beyond a school’s home zone; and
    • to which entry is determined by an organisation or process independent of the school.

A school with an enrolment scheme and an approved special programme can specify criteria for how enrolments will be accepted for the programme.

A school’s special programme status means out-of-zone students who meet the criteria for enrolling on a special programme have first priority above all other out-of-zone enrolment applications where the school has out-of-zone places available.

Action

  • Establish a special programme – implementing a special programme through application to the Secretary for Education.
  • Disestablish a special programme – removing a special programme that is no longer viable.

Legislation

Education and Training Act 2020

Section 10: Defines special programmes and sets out the requirements for approval by the Secretary for Education.

Section 73: Determines special programmes must be part of an enrolment scheme.

Schedule 20, clause 2(1)(a): Special programmes as first priority acceptance criteria in offering places to out-of-zone enrolments.

Learning support satellite units

Details

Day special schools and residential special schools might have satellite units. A satellite unit is a special education facility within a mainstream (host) school. Students are enrolled at the day special or residential special school but are educated in the satellite units at the host school site. Students can attend classes run by the host school or day special school or residential special school, a new school might establish a satellite unit, or a satellite unit might take place in an existing school.

Action

Special school satellite units can be established at primary, secondary, intermediate and composite schools.

Legislation

Education and Training Act 2020

Section 117: Covers satelliting arrangements where the special school staff are providing education.

Education (School Boards Regulations) 2020

Covers satelliting arrangements whereby students enrolled at a specified school are able to receive their tuition from another specified school.

Off-site classes

Details

Boards can seek permission to run classes away from their main campus. There are requirements to be met before students can be approved to learn in an off-site class. Often whānau wanting to establish a kura in their community will begin the process by first seeking permission for an off-site class of a pre-existing kura (called a ‘teina’).

Legislation

Education and Training Act 2020 - Section 117

Establish a new school

Details

The decision to establish a new state school in order to manage growth and increased demand in the network is made by the Minister.

Action

  • Designated character or special school – establishment process may be led by a specific community group of the relevant character.
  • Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa supports the establishment of Kura Kaupapa Māori.

Legislation

Education and Training Act 2020

Section 190: Establishing a new state school.

Sections 190, 201, 204 and 205: Establishing a Kura Kaupapa Māori.

Sections 190, 204 and 205: Establishing a designated character school that is not a kura kaupapa Māori.

Co-locate schools

Details

The decision to co-locate schools on one site can be made by the Minister or the Ministry. Two or more schools continue operating as separate entities but are located on the same site. In most situations the two schools share facilities and may also have shared classes/teachers.

Action

  • 2 separate schools on the same site.
  • Temporary co-location - Sometimes when school buildings are damaged or unable to be used (such as following a civil emergency), neighbouring schools might ‘co-locate’ as a temporary measure – meaning a school that’s still operational offers flexible timetabling so that the damaged school’s pupils can use its site and facilities.

Merge schools

Details

The decision to merge schools is made by the Minister. One or more state schools (‘merging schools’) merge with another school (‘continuing school’) to form a single school. A state-integrated merger occurs when a proprietor requests and the Minister agrees that two of their schools with the same or similar special character merge to form a single school.

Action

  • 2 or more state schools merge to form one school.
  • 2 or more state-integrated schools merge to form one school when they have the same proprietor and similar character.

Legislation

Education and Training Act 2020

Section 206: State school merger decisions by the Minister.

Schedule 6, clause 15: State-integrated school mergers.

Schedule 23, clauses 14-15: Election or appointment of Boards of Trustees of continuing schools, and their alternative constitutions.

Section 207: Restrictions on mergers in certain cases, such as Kura Kaupapa Māori and designated character schools.

Close a school

Details

The decision to close a state school is made by the Minister. When a school is no longer viable (for instance, student numbers have been too low for a long period of time when there are other schools catering for the same range of students nearby, the school has financial issues, the board can’t attract a suitable principal or suitable members for its board) having considered all available options with their community, a board might request that the school be closed.

Action

  • Voluntary: a board requests their school to close.
  • Directed: the Minister of Education decides to initiate a process that could result in a school being closed.

Legislation

Education and Training Act 2020

Section 199: State school closure.

Ministry reviews

Details

We can decide to initiate a process to review schooling in a community. The review allows for the community to consider its future educational needs and put them in place. Often a review is triggered by an oversupply of schools in an area where there are falling rolls. Reviews might result in no changes being made, some minor changes, or changes on a larger scale that impact a wider area (called a reorganisation).

Action

  • A community or group of schools might request a review.
  • There are significant changes to the school-aged population in an area following a natural event like an earthquake, flooding, volcanic eruption or tsunami.

Legislation

Section 32 of the Education and Training Act 2020 outlines the purpose of the schooling system that we are trying to build when reviewing schooling.

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