School attendance
In New Zealand, parents must legally make sure that their child goes to school each day. Under the Education Act 1989, parents and carers of children between six and 16 years old can be prosecuted if their child is away from school without a good reason.
If your child needs to be away
If your child or teen needs to be away from school because they are sick, have an appointment or need to be at a tangi or funeral, phone the school before it starts and let them know they’ll be away and for how long. Then write and sign a note for the school confirming how long your child or teen is expected to be away for, and giving the reason.
If you know your son or daughter is going to be away from school for more than several days, you can talk to their teacher about whether they can take any work away with them.
If your child is refusing to go to school
If your child or teen doesn’t want to go to school, it might be because they’re not getting on with their peers, feeling too much pressure, or there may be a health issue. Talk to them to find out why. Then meet with the teacher or principal as soon as you can to confirm what the issue is and how you can work together to help your child. The meeting doesn't need to happen at school – it could be at your home or a neutral environment.
If you’re worried that your child or teen might not be staying at school during the day, tell the teacher your concerns and ask them to let you know if they are not in class. You can expect to hear from school if your son or daughter is absent without a note from you. This gives you the chance to work with the school to resolve any issues before truancy becomes a problem.
The District Truancy Services (DTS) helps schools with students who regularly play truant (miss classes for no good reason). Truancy officers find out why a child isn’t going to school and let the school know the reason. The school then works with the parent and child to get the child attending school again.
If a child is away for more than 20 days, and no contact has been made with school, the Non-Enrolment Truancy Service (NETS) will help out. They can work with the school and the family to help get a child back to school.
What if my child is often sick?
Children who miss a lot of school because they have a serious illness may be able to get help from a regional health school. Regional health schools have programmes for children with illnesses that mean they can’t go to school regularly.
There are three regional health schools Northern, Central and Southern. More information and application forms are available through the schools' websites or by phoning them directly.
You can download and print a factsheet with this information below.