You may need to think about zoning and enrolments when choosing a primary or intermediate school for your child.

All children have the right to be enrolled at a state school between their fifth birthday and the first of January following their 19th birthday.

When should you enrol your child?

You should enrol your child when they are:

• starting school for the first time
• moving between different school types (for example, from primary to intermediate school)
• moving to a new area and changing schools.

It’s important to do this as early as possible – by the end of September of the year before they first start school, or will be going to the new school, or as soon as you know you are moving house. This helps the school know how many children will be attending, so they can get the best student-teacher ratios.

What is the ENROL register?

ENROL is an electronic school student register for all New Zealand school students – all schools will be using ENROL by the end of 2007.

When a child enrols at a school, details like their name, address, date of birth, and any other schools they have been to will be recorded on the ENROL system.

School staff will update ENROL when your child enrols in a school for the first time, changes schools, or leaves the school system.

For details on what information is held in ENROL, who can access it, why the information has to be provided, how it will help you and your child, and who looks after ENROL, download the ENROL brochure – look for the download box at the top right of this page.

Enrolment schemes

You may find that your chosen school operates an enrolment scheme, approved by the Ministry of Education, to enable the school to manage its roll to prevent overcrowding. The scheme will guarantee enrolment to students living in a specified area (the school’s home zone).

Living out of the zone

Out-of-zone students who apply for enrolment at the school must be accepted in the following order of priority:

1. Students accepted for enrolment in a special programme run by the school
2. Brothers and sisters of current students
3. Brothers and sisters of former students
4. Children of board employees
5. All other students.

If there are more applicants in priority groups 2-5 than there are places available, selection within the priority group must be by ballot.

You can look at the school enrolment zones to see if you live within a zone for the school you want to send your child to.

It is against the law to provide a false address in an attempt to get your child into a school with a zone that does not include your home. You must provide the address of the house you actually live in.

Ballots

Each year, the school’s board of trustees must place a notice in a newspaper, circulating in the area, stating:

• how many out-of-zone places are likely to be available
• the date by which applications for out-of-zone places must be received
• the date(s) of any ballot(s) for out-of-zone places.

If the board receives fewer out-of-zone applications than there are places available, no ballot will be necessary and all applicants will be enrolled.

Some primary schools with enrolment schemes will advertise more than one ballot each year (perhaps one each term) for five-year-olds who are starting school.

The school is full and cannot enrol your child

Find out if the school has an enrolment scheme. If it doesn’t, the school should not exclude your child. Contact your nearest Ministry of Education office if this happens.

If the school does have an enrolment scheme, check to see whether you live in the home zone. You will be able to see a copy of the scheme at the school. If you do not live in the school’s home zone, then there will be another school that is reasonably convenient to your home that your child could attend.

If you live out of zone and your child is unsuccessful in the ballot, you may still feel there are good reasons why a school with an enrolment scheme should enrol your child. In this case, you can contact your nearest Ministry of Education office.