Schools Directory – API
The Ministry’s Schools Directory Application Programming Interface (API) describes institution characteristics and provides contact information. Data are updated nightly.
This API has been developed to make the information available in a form that can be used by developers to build it into other applications. The Ministry uses the API to populate the Schools Directory.
Schools Directory
Click here to go to the data.govt.nz Data Explorer for the Schools Directory API.
Details are included on the data.govt.nz site regarding downloading this dataset, as well as further information related to using APIs to facilitate more in-depth querying capabilities.
These files can also be accessed via the data.govt.nz APIs. Among other things the APIs can assist you to:
- combine the data with other datasets
- make real-time calls to the datasets to make sure you’ve got the most recent data
- provide a link from your application to a dataset on data.govt.nz.
The APIs offers a series of actions, such as:
- Resource metadata show - gets the metadata of a specific data resource. The data resource download link, last updated date, etc. can be retrieved here.
- DataStore search sql - executes SQL queries on the DataStore to search data in a resource or connect multiple resources with join expressions.
The data.govt.nz DataStore API allows you to access and query the rows and columns of raw data listed by agencies in machine readable format via a JSON API endpoint. For SQL queries this endpoint is https://catalogue.data.govt.nz/api/action/datastore_search_sql and the data sources for the ?sql= parameter are identified by Resource ID, shown in the table below:
Resource | ID |
Schools Directory | 4b292323-9fcc-41f8-814b-3c7b19cf14b3 |
For instance, a request to: https://catalogue.data.govt.nz/api/3/action/datastore_search_sql?sql=SELECT * FROM"4b292323-9fcc-41f8-814b-3c7b19cf14b3" will return all rows and columns from the Schools Directory.
NB: The data in Ministry datasets contain macrons, so the query needs macrons as well. That is, specifying the column “Māori” as “Maori” will fail with a complaint that no such column exists.
Further technical documentation is available at https://docs.ckan.org/en/2.7/maintaining/datastore.html#the-datastore-api
Specifications
Field | Field Type | Nulls Allowed | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
_ID | Text | No | A system ID added during API creation. |
School_Id | Text | No | An identifier used by the education sector to identify the school or unit; aka MoE Number. |
Org_Name | Text | No | The name of school/campus/institution. |
Telephone | Text | Yes | Telephone number for each institution, including area code. |
Fax | Text | Yes | Fax number for each institution, including area code. This data is no longer available. |
Text | Yes | Email address for appropriate administrative contact for institution. See Additional notes - Email addresses. | |
Contact1_Name | Text | Yes | The name of the principal, acting principal or director (for activity centres). |
URL | Text | Yes | The institution website. |
Add1_Line1 | Text | Yes | Location address: The street for each institution. |
Add1_Suburb | Text | Yes | Location address: Suburb. |
Add1_City | Text | Yes | Location address: Town or city. |
Add2_Line1 | Text | Yes | Mailing address: The street or PO Box for each institution. |
Add2_Suburb | Text | Yes | Mailing address: The suburb for an urban address in larger towns and cities. May be used for Rural Delivery Number for rural addresses. |
Add2_City | Text | Yes | Mailing address: City or town as recognised for postal delivery. |
Add2_Postal_Code | Text | Yes | Mailing address: The post code for the address. |
Urban_Rural_Indicator | Text | Yes | Urban Area as per Stats NZ Urban Area. Urban areas are statistically defined areas with no administrative or legal basis. |
Org_Type | Text | Yes | The organisation type, for example, primary school, intermediate, etc. |
Definition | Text | Yes | Definition providers further descriptive information on the type of each institution. |
Authority | Text | Yes | The authority of the school: relates to ownership, for example, state school. |
School_Donations | Text | Yes | School Boards of state and state-integrated schools eligible for the school donation scheme can receive additional funding per student for that year in exchange for not seeking donations from parents (except for overnight camps). See Additional notes - School donations. |
CoEd_Status | Text | Yes | A description of the genders accepted by the institution, for example co-ed, boys’ school, etc. |
KMEPeakBody | Text | Yes | Identifies if the service is affiliated to a kaupapa Māori education peak body. Currently the recognised kaupapa Māori education peak bodies in schooling are Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa and Ngā Kura ā Iwi o Aotearoa. |
Takiwā | Text | Yes | A region of New Zealand as defined by the Ministry of Education and used for Ministry administrative purposes. See Additional notes - Takiwā and education regions. |
Territorial_Authority | Text | Yes | The territorial authority area of the service that the child is enrolled in. Territorial authority boundaries are defined by Stats NZ. Care must be taken when interpreting the geographic location of home-based services as services will be listed under the location of the co-ordinator rather than the actual location of the service. |
Regional_Council | Text | Yes | The regional council area the service is located in. Regional council boundaries are defined by Stats NZ. Care must be taken when interpreting the geographic location of home-based services as services will be listed under the location of the co-ordinator rather than the actual location of the service. |
Local_Office_Name | Text | Yes | Name of the local Ministry of Education office. |
Education_Region | Text | Yes | A region of New Zealand as defined by the Ministry of Education and used for Ministry administrative purposes. See Additional notes - Takiwā and education regions. |
General_Electorate | Text | Yes | General Electorate as per Stats NZ General Electoral District. General electoral districts are the voting districts for parliamentary elections. |
Māori_Electorate | Text | Yes | Māori Electorate as per Stats NZ Māori Electoral District. Māori electoral districts are the voting districts for parliamentary elections for people who choose to be on the Māori electoral roll. There are 7 Māori electoral districts in the Māori Electoral District 2023 classification. |
Statistical_Area_2_ | Text | Yes | The Code of the Stats NZ Statistical Area 2 (SA2). See Additional notes – SA2. |
Statistical_Area_2_ | Text | Yes | The Name of the Stats NZ Statistical Area 2 (SA2). See Additional notes – SA2. |
Ward | Text | Yes | The ward area of the school as per Stats NZ Ward. Wards are subdivisions of territorial authorities and result from the division, for electoral purposes, of the district of a territorial authority. |
Latitude | Numeric | Yes | Latitudinal co-ordinate where the institution is located. |
Longitude | Numeric | Yes | Longitudinal co-ordinate where the institution is located. |
Enrolment_Scheme | Text | Yes | Enrolment schemes help manage overcrowding and ensure local students can attend schools in their area. A school with an enrolment scheme has a home zone, which is a geographically defined area around the school. Students living inside the zone are guaranteed a place at the school. Students who live outside the zone can apply to enrol but acceptance of their application is subject to places being available for them. |
EQi_Index | Text | Yes | The Schooling Equity Index (EQI) is a statistical model that estimates the extent to which students face socioeconomic barriers to achievement at school. The information that this model provides allows the Ministry of Education to better target resourcing to mitigate the impact of socioeconomic barriers. It is not a measure of school quality. Rather, it is a way to understand the relationship between socioeconomic circumstances and student achievement. |
Roll_Date | Time-stamp | Yes | The date when the enrolment summary was determined. |
Total | Numeric | Yes | The total roll of the institution (see Indicative Roll Numbers). |
European | Numeric | Yes | The number of students enrolled that affiliate as European/Pākehā, as per Stats NZ Ethnicity New Zealand Standard Classification 2005. See Additional notes - Ethnic classification. |
Māori | Numeric | Yes | The number of students enrolled that affiliate as Māori, as per Stats NZ Ethnicity New Zealand Standard Classification 2005. See Additional notes - Ethnic classification. |
Pacific | Numeric | Yes | The number of students enrolled that affiliate as Pacific, as per Stats NZ Ethnicity New Zealand Standard Classification 2005. See Additional notes - Ethnic classification. |
Asian | Numeric | Yes | The number of students enrolled that affiliate as Asian, as per Stats NZ Ethnicity New Zealand Standard Classification 2005. See Additional notes - Ethnic classification. |
MELAA | Numeric | Yes | The number of students enrolled that affiliate as Middle Eastern, Latin American or African, as per Stats NZ Ethnicity New Zealand Standard Classification 2005. See Additional notes - Ethnic classification. |
Other | Numeric | Yes | The number of students enrolled that affiliate as Other ethnic group, as per Stats NZ Ethnicity New Zealand Standard Classification 2005. See Additional notes - Ethnic classification. |
International | Numeric | Yes | The number of international students enrolled in the institution. |
Isolation_Index | Text | Yes | If a state or state integrated school is in an isolated area, it may be eligible for additional operational funding, called targeted funding for isolation. This funding helps schools whose isolation means that they have additional costs associated with accessing goods and services needed to operate their school and deliver the curriculum. The isolation index is based on a school’s distance from the nearest ‘small’, ‘medium’, and ‘large’ population centres. The isolation index determines both eligibility for the additional funding and how much it receives. |
Language_of_ | Text | Yes | The language used by the school to teach the curriculum. Schools have been classified into one of seven groups based on whether students are taught in English, te reo Māori, or a Pacific Language. See Additional notes - Language of instruction. |
BoardingFacilities | Text | Yes | Identifies if the school has boarding facilities. |
CohortEntry | Text | Yes | Identifies if the school has adopted a policy of cohort entry. Cohort entry is when new entrants start school in groups through the year rather than on their fifth birthday. See Additional notes - Cohort entry. |
Status | Text | No | Identifies if the school is a proposed school (or is open). |
DateSchoolOpened | Time-stamp | Yes | Date the institution opened, if known. Older schools default to standard historical date. Do not use. |
Additional notes
Schooling organisations
This API lists open schools, proposed schools, and two types of unit: teen parent units and activity centres. Limited information may be available for proposed schools.
Teen parent units are for students unable to learn in the mainstream educational system because of pregnancy and child rearing responsibilities. They are established by agreement of the Minister of Education.
Activity centres provide a specialised learning programme for secondary school students (years 9–13) who are at risk of disengaging from mainstream schooling and/or at risk of low educational, social, or vocational outcomes. They are stablished by the Minster of Education, although no more are to be established.
Cohort entry
In schools that have adopted a policy of cohort entry, new entrants start school in groups (cohorts) through the year after they have turned five. Cohort entry is about helping children to settle better in school. There is evidence that starting school alongside others helps children build relationships and supports a smoother entry to school life.
There are two entry points per term: one on the first day of term, and one at a mid-point during a term. Cohort entry does not replace the legal requirement that a child start school at age six. Parents, caregivers and whānau can still choose to not enrol their student before then. The Ministry of Education website page Cohort or group entry for children starting school contains more information on cohort entry for schools.
The alternative to cohort entry is that a school operates a continuous entry of new entrants into Year 1 throughout the school year.
Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako
Communities of Learning are groups of schools that come together along with their communities to raise achievement for all young people by sharing expertise in teaching and learning (ako) and supporting each other. They focus on the compulsory educational pathway but can also engage with, and include, early childhood and post-secondary education to fully include the learning journey children and young people will take.
A Community of Learning will work with the students, parents, families, whānau, iwi and other communities within its catchment, as the support and involvement of these groups is essential for the Community of Learning to progress towards its goals.
Email addresses
Only schools that agreed to the public release of their email address have those addresses listed in the Schools Directory. Persons or organisations wishing to send email material to individuals or organisations whose email addresses appear in this directory must comply with the requirements of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007. Publication of email addresses on this site should not be taken as deemed consent to receiving unsolicited email.
Ethnic classification
The term "ethnicity" refers to the ethnic group or groups to which an individual belongs. The concept of ethnicity adopted by the Ministry of Education is a social construct of group affiliation and identity. The Ministry of Education uses the definition of ethnicity used by Stats NZ, namely:
A social group whose members have one or more of the following characteristics:
- They share a sense of common origins.
- They claim a common and distinctive history and destiny.
- They possess one or more dimensions of collective cultural individuality.
- They feel a sense of unique collective solidarity.
Ethnicity classification in the Schools Directory rolls is multiple response. This considers each ethnicity a person affiliates with as one data entry. For example, the data relating to an individual who affiliates as both Māori and Pacific will be included in both categories. They are, however, included only once in the total.
Indicative roll numbers
Roll numbers presented in the School Directory API are not from the Ministry’s formal roll collections. They are estimates calculated from ENROL, a Ministry of Education system. ENROL is a register of student enrolments. It lets schools update enrolments as students enrol, change schools or leave the school system. The system was developed to facilitate the accurate and efficient enrolment of students, and to monitor and ensure student enrolment and attendance (particularly during the compulsory schooling ages).
Language of instruction
This is the language used by a school to teach the curriculum. Schools are classified into one of seven groups based on whether students are taught in English, Te Reo Māori, or a Pacific Language. The language of instruction groups are:
- All students taught in te reo Māori.
- Some students taught in te reo Māori.
- All students taught in a Pacific language.
- Some students taught in a Pacific language.
- All students taught in te reo Māori or a Pacific language.
- Some students taught in te reo Māori or a Pacific language.
- All students taught in English/other setting.
The “other” setting can be another language such as French or sign language.
SA2
SA2 (Statistical Area 2) are functional areas that usually have a shared road network, community facilities, historical or social links and socioeconomic similarities. In cities, SA2 areas are usually suburbs or part-suburbs with 2,000 to 4,000 residents. In rural districts many SA2 areas have populations of fewer than 1,000 residents.
School donations
All children in New Zealand have the right to a free education. If school boards do not opt in to the school donations scheme, they may seek donations towards the cost of curriculum delivery but cannot compel payments for items that are part of this.
School boards of state and state-integrated schools that are eligible for the school donation scheme can receive additional funding per student for that year in exchange for not seeking donations (except for overnight camps).
School boards of schools that opt in to the school scheme must not ask students’ families and whānau for donations, except for overnight camps. For the purposes of the donations scheme, a school camp is defined as any curriculum-related activity where students are expected to stay overnight as part of that activity. Examples include Education Outside the Classroom camps, a year 9 induction camp, and an overnight field trip as part of a senior secondary assessment. Boards may seek donations towards the cost of these camps but cannot compel payment. Family/whānau can choose to pay the donation in full, in part, or not at all, and no student can be excluded from attending a camp that is part of curriculum delivery because of an inability or unwillingness to pay a donation toward the activity’s cost.
School boards who have opted in to the donations scheme may charge for sports trips or activities that are outside the school curriculum, for example, school sports teams. Participation in these activities is optional and schools can enforce payment for a child to participate.
Proprietors of state-integrated schools can charge attendance dues. These are compulsory regardless of whether the school has opted in to the donations scheme. Proprietors cannot increase the maximum level of attendance dues without the approval of the Minister of Education.
Schools can ask parents and whānau to pay for goods and services they provide that are optional (for example, pens and lunches) but it is up to families/whānau to decide whether to buy them from the school or elsewhere.
Ineligible schools and those who chose not to opt-in can still ask for donations but payment cannot be compelled or enforced. Parents can choose to pay a donation in full, in part, or not at all.
More information can be found on the Fees, charges and donations page on the Education website.
Takiwā and education regions
Takiwā and education regions are regions defined by the Ministry of Education that are used for Ministry administrative purposes. New Zealand is split into three takiwā, each made up of four education regions. They are:
Te Tai Raro;
comprising the following education regions:
- Tai Tokerau
- Tāmaki Herenga Tāngata
- Tāmaki Herenga Manawa
- Tāmaki Herenga Waka
Te Tai Whenua;
comprising the following education regions:
- Waikato
- Bay of Plenty, Waiariki
- Taranaki, Whanganui, Manawatū
- Hawke's Bay, Tairāwhiti
Te Tai Runga;
comprising the following education regions:
- Wellington
- Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast
- Canterbury and Chatham Islands
- Otago, Southland