Network glossary

Links to key resources for schools including funding, communities of learning, enrolment schemes and more.

Level of compliance Main audience Other

Inform

Information

  • Boards
  • Proprietors
  • Administrators
  • Principals and tumuaki
  • School staff

For descriptions of schools and structures:

Types of schools and year levels

For descriptions of options to manage changes in growth in schools:

Changes to schools and the network

For definitions of words and phrases relating to Ka Hikitia:

Glossary of terms

5YA

The 5-year (Property) agreement provides a Board of Trustees with a capital funding budget to use over a 5-year period as part of the 10YPP process. The funding can only be used to upgrade, modernise or replace existing property, or for fencing or landscaping.

5-year agreement (5YA) funding

10YPP

All state schools must have a 10YPP which sets out a schedule of work over a 10 year period. It will also ensure school property is well maintained to an acceptable standard and with the correct space.

10-year property plan

Attendance dues

Attendance dues proprietors of state integrated schools can charge for students to attend the school if the integration agreement allows for it. This is a compulsory fee. The maximum level of attendance dues charged is approved by us. A proprietor uses this funding to pay for its debts in relation to the integrated property at the school.

About enrolment schemes

Ballot

A school with an enrolment scheme might receive more enrolment applications for out-of-zone places than it has available. The process to select and accept out-of-zone enrolments can be by ballot which involves random selection under supervision and acceptance on the basis that the application meets certain criteria.

Enrolment schemes – Pre-enrolment processes

Boards of schools and kura

The Crown entity responsible for governing and managing the school, where a number of members can be elected by the parent community, plus school staff members, and in the case of schools with students above Year 9, the students. All state, state integrated, Kura Kaupapa Māori and designated character schools in Aotearoa New Zealand have a Board of schools and kura.

Boards of schools and kura

Catchment

The area from which a school draws its students.

Cluster

A group of schools.

Commissioner

Appointed when a Board of Trustees resigns or is unable to function as a Board, or is removed by the Minister. The commissioner takes over the role of the Board and the Board is dissolved.

Community of Learning or Kāhui Ako

A group of local schools, early learning services, and parents, families, whānau, iwi and other groups in a particular area who work together to help all children and young people in the Kāhui Ako achieve their full potential throughout their learning pathway.

It could also include early learning services and tertiary providers.

Communities of Learning or Kāhui Ako

Consultation1

A formal process that promotes inclusion of communities and the public in decision-making by extending a genuine invitation to anyone who might be impacted by a proposed change to provide their feedback on what’s proposed, and be assured that their feedback will be heard and considered before an outcome is determined.

The obligation to consult in certain situations is derived from express statutory provisions under the Education and Training Act 2020. The Act requires that the Minister consult with a Board or Boards of Trustees before most changes proposed for a school in the network of schools can occur. The Minister may also have to consult a proprietor in some circumstances.

Where formal consultation is a legislative requirement for Boards of Trustees to undertake, we support them in the undertaking of their responsibilities.

Statutory consultations about schools

Community conversations

Options for managing changes in growth

Continuing board

When schools merge, one school’s Board of Trustees is the Continuing Board and they work with the Board(s) of the merging school(s) to implement the merger. Sometimes the Continuing Board’s members are those of the school’s original Board but sometimes the Minister decides to appoint a Continuing Board, which includes representatives from all schools involved in the merger.

Continuing site

When schools merge, usually one school site remains in operation and the sites of the other school(s) involved (which are no longer required) are disposed of in accordance with the requirements of the Public Works Act2. The continuing site (where the merged school will be located) doesn’t have to be the same site as where the continuing school was located before the merger.

Conveyance allowance

School transport services are provided for children and young people to get to and from school in some areas. Where school transport services aren’t provided, students might be eligible for a conveyance allowance, which is a payment made to parents and caregivers to support the cost of student travel to and from school.

School transport

Donations

Funds gifted to a Board of Trustees (and/or proprietor in the case of a state integrated school), which are usually requested to support an event or item that the Board or proprietor aspires to host or purchase.

Enrolling at school and enrolment schemes

Employment agreement

The written agreements by which teaching and support staff are employed at a school and that contain the terms and conditions of their employment.

Engagement

The practice of actively bringing community or public voices into conversations to help strengthen relationships and inform decisions that might interest or affect them. Early engagement enables good governance, and informed decision-making through the more formal process of consultation, by promoting shared responsibilities for exchanging information and acknowledging each other’s positions. Engagement also supports an open approach to managing risk by providing a strong foundation for understanding decisions and building trust in the decision-making process.
There are different types of engagement, and differences between engagement and consultation processes. In statutory consultations, the government retains the final decision-making role.

Enrolment scheme

A tool for Boards of Trustees to manage the risk of overcrowding at their schools.

Enrolling at school and enrolment schemes

Establishment Board of Trustees (EBOT)

Appointed to prepare a new school for opening and usually in place until the school community is ready to hold an election to elect members to its Board of Trustees.

Facilitator

Ministry-funded and where required can assist Boards of Trustees with their consultation processes.

A governance facilitator is appointed to support an Establishment Board of Trustees (EBOT) prepare a new school for opening, with experience in how a Board of Trustees operates and the opening of a new school. They might also be appointed to support a Continuing Board as part of a school merger.

Home zone

A geographical boundary defined around a school as part of an enrolment scheme, which is described in such a way that any given address is either inside or outside the zone. Any student who lives at an address inside the zone has an absolute entitlement to attend the school.

Enrolment schemes – Home zones

Implementation reference group

When significant changes are made to the network it’s important they’re implemented well, and an implementation reference group is appointed to help with this.

Integration agreement

The agreement entered into by the proprietor and the Minister of Education under which provision is made for integrating a private school into the state system as a state integrated school, or when establishing a new state integrated school.

Integrating schools

Integration agreements for state-integrated schools

Intensive Wraparound Service (IWS)

An IWS is a support arrangement aimed to help a student with a tailored comprehensive plan to support the student at school, at home, and in the community.

Intensive Wraparound Service (IWS)

Limited Statutory Manager (LSM)

When we determine that a Board of Trustees is having difficulties, we might appoint an LSM to work with the Board, who takes over responsibility for specific aspects of the Board’s functions, such as their financial powers.

‘Local’ and ‘reasonably convenient’3

Section 10 of the Education and Training Act 2020 defines a ‘reasonably convenient school’ as meaning a state school that a reasonable person living in the area in which the school is situated would judge to be reasonably convenient for a particular student, taking into account such factors as the age of the student, the distance to be travelled, the time likely to be spent in travel, the reasonably available modes of travel, common public transport routes, and relevant traffic hazards. The meaning may vary as between different schools depending on such matters as—

(a) whether the school is a single sex or co-educational school;

(b) whether the school is an ordinary State school, a Kura Kaupapa Maori, a designated character school, a State integrated school, or a specialist school;

(c) whether the school is a primary, intermediate, secondary, composite, or area school.

The terms ‘reasonably convenient’ and ‘local’, may have similar interpretations in a particular area, but cannot be used interchangeably.

Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS)

Part of the government’s Learning Support package to provide specialist services for students with high and very high learning needs.

Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS)

Pedagogy

The theory and practice of education and teaching.

Pre-enrolment

The period in which applications for enrolment are invited and processed by a school that has an enrolment scheme.

Project manager

When there are several changes proposed for a part of the network of schools, a project manager is appointed to work with a change manager, and the appointment is funded by us and coordinated through our relevant Ministry regional office.

Property Occupancy Document (POD)

A legally binding agreement between us as landlord and Board of Trustees as tenant, which lays out the terms and conditions of the Board’s occupancy of the school site and notifies the Board of its responsibilities for managing its school property.

Proprietor

Each state integrated school has a proprietor who owns or leases the school’s land and buildings, and is also responsible for maintaining the school’s special character. The integration agreement between the proprietor and the Crown details responsibilities in relation to how the school will operate.

‘Reasonably convenient’4 and ‘local’

See 'local' and 'reasonably convenient'.

Reference group

In a network reorganisation affecting a wide area, a group of representatives from local schools and sector organisations is appointed to support the change process. An implementation reference group is also appointed to support the changes and both groups may include the same people, as required.

Roll

The number of students enrolled at a school. Some schools (such as state integrated or designated character schools) have a maximum roll, which is the maximum number of students that can be enrolled. For planning purposes, each year schools provide the Ministry with a prediction of their likely roll for the following year.

School transport zone

An area around a school within which school transport services are operated on behalf of the school.

Getting to school

Specialist education agreement

Allows students to enrol in a specialist school or regional health school, or enrol outside the usual age. Under the Education and Training Act 2020, section 37 provides for special education (learning support) services (formerly section 9 of the Education Act 1989).5

Entering into a specialist education agreement

Specialised School Transport Assistance (SESTA)

SESTA is available for students requiring learning support who might also have difficulties getting to and from their closest school.

Specialised School Transport Assistance (SESTA)

Special character

The religion, philosophy or set of values of a state integrated school, as defined in a state integrated school’s integration agreement.

Staffing entitlement

The number of Full Time Teacher Equivalents (FTTEs) that a school roll generates.

Te Aho Matua

The foundation document and driving force for Kura Kaupapa Māori schools (schools designated under section 201 of the Education and Training Act). Presented in te reo Māori, it lays down the principles by which Kura Kaupapa Māori identify as a unified group committed to a unique schooling system which is vital to the education of their tamariki. Te Aho Matua provides policy guidelines on the roles and responsibilities of Boards of Trustees, parents and teachers.6

Territorial authority

The second tier of local government in Aotearoa New Zealand below regional councils, which the Local Government Act 2002 defines as a city council or district council.7

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