School Opening Hours Regulations

Regulations for When State Schools Must Be Open

On 1 January 2023, the new Education (When State Schools Must Be Open) Regulations 2022(external link) will come into force.  These Regulations will replace Schedule 21 of the Education and Training Act 2020.  The Regulations are intended to be in place for 2023 while a law change is sought.

Schedule 21 sets out when state school must be open.  It gives powers to the Minister of Education to set the length of the school year (minimum half-days) and terms, and to allow some exceptions. The full schedule was to be transferred into new regulations, as it will be repealed automatically on 1 January 2023.

During drafting of the regulations, a technical legal issue was identified which prevents the regulations from giving the Minister powers to set opening hours or make exceptions.

The Government intends to seek an amendment to the Education and Training Act in 2023 to address this technical issue. While this law change is sought, the Regulations are needed to set out minimum requirements for school opening hours after Schedule 21 is repealed. 

The Regulations will include the terms and minimum half-days that are already published for 2023 and 2024, which all State schools must follow.

While schools that are already allowed to open on a weekend or alternative terms can continue to do so in 2023, the Regulations do not include powers for the Minister to approve any additional schools to operate on the weekends or alternative terms. This is because historically schools and kura have been approved on a case-by-case basis to open on a weekend for a distinct purpose or at the time of State Integration. The two kura that operate alternative terms aligned to their Maramataka have been pilots and it is not operationally feasible in the short-term for the Ministry of Education to manage new schools and kura wanting to shift to alternative terms in 2023.

These Regulations will be amended after the Education and Training Act is changed to fix the technical legal issue.

Last reviewed: 20 February 2023 Has this been useful? Give us your feedback