Passage of Education (Update) Amendment Bill into Law

The Education (Update) Amendment Bill passed its third reading in Parliament on 11 May 2017. The Private Schools Conditional Integration Act 1975 is now subsumed into this Act as Part 33. The Ministry of Education and APIS will work to provide appropriate updating of schools’ Integration Agreements regarding points where clause numbers in the PSCI Act are referred to, and where new numbering in Part 33 will take over. It is expected that this work will take a little while. Meantime, APIS is working with the Ministry of Education on procedures that will arise from S426 and S457 of Part 33. More information will be provided as the work progresses.

Reminder to Board of Trustees and Proprietors – Information from MOE

For Boards of Trustees and Proprietors

School payment requests may vary from school to school but there is no charge for education at a state integrated school for domestic students aged 5 – 19 years, all requests for payment should indicate clearly that they are a donation and accordingly are voluntary in nature. Proprietors of integrated schools may charge attendance dues, which are enforceable, but the level of these must not be greater than the amount approved by the Minister of Education and published in the New Zealand Gazette. There can be no interest charged for unpaid attendance dues. Purchases of goods and/or services – unless parents agree to purchase goods and services they will not be liable for payment.

It is improper for Boards of Trustees to request a donation towards the cost of out-of-zone enrollment applications and in some cases it is unlawful to do so. See http://oag.govt.nz/2017schools-out-of-zone

A Recent Publication from ERO

Food, Nutrition and Physical Activity in NZ Schools and Early Learning Services, April 2017. This report gives examples of effective practice for supporting children and young people’s learning about food, nutrition and physical activity. The report is available online only.

 

Draft Suicide Prevention Strategy

The Ministry of Health has released its draft Suicide Prevention Strategy for public consultation until Monday 12 June 2017. For further details and information on submissions see http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/strategy-prevent-suicide-new-zealanddraft-public-consultation

Information for Proprietors and Principals on Property Issues

APIS has recently sent out an email by MailChimp reminding Proprietors of the process for getting their school(s) designated when their local authority updates its strategic plan. The same email provided information from MOE property forums, including a note on reducing arson, design standards and the MOE emergency response checklist. Please contact Jane O’Connell, jane@nzceo.org.nz if you need to be sent this email.