He Pitopito KōreroSchool Leaders Bulletin

Attendance, achievement and assessment

Attendance: Health guidance available

Health guidance published by Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora is available to help you to decide if a student is well enough to attend school, including those students experiencing anxiety.

The guidance supports discussions with parents and caregivers about absence, the importance of minimising disruptions to learning, and positive re-entry to learning after sickness.

More information is available here:

Student attendance: A guide for parents and caregivers – Ministry of Education

Student attendance: Guide for schools and kura – Ministry of Education

Consultation on draft English Learning Area for Years 0 to 6 open

From 26 August to 20 September, the education sector is encouraged to have a say on the updated draft English learning area for Years 0 to 6.

So far, teachers, subject matter experts, school leaders and curriculum design experts have contributed to this work. It has been shared with sector representative groups for initial feedback and independently reviewed by the Education Review Office (ERO), which has drawn on its leadership partners from schools and kura around the country as well as international experts.

The wider education sector now has an opportunity to share their insights on the work done to date and help to shape and refine the final versions due to be presented as online resources in Term 4.

The draft content for the English learning area for Years 0 to 6 and a survey are available here: 
Draft English curriculum: Open for consultation – Tāhūrangi | New Zealand Curriculum

September roll return

This roll return count date for state and state-integrated schools with students in Year 9 and above is 2 September. Please submit completed returns no later than 9 September, as they are used for funding purposes

You can send the Ministry of Education file from your student management system (SMS) and if you are not using an SMS, you can complete the excel template provided on the Education Counts website: 

School roll return forms (September 2024) – Education Counts

If using the excel template, the principal must complete the declaration tab to confirm they have checked the roll return for audit purposes. Please complete this prior to submission to avoid your file being returned.

If you have any questions about your September roll return process, email [email protected]. 

Health, safety and wellbeing

Checking measles immunity

Aotearoa is at very high risk of a measles outbreak and not enough of us are immune.

To be immune, you must have had measles before OR at least two doses of a measles vaccine after the age of 12 months.  

Local childhood immunisation rates are declining. Low immunity and the close contact nature of education settings means one infected person could quickly expose and spread measles to many others, starting an outbreak that could be hard to control.  

People can be infectious before they develop measles symptoms and know they’re sick. Being immune is important for everyone’s safety – it’s the only way to make sure you won’t get or spread measles, even if you’ve been exposed.  

It’s a good idea for all staff to check their immunity to measles. See information on checking immunity here:

Measles immunity – Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora
My Health Record – Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora

If you aren’t immune, or you’re not sure, two doses of the measles mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is your best protection. You can book a vaccine online:

Home – Book my vaccine

For suspected or confirmed measles cases at your facility, contact your local public health service urgently.
 

Multilingual videos to raise awareness about measles and MMR vaccine

The Ministry for Ethnic Communities, with the support of Te Whatu Ora, has released a series of three animated videos to explain what measles is, how to protect yourself from the disease and where you can access reliable health information.

The videos are translated and voiced over into 20 different languages, including:

•   Chinese (simplified) with voiceover in Mandarin
•    Arabic
•   Spanish.

Check out the videos at:

Health videos for ethnic communities – Ministry for Ethnic Communities

Feel free to share these resources widely with your communities.
 

Workforce and resourcing

Applications for Cohort 2 PLD for structured approaches to literacy and te reo matatini

A reminder that applications for Cohort 2 opened on 26 August. Applications will close on 13 September.

If approved for this PLD, you will receive an application reference number (ARN) that you can use to enrol with an approved provider.

For more information on how to apply, the list of approved PLD providers, and deadlines for enrolment, visit:

PLD for structured literacy and te reo matatini approaches – Professional Learning and Development
 

Applications are open for the expanded School Onsite Training Programme

In 2025, the School Onsite Training Programme (SOTP) will be delivered through a combination of the current providers, as well as new ITE (initial teacher education) providers, schools and kura providing an increased number of places.  

This is an opportunity for schools to get involved in training new teachers and supporting them to make sure they are classroom ready.

Applications close 5 September. Applications in 2025 are open to both primary and secondary schools. Previously SOTP has only been available for secondary schools.

If you are a school or kura who wants to be involved but doesn’t currently have a relationship with an ITE provider, information on how we can support you can be found here:

Applying for a School Onsite Training Programme – Education Workforce
 

Implementation guide for the Therapists’ Pay Equity Claim Settlement

The implementation guide for the Therapists’ Pay Equity Claim Settlement has been published. This guide includes:

•    need-to-know information about the benefits employees will receive from the settlement 
•    the next steps ahead of the changes to the new pay equity pay rates in October 
•    the key actions you need to take to enable you to successfully implement the changes resulting from the claim settlement.

You can find a copy of the implementation guide here:

Therapists’ Pay Equity Claim – Ministry of Education

Updated individual employment agreements

We have updated the individual employment agreements (IEA) for therapists employed in schools to include the changes resulting from the claim settlement. You will need to use the updated IEA for new employees, where required. The updated IEAs are available at:  
Primary Teachers’ Individual Employment Agreement (updated 30 May) 
Kaiārahi i te Reo and Therapists’ Individual Employment Agreement (updated 18 March)

Current non-union employees do not need to sign the new IEA to be covered by the claim settlement because the new pay rates are automatically applied.  

Any patai, contact [email protected] or phone 0800 114 117 (option 2). 
 

Sector consultation on the teachers’ pay equity claim

All affected employees of the teachers’ pay equity claim will shortly receive information from NZEI Te Riu Roa or PPTA Te Wehengarua (PPTA) on the upcoming consultation of the claim’s teacher interview findings.

Affected employees will be invited to participate in the consultation via an online survey. Participation is voluntary, and the consultation will run from 9 September to 18 October.

NZEI Te Riu Roa and PPTA are responsible for communicating with affected employees.

More information will be available from 9 September on the Education Workforce homepage:

Home – Education Workforce

Changes to banking staffing reimbursement – Further update

On 30 August all schools | kura will receive a letter through the SDP indicating their eligibility to receive a banking staffing reimbursement following completion of the 2024 staffing year.

If you have any questions or concerns about banked staffing, contact the channels team on 04 463 8383 or [email protected], or contact your Ministry school finance advisor.

School finance contacts – Ministry of Education

Staffing and funding calculator

The staffing and funding calculator has been updated for 2025. This tool can be used to provide an estimate of your entitlement staffing and funding figures for the 2025 year based on predicted roll numbers.

Funding calculators – Ministry of Education

Using the 2024 staffing and funding calculator will help you to understand whether a roll increase generates a staffing increase for the current year. It’s a good idea to use this before submitting a staffing roll increase application.

More information on staffing roll increases is available at:

Staffing for roll growth – Ministry of Education

Pourato update

If you have access to ‘ORS staffing’, you can now export student details to an Excel document from the tab.

For more information, visit:  

Pourato – Applications and Online Systems 
 

Complex Educational Needs study award

We fund several study awards for teachers | kaiako to undertake the post-graduate specialist teaching programme: Complex Educational Needs through Massey University.

This programme is suitable for teachers | kaiako who have an interest in supporting students | ākonga with complex needs. More information, including eligibility and application details, is available here:

Complex Educational Needs study award – Ministry of Education

Governance, planning and infrastructure

Updated GETS Procurement Officer Guide

Please advise your staff or property project managers who facilitate school property procurement that we have an updated Government Electronic Tender Service (GETS) Procurement Officer Guide here:

GETS Procurement Officer Guide – Ministry of Education

It provides procurement officers with guidance on how to properly manage school property tenders on GETS.

Reminder: Infrastructure sector forum 28 August

This is an opportunity for school representatives and us to share information on school infrastructure – property, transport, ICT and technology.

Infrastructure sector forum, 28 August 4–5pm – Microsoft Teams