(New) Schools Directory

Click here to go to the data.govt.nz Data Explorer for the (New) 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 - Execute 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:

So 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 (New) 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.

(Deprecated) Schools Directory

The (Deprecated) Schools Directory API will be removed by 1 July 2024.

Click here to go to the data.govt.nz Data Explorer for the (Deprecated) Schools Directory API.

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:

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.

Technical Notes

Schooling Organisations

As well as open schools this directory shows proposed schools. Only limited information may be available for these proposed schools.

Some school boards of trustees have units that have been set up for specific purposes, such as teen parent units. Students from a number of schools may attend the unit for courses of varying length. Two type of special purpose units are included in this directory; teen parent units and activity centres.

Established by agreement of the Minister of Education, teen parent units are for students unable to learn in the mainstream educational system because of pregnancy and child rearing responsibilities.

Established by the Minster of Education, although no more are to be established, 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.

Email Addresses

Only schools that agreed to the public release of their email address have those addresses listed here. 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.

School Donations

All children in New Zealand have the right to free education. If they do not opt in to the donations scheme, boards may seek donations towards the cost of curriculum delivery, but cannot compel payments for items that are part of this.

Boards of Trustees of state, state-integrated schools 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).

Boards of Trustees of schools that opt into the scheme must not ask students’ families and whanau 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 senior secondary assessment. Boards may seek donations towards the cost of these camps but cannot compel payment. Family/whanau 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.

Boards who have opted into 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 in order 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 (eg 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.

Indicative Roll Numbers (Schools Directory)

Roll numbers presented here 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).

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 Statistics New Zealand, 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.

Where possible, ethnicity data is presented as a multiple response. Multiple response works by considering 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. This approach is easily undertaken when data is collected in a disaggregate fashion.  The rolls in the (New) Schools Directory are multiple response.

The school rolls in the (Deprecated) Schools Directory are prioritised.  Prioritisation of ethnicity is when people are allocated to one of the ethnicities they have recorded that they affiliate with. This allocation is performed using a predetermined order of ethnic groups. In the Schools Directory API ethnicity is prioritised in the order of Māori, Pacific, Asian, MELAA (Middle Eastern, Latin American and African) other groups except European/Pākehā, and European/Pākehā.

European/Pākehā (labelled as European in both APIs) refers to people who affiliate as New Zealand European, Other European or European (not further defined). For example, this includes, but is not limited to, people who consider themselves as Australian (not including Australian Aborigines), British and Irish, American, Spanish, and Ukrainian.