March School Roll Return

This is the main index page for March School Roll Returns. From here you can access the roll return collection forms, guidelines for completing the roll returns, and code tables relevant to the roll return.

Introduction

The Ministry of Education carries out statistical collections (roll returns) from all schools in New Zealand at 1 March and 1 July each year, in line with the statutory requirements as detailed in the Education Act 1989.

The Ministry uses the data provided through these collection exercises in a number of ways: to fund and staff schools; to support policy analysis, development and decision making; to monitor the outcomes of the New Zealand education system; and for national and international reporting purposes.

The March return data are mainly used for schools' resourcing purposes while the July data are used more for trend analysis as detailed information on age and ethnicity are collected at this time.

The following are the details of the information obtained from the March Rolls Returns:

Theme	Variables
Regular Students	Number by gender, year of schooling, type of school, type of student and nature of attendance (full-time and part-time)
Adult Students	Number by gender, year of schooling, and nature of attendance
International Students	Number by gender, year of schooling, country, and type of student (FFP, Exchange or MFAT)
Alternative Education Students	Number by gender, and year of schooling
Maori Language Learning/Maori-Medium Education	Total number of students and number of Maori students by level of learning, and year of schooling
Students in Special Schools	Number of students by gender, age, year of schooling, type of special education provision, and ethnicity
School Leavers	Secondary leavers by highest attainment, year of schooling, gender, and ethnicity
Boards of Trustees¹	Board Members by gender, ethnicity, position on board and type of member
Staffing Vacancies: Full-time Permanent Teachers	Number of vacancies, number re-advertised, reasons for vacancies, and how position is covered
Staffing Vacancies: Limited Term Appointments	Degree of difficulty in obtaining limited term staff for full and part-time positions and casual relieving
Teaching Staff : Private Schools	Numbers of Full-time, Part-time and FTTE, by gender

Note

Information is only available in summary format

Key Findings

The latest roll information from the March School Roll Return, as well as summaries of previous years, can be found in the school roll summary report. These reports provide a summary of the roll information from the March return, including information on the number of schools, school roll, numbers of foreign fee-paying students and numbers of students involved in Māori Medium Education. Data tables are also available from these linked pages.

The latest school leaver information from the March School Roll Return, as well as summaries of previous years, can be found a the School Leavers data collection page.

Publications

The March School Roll Return data are mainly used for schools' resourcing purposes. However, school leaver attainment data, which is used in a number of analytical publications, are collected as part of the March return. School leaver attainment data can be found in:

the publication Education Statistics of New Zealand
the publication School Roll Summary Reports
the publication State of Education in New Zealand
the indicator School leavers with NCEA Level 2 or above
the indicator School leavers with a university entrance standard

Data Collection

Collection Forms

Copies of the collection forms used for the March School Roll Return are available as either MS Word documents or PDFs.

Roll Return Guidelines

These guidelines have been updated and expanded to help schools to prepare the data needed for the March and July roll returns. They are designed to help Principals and their administrative staff to ensure that roll returns are completed accurately, whether they use a computerised student management system or complete their returns by hand.

Select the latest roll return guidelines.

Code Sets

Copies of the code sets used in roll return.

Coding Guidelines

Reducing Iwi Coding Problems provides guidance on how to reduce the number of Iwi coding errors by highlighting the problem areas, and providing the recommended code to use.

The Ethnic Group Code includes a section on how to convert multiple ethnic groups into a single ethnic group (prioritisation).

SMS Roll Returns

Specific information for SMS Vendors regarding school roll returns. This information is provided to allow SMS vendors to ensure their systems are accurate prior to schools submitting their rolls.

Contact Us

If you would like to know more about March School Roll Returns please email us at one of the following addresses:

For questions about the reporting, publications and use of data: Information.Officer@minedu.govt.nz

For questions about the collection and coding of March School Roll Returns: School.Returns@minedu.govt.nz

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