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School and kura legal responsibilities
WorkSafe legislation requires school boards to manage workplace risks including any potential or actual outbreaks of communicable diseases.
Under Section 77 of the Education and Training Act (2020), principals can preclude a student from school if they strongly suspect the student has a communicable disease. This means they can send the student home, and they will not be allowed to return until the school board has cancelled the preclusion or accepted evidence that the student is well enough to return to school.
Education and Training Act 2020 – New Zealand Legislation
Keep an immunisation register
Primary schools and kura must keep an immunisation register. The public health service can use the register to help manage an outbreak.
Immunisation register requirements at schools and kura
When to contact the National Public Health Service
Some infectious diseases are listed as notifiable to under the Health Act 1956. If the principal strongly suspects the student has one of these illnesses, they must contact the public health service and follow their advice.
This printable chart from the Ministry of Health lists infectious diseases that may occur in New Zealand. It shows at a glance which diseases are notifiable to the public health service.
Infectious diseases: information and exclusion list – HealthEd
Principals should contact public when a student has symptoms and is either:
- a close contact of someone who has the illness, or
- has recently travelled in a region where there is known risk of infection.
Public health contacts – Health New Zealand
What happens when a case is confirmed
Public health officers have powers to manage notifiable infectious diseases on a case-by-case basis. They may advise close contacts of confirmed cases who cannot show immunity to stay at home, including both staff and students.
For vaccine-preventable diseases, public health officers use your school's immunisation register to manage close contacts and advise families of children with no record of immunisation.
For some vaccine-preventable diseases, public health officers can use the immunisation register to preclude students with no record of immunity from attending school during the outbreak. These illnesses are:
- whooping cough
- diphtheria
- measles.
School responsibilities when a principal precludes a student
As well as informing the Medical Officer of Health that a student has been precluded, the principal must also tell:
- the student’s parents (for any student aged under 20)
- the school board.
The board must investigate the matter as soon as is practical. After investigating, the board should either:
- cancel the preclusion or
- confirm that the student should stay precluded until the board has received a certificate from a medical practitioner stating that the student is well enough to be back to school.
Leave and staffing provisions
If staff need to isolate because they have been exposed to a notifiable disease at school, they may be eligible for this leave to be 'disregarded'. This means that if a staff member is asked to isolate, or becomes sick with the notifiable disease, the time off work will not be counted as part of their ordinary sick leave allocation.
Staff who need to isolate because they are unable to be vaccinated for medical reasons can also apply for leave to be disregarded. This is set out in teacher and principal collective agreements.
The principal may also be able to apply for additional funding for relief teachers in some cases.
Additional relief teacher funding
Private schools
Section 77 of the Education and Training Act 2020 does not apply to private schools. This means principals of private schools cannot require students not to attend on the basis of suspecting a communicable disease.
Principals may request that a student or staff member does not attend if they have, or are suspected of having, a communicable disease. If the person doesn’t comply, principals can ask the Medical Officer of Health at their local public health service for support. This could include a direction under the Health Act.
