Retention
Completion of upper secondary education is associated with a range of economic and social benefits both in New Zealand and across the OECD. Retention to senior secondary schooling is linked to higher levels of skills and knowledge required for participation in our increasingly knowledge-based society and the wider global community.
The retention data presented here is calculated from school leaver data, that is, it is the age that a school leaver completed their schooling. The Ministry convention is to consider the proportion of students that remain at school until at least their 17th birthday; this is a year after compulsory education and the average age for a student completing their upper secondary qualifications.
Identical information is available by regional council and territorial local authority through the Know Your Region pages.
Alternatively a large amount of retention data is available from our statistical pages. See School Leavers.
Table 1: Percentage of school leavers staying at school until at least their 17th birthday (2023-2025)
| 30 |
34 |
36 |
146 |
160 |
144 |
83.0 |
82.5 |
80.0 |
| 46 |
41 |
46 |
120 |
157 |
159 |
72.3 |
79.3 |
77.6 |
| 22 |
24 |
35 |
32 |
48 |
45 |
59.3 |
66.7 |
56.3 |
| 43 |
45 |
56 |
154 |
173 |
185 |
78.2 |
79.4 |
76.8 |
| 18 |
12 |
14 |
91 |
115 |
100 |
83.5 |
90.6 |
87.7 |
| 0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
na |
80.0 |
na |
| 0 |
2 |
x |
0 |
3 |
x |
na |
60.0 |
x |
| 6 |
8 |
x |
24 |
25 |
x |
80.0 |
75.8 |
x |
| 76 |
75 |
82 |
266 |
317 |
303 |
77.8 |
80.9 |
78.7 |
Notes:
- ‘x’ = data has been suppressed where there are between 0 and 5 students in the denominator for a specific group, for example Asian students. Where one gender has been suppressed the corresponding gender has also been suppressed. ‘na’ = not applicable.
- Ethnicity is multiple response, that is, students who affiliated in more than one ethnic group have been counted in each ethnic group. Students are only counted once in the total, therefore, the ethnic groups may not sum to the total.
- International fee-paying students and adult students (age 19+) are excluded.
Table 2: Comparison trend data (2023-2025)
| 76 |
75 |
82 |
266 |
317 |
303 |
77.8 |
80.9 |
78.7 |
| 2,951 |
2,619 |
2,514 |
17,123 |
18,356 |
20,047 |
85.3 |
87.5 |
88.9 |
| 9,079 |
8,389 |
8,012 |
34,804 |
36,856 |
40,546 |
79.3 |
81.5 |
83.5 |
| 11,851 |
11,305 |
11,032 |
41,077 |
43,832 |
48,166 |
77.6 |
79.5 |
81.4 |
| 12,995 |
12,336 |
12,029 |
50,936 |
53,934 |
58,757 |
79.7 |
81.4 |
83.0 |
Notes:
- ‘x’ = data has been suppressed where there are between 0 and 5 students in the denominator for a specific group, for example Asian students. Where one gender has been suppressed the corresponding gender has also been suppressed. ‘na’ = not applicable.
- International fee-paying students and adult students (age 19+) are excluded.
- The comparison groups selected are based on the profile of the school at the time of the most recent data collection, rather than the school's current profile.
Retention
Completion of upper secondary education is associated with a range of economic and social benefits both in New Zealand and across the OECD. Retention to senior secondary schooling is linked to higher levels of skills and knowledge required for participation in our increasingly knowledge-based society and the wider global community.
The retention data presented here is calculated from school leaver data, that is, it is the age that a school leaver completed their schooling. The Ministry convention is to consider the proportion of students that remain at school until at least their 17th birthday; this is a year after compulsory education and the average age for a student completing their upper secondary qualifications.
Identical information is available by regional council and territorial local authority through the Know Your Region pages.
Alternatively a large amount of retention data is available from our statistical pages. See School Leavers.
Notes:
Notes: