Circular 2007/17 - Auditing of roll returns (Updated)

Date: 15 October 2007
Circular Number: 2007/17
Category: Resourcing

Auditing of Roll Returns: 1 March and 1 July 2008

This circular is about: The requirements schools need to take into account when preparing accurate roll returns for resourcing purposes and the documentation schools need to keep in order to provide a clear audit trail.

This circular replaces: Circular 1998/48 Roll Returns: 1 March and 1 July

The action required is:  Please note the contents of this circular and ensure that all requirements outlined are met before including students for resourcing on a roll return.

It is intended for: Boards of trustees and principals of all state, state integrated and private schools.

For further information: Refer to the annual "Roll Return Guidelines "prepared by the Data Management Unit and the Ministry of Education's Attendance Guidelines.

Phone: 04-463 8383 Fax: 04-463 8374

Email : resourcing@minedu.govt.nz

You can obtain further copies of this circular at www.minedu.govt.nz/goto/circulars.

Introduction

It is important that all boards of trustees and principals are aware of the requirements in this circular for including students on a roll return for resourcing purposes. It is also important that boards of trustees and principals understand the need to retain all relevant documentation to ensure there is a clear audit trail. Understanding how the documentation should be prepared and presented will ensure its accuracy as well as providing the ministry's resourcing auditors with the required information, such as the names of students they have included on the roll count.

The following sections of this circular explain the requirements schools need to take into account when preparing roll returns and the associated audit documentation.

Students included on the Roll Return for resourcing purposes

The two fundamental requirements that must be met before a student is included on a roll return for resourcing purposes are:

1. Except as specified below, the student must be attending the school for tuition on the count date, and

2. The student must also meet the eligibility criteria of being a domestic student (See Circular 2007/1 Updated - Eligibility for enrolment in New Zealand schools for detailed definitions).

Exceptions to 1 above:

Schools may include the following students on their roll return for resourcing purposes:

• Students who, for medical or domestic reasons, are absent on the count date, but only if the students who have returned to school before the form is to be returned to the ministry, or the school has:
  
  - a medical certificate from a registered medical practitioner, or
  - a letter from a parent/guardian justifying the student's absence from the school.
  
  Such statements must confirm the temporary nature of the absence and expectation that the student will be returning to the school for tuition within a specified timeframe.
  
• Students who are suspended, but only where the suspension has been fixed to finish during the current school year and the school has documentary evidence to show that it is actively involved in the student's reinstatement to the school.
• Students attending an activity centre, but only where the school has copies of the activity centre's attendance record provided on a monthly basis, verifying that the student has been attending for tuition.
• Students attending a health camp, but only where the school has documentary evidence from the health camp verifying the student's acceptance of a place at the camp for a specific period.
• Students who are temporarily overseas, provided that the school has documentary evidence of their intention to return to the school, and that their absence does not exceed 15 consecutive weeks in the current school year.
• International exchange students who are in New Zealand at the time of completing the roll return, but if both parties to the exchange are attending the school on the count date only one student may be counted.
• Students who attend more than one school are counted on the roll of the school where the majority of the instruction occurs. These students must also be enrolled on ENROL at the school where the majority of instruction occurs. However, boards of trustees may exchange resources to compensate for the time a student spends at another school.
• Students with high health needs who have been admitted to the roll of a regional health school, provided that the school has a letter from the regional health school that confirms the student's admission to their roll.

Students not included on the Roll Return for resourcing purposes

Schools must not include the following students on the roll return for resourcing purposes:

• Students who have enrolled at the school but have not had their first day of attendance for tuition on or before the count date.
• Students who have changed schools cannot be included on two different school rolls. Attendance for tuition is the essential criteria.
• Students who have had their last day of attendance for tuition, but who are going through the school's leaving process at the date of the return.
• Students who are being home schooled.
• Students who were excluded before the count date and who are attending Alternative Education Programmes. The student type should be changed from RE (Regular Enrolment) to AE (Alternative Education) in the school Student Management System.
• International fee-paying students and NZAID (New Zealand's International Aid and Development Agency) students.

Requirements for including students attending off-site locations

A number of schools, particularly secondary schools, have groups of students who are enrolled but are not part of the school's mainstream and may be attending at off-site locations.

These students may be included on the roll return for resourcing purposes if the following conditions are met:

For board's off-site class or use of Alternative Provider Notice

"Education Gazette of 2 April 2001"

• The School Charter has been amended to include the details of the off-site arrangements.
• The board record of its authorisation, under Section 71 of the Education Act, for each student to attend a course of education off-site, is available for inspection, and
• A copy of the attendance registers, maintained by off-site providers for each term of the current school year, which have been regularly sent to the school are available for inspection.

For students on work experience

"(Education Gazette of 7 March 2005)"

• A written document approved by the board, outlining practices to be followed in relation to work experience for students in its school.
• Appropriate written consent, including consent from parents or caregivers for students under the age of 16.
• There is evidence that the only cost, if any, that is charged to the student or their family, is for travel to and from the workplace.
• A written agreement between each student, the school and the employer that covers the following:
  - The knowledge and skills to be attained.
  - The assessment method.
  - The supervision to be provided to the student.
  - The student's attendance and hours in the workplace.
  - The applicability of school rules and workforce rules.
  - Procedures for early withdrawal (if necessary) from the work-based learning or work experience.
  - The student concerned is not paid.
  - The student concerned is not required to join or belong to a union. - The student concerned will not undertake work that is arduous or dangerous in relation to the student's age or stage of development.

Students undertaking work experience are to be treated as if they are attending school and the school must be able to provide evidence that they are recording and monitoring attendance, as required by the appropriate regulations.

For students enrolled in student component funded tertiary education

"(Education Gazette of 6 March 2006)"

• Documentary evidence that each school student under 16 enrolled at a tertiary education institution has been individually assessed by the school and found to be in need of a specific educational opportunity for a particular reason.
• Multiple exemptions of numbers of students from the same school will not be accepted as valid tertiary enrolments.
• For school students over 16, both of the following conditions met before a student has been enrolled at a tertiary education institution:
  - The student is not required to be absent from school during school hours to undertake the tertiary study; and
  - The student has a letter from their school principal confirming that the principal is satisfied that the student is capable of undertaking the tertiary study as well as the student's secondary school study.

If the student is required to be absent from school during school hours to undertake the tertiary study, the student must be claimed as a part time student with the full time equivalent (FTE) claimed reflective of the tuition provided by the school.

Attendance regulations and the 20 day rule

It is a requirement under Regulation 11 of the "Education (School Attendance) Regulations" 1951 that on the day on which a principal first knows that a student has left the school, the principal shall record that the student has left, noting the student's last day of attendance for tuition.

The recording of the last day of attendance for tuition is regarded by the ministry as the leaving date of the student. The last date of attendance is also the basis for determining whether the student will be included in the roll return for resourcing purposes rather than:

• The completion of a leaving clearance form and/or formal notice of withdrawal at a later date. These are simply confirmation that the student has left.

Regulation 11 also requires a principal to record that a student has left the school when the student has been absent for any period of twenty consecutive school days, unless the principal has been informed that the student's absence is only temporary. Documentary evidence of such notification must be retained for audit purposes.

Action required in Student Management Systems

(Circular 2006/10)

If a student, who is absent on the roll count date, has been absent for twenty days before the count date and the school has no knowledge of their whereabouts, or a student has been excluded, then the student type should be changed from RE (Regular Enrolment) to NA (Not Attending) in the school Student Management System. This allows the student to remain on the school roll for administrative purposes, but the student will not be included in the school roll count.

Action required in ENROL

"(Circular 2007/12)"

Rule 3 - Withdrawing students
Every principal must ensure that:

(a) a student's record in ENROL is updated within 5 school days of their last day of attendance with the student's departure information;

(b) ENROL is updated with the appropriate leaving reason(s), teaching and learning note(s) where necessary, and the correct last day of attendance when:

• the school has been advised that the student is no longer attending the school;
• the student has been absent for 20 school days without the principal being informed that the absence is only temporary; or
• the student has been absent for less than 20 days but the principal has reason to believe they will not return to school.

Updating the ENROL record with the student's intended school and the student's reason for leaving will help the ministry find the student promptly if they do not enrol in another school.

(c) supporting information has been kept on the student's file in the school when teaching and learning notes are included on a student's ENROL record.

If the student is domestic and under 16 years old, a NETS (Non-Enrolment Truancy Services) process will be implemented within ENROL based on the last day of attendance for tuition.

Audit documentation required for Roll Returns for resourcing purposes

All schools must ensure that the following documentation is accurately prepared and retained, and available to the ministry's resourcing auditors when the school roll returns are audited:

Attendance Registers:

• E19/1 manual registers for the current school year; or
• Electronic attendance registers for every class/group printed at the end of each term of the current school year.

For schools submitting roll returns from an approved Student Management System (SMS), the following documentation must be printed from the SMS and available for the audit:

• A Full School Audit Roll printed at the same time as the Roll Return that was submitted to the Ministry of Education, and retained with the school's copy of that Roll Return.
• Audit Class Lists completed manually by class/subject teachers.
• For schools using manual attendance registers (E 19/1), the Audit Class List is required to be completed on the count date only i.e. for one day.
• For schools using electronic attendance registers, the Audit Class List is required to be completed for five days, the two school days prior to the count day, the day of the count and the two school days following the count day.
• The SMS has been formatted to produce these audit class lists for the roll returns.

For schools submitting manual roll returns:

• An alphabetical listing of all students attending the school on the roll return date and showing the form (class, whānau) groups to which they have been allocated.
• Class Lists, as at the roll return date, so they can be cross referenced with names on the class registers in order to establish the attendance status of each student.

Additional documentation (if applicable) required for audit purposes:

• For schools receiving Māori Medium Education funding, a listing of all students in a Te Reo Māori or Immersion class, in levels one to four at the return date.
• Attendance registers for adult students, for each of their courses.
• A listing of all students in years 11, 12 and 13, showing details of the courses being studied.

Issued by:

Paul Burke, Acting Senior Manager, Resourcing Division
Ministry of Education, National Office
45 - 47 Pipitea Street, Thorndon
P O Box 1666, Wellington, New Zealand
Phone: 0-4-463 8383
Fax: 0-4-463 8374

E-mail: resourcing@minedu.govt.nz
Website: www.minedu.govt.nz