homework nz schools

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The school system

All children must be enroled with a school or in home education by their sixth birthday.

Once your child starts school they must go to school every day unless they have permission not to, for example because they are unwell. By law, they cannot leave school until after their 16th birthday.

School structure

There are 13 ‘Years’ in the New Zealand school structure. The ‘Year’ denotes how long a child has been at school.

Schooling is divided into 3 stages — Primary, Intermediate and Secondary.

Primary and intermediate school

Schooling begins at primary school. Children can attend either a contributing primary school or a full primary school. Contributing primary schools are more common than full primary schools.

• Contributing primary schools go from Year 1 to Year 6.
• Full primary schools go from Year 1 to Year 8.

If your child attends a contributing primary school, you will need to enrol them with an intermediate school to complete Years 7 and 8.

Secondary school

After your child finishes primary or intermediate school, you must enrol them with a secondary school to complete their final school years. Secondary schools go from Year 9 to Year 13.

Secondary schools are often called college or high school.

Find out more on the Ministry of Education website.

For parents and whānau | Ministry of Education

Enroling your child in school

To enrol your child with a school, contact the school to find out their enrolment process and get their enrolment forms.

Your child can enrol as a ‘domestic’ student if they are either a:

• New Zealand resident or permanent resident
• New Zealand citizen (includes Tokelauans, Cook Islanders and Niueans)
• student visa holder based on your temporary work visa.

You may need to provide the school with evidence of your child's visa status.

Students who are not eligible to enrol as domestic students may be able to enrol as international students. If your child is not covered by the above list, check to see if they need a visa. 

Eligibility to enrol in New Zealand schools | Ministry of Education

New entrants

Children starting primary school for the first time at 5 or 6 years old are called ‘new entrants’.

Some schools let new entrants start school at any time during the school year, usually on their fifth birthday.

Other schools use a system called ‘cohort entry’, meaning children start school in groups at the beginning of each school term. Which term they start in depends on when their birthday is in relation to the middle of the term. You will need to find out which system your child’s school uses.

Whether or not the school uses cohort entry, you still have the option of waiting until their sixth birthday to start your child in school.

New entrants are referred to as either Year 1 or Year 0. Generally:

• children who start the first half of the calendar year are referred to as Year 1
• children who start in the second half of the calendar year are referred to as Year 0.

For more information, check the Ministry of Education website.

Cohort entry | education.govt.nz

Children with previous schooling

If your child is starting school as a newcomer to New Zealand, and they have already had some schooling, you can enrol your child in school at any time of the year.

They will automatically be placed in the same school year as other children of the same age. For example if they are 10 years old, they will probably be placed in Year 5 or 6 with other 10 year olds.

If they are secondary school age, they will be placed in the Year that allows them time to complete their National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) qualifications.

Because each situation is different, it is best to contact the school before you enrol your child to talk about which Year would best meet their needs. 

What New Zealand schools are like

School sizes in New Zealand can vary. Most schools have between 100 and 2000 students.

New Zealand school students enjoy focused, personal attention from teachers. Learning involves a balance of practical and theoretical learning. Teachers encourage students to think creatively, independently and analytically.

New Zealand schools are well equipped with computers, the Internet and other technology. They also have a lot of room for outdoor play and sport. Schools usually have their own playing fields and sometimes a swimming pool. They also have cultural activities.

Teachers support many different activities out of school hours, for example coaching sports teams, leading drama clubs and school music groups.

School students also get opportunities for educational trips that allow them to explore and learn about New Zealand’s natural surroundings. They get the opportunity to challenge themselves with outdoor activities they might otherwise never experience.

Discipline in schools

Your child will be made to feel comfortable and safe at school in New Zealand. It is illegal in New Zealand for anyone to use physical force to discipline a child.

A parent may only use limited force to prevent a child from harm.

A teacher may not use force in any situation, so physical discipline of children, like smacking, caning and strapping is not allowed.

School punishments usually involve extra homework or staying late after school to do tasks while supervised by a teacher.

The Office of the Children's Commissioner has a report about the rights of children and ways that schools are allowed to discipline children.

Schools and the right to discipline | Children's Commissioner

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Types of schools and costs

There are 3 types of schools in New Zealand.

• State schools are owned and funded by the government.
• State integrated schools are government funded but may also charge compulsory fees.
• Private schools charge set fees for a term or year.

State schools

Most children attend state schools (also known as ‘public schools’).

State schools are funded by the government and the education is free for domestic students up to 19 years of age. However, parents usually need to pay for things like school uniforms, stationery, exam fees and some course-related costs.

You may also be asked to pay for some learning experiences outside the classroom, like school trips or sports events and other activities that are not part of the school curriculum.

• If the event is part of the core education curriculum your child has a right to take part even if you do not pay the additional cost.
• If it is not part of the core curriculum your child can be excluded if you do not pay the cost.

State integrated schools

Just over 10% of students are enroled in State integrated schools.

State integrated schools are schools with a ‘special character’. This means they may be run by a particular religious faith, eg Catholic, or use specialist education methods, like Steiner and Montessori schools.

Education in state integrated schools is also funded by the government, but they usually charge compulsory fees — also known as ‘attendance dues’ — to help maintain their facilities. The amount is typically around NZ$1,500 a year.

Private schools

Just under 5% of children attend private schools.

Some private schools take both boys and girls (known as co-educational or ‘co-ed’ schools). Others are single sex schools for either boys or girls. Some private schools have boarding facilities so students can live there during the term.

Private schools are not government funded – they charge set fees by the school term or year. The amount is typically around NZ$20,000 a year. You may be able to get financial assistance to pay the fees.

Costs and financial assistance | education.govt.nz

Different types of secondary schools | education.govt.nz

Home schooling

Home education, or ‘home schooling’, is an option in New Zealand.

Parents and caregivers who want to educate their child at home need to first get approval from their local Ministry of Education office.

Home education | education.govt.nz

School hours, terms and holidays

The school day usually starts at 9am and ends at 3 or 3:30pm.

The school year starts in January. There are 4 terms in a year, with 2-week breaks between them and a 6-week summer break at the end of the year.

• Term 1: late January to early April — then a 2 week break
• Term 2: May to early July — then a 2 week break
• Term 3: late July to late September — then a 2 week break
• Term 4: mid-October to mid-December — then a 6 week summer break.

For exact dates, check the Ministry of Education website.

School terms and holiday dates | Ministry of Education

School zones

Check out 'zoning' rules and whether it will affect the choice of schools for your children.

Most schools in New Zealand are grouped into areas known as 'zones'. Children are usually expected to attend a school in the zone where they live.

To find out which schools are in your zone, search the Education Counts website.

You can also find more information about school zones on our Choosing a school page.

Find your nearest school | Education Counts

Enrolment schemes (school zones) | education.govt.nz  

Choosing a school

Higher education and training

When your child gets to senior secondary school (Years 11 to 13), you will be thinking about what they want to do after they leave school and what their education and career options are.

Higher education in New Zealand is not limited to universities and institutes of technology or polytechnics. We have a wide range of other options, including:

• vocational training — training for a particular trade, type of job or profession
• apprenticeships — a formal arrangement to learn from an expert while working
• ‘on-the-job’ training — learning as you work.

Tertiary education & training

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EDUCATION.govt.nz For parents and whānau Practical information about education for parents and carers

Primary school 5–12 years old

Home education.

Home education (sometimes called homeschooling) is an option in New Zealand. Parents and caregivers who want to educate their child at home need to first get approval from their local Ministry of Education office.

What is home education?

Who can home educate, how do i apply, what information do i need to provide with the application, when should i apply, can i get any financial support, what other support or resources can i get, how do i report to the ministry of education, what if my circumstances change, who monitors home education.

• Can my home educated child attend an ECE service?

More information

In New Zealand, all children aged between 6 and 16 years of age are required to enrol in and attend a registered school.

Home education is where parents or legal guardians take responsibility for the education of their children, instead of enrolling them in school.

If you, as a parent or legal guardian, wish to educate your child at home, you must first get approval from your local Ministry office.

Local Ministry of Education offices (external link)

If you get approval to home educate, you will receive a Certificate of Exemption from Enrolment at a Registered School. This indicates you are legally responsible for providing, supervising and monitoring your child’s learning programme.

If you want to home educate more than one child, a separate Certificate of Exemption is required for each child.

Any parent or legal guardian of a child aged between 5 and 16 years of age may apply to home educate.

To gain approval, your application must satisfy the Ministry that your child will be taught at least as regularly and as well as they would be in a registered school. If your child has special education needs, the application must show that these needs will be met.

You will need to complete an application form and prepare the required supporting documents, then send them to your local Ministry of Education office. There are a number of ways you can do this:

You can download the Ministry's application form and email it along with your supporting documents to your local Ministry office:

• click on the application form to download
• 'save as' the form to your computer
• open the saved form in adobe reader
• fill in the form
• click 'save as' and save the completed form to your desktop
• email your completed application and supporting documents to your local Ministry office.

Ministry's application form

Or you can email an application of your own design to your local Ministry office.  If you do this section one of the Ministry form must still be completed and attached to your application. Read the associated guidance documents to be sure that your application meets the criteria set by the Ministry.

You can print out the Ministry's application form, or use a form of your own design and post it to your local Ministry office. Section One of the Ministry’s application form must still be completed and attached to your application.

Application form

Once you've submitted your application a staff member from the Ministry will by in touch.  They may ask you for extra information. This is a normal part of the process.

The Ministry will contact the most recent school that your child has been enrolled in (if any). This is to get a full picture of your child’s educational context, providing insight into how you will need to individualise your educational approach to suit the needs of your child.

If your application is approved, you will receive a Certificate of Exemption and you can start home educating your child. A separate Certificate of Exemption is required for each child.

If your application is declined, you will receive a letter explaining the reason the application was declined. You can appeal the decision by notifying the Ministry’s National Office in writing.

This should be addressed to the Group Manager, Service Delivery, Learning Support who is acting as the Secretary in this context. You can also email  [email protected].

The application will be referred to the Education Review Office (ERO). The Secretary, after considering the ERO report, will confirm the refusal or grant a certificate. The Secretary's decision about the appealed application is final.  You can submit an additional (but different) application to your nearest Ministry regional office.

If your child is aged between 6 and 16 and you have not received a Certificate of Exemption, then by law they must be enrolled in and attending a registered school. This includes the time period when you are waiting for you application to be processed.

The Ministry can only issue a Certificate of Exemption when it is satisfied that you are willing and able to be responsible for an appropriate programme of education for your child (ie. that your child will be taught at least as regularly and as well as they would at a registered school).

The application form asks you to provide full details about how you intend to home educate your child, including:

• a description of your home education approach, philosophy and/or curriculum
• a description of intended learning areas and/or subjects
• a description of the resources and reference materials you have available to teach your child, and an explanation of how you intend to use them
• short- and long-term educational goals for your child
• an example of a special project or topic plan covering learning goals, resources, teaching methods, progress and achievement measures
• a description of how you intend to measure and record progress and achievement in relation to the learning goals
• a demonstration of regularity – when, how often and for how long you will teach your child.

More guidance is available in the application form and guidance document.

Application form and guidance document

You may apply to home educate any time after your child turns 5 years old, to come into effect when your child turns 6.

Applications usually take 4-6 weeks to process. If your child is between 6 and 16 years old, he or she must remain enrolled in and attending a registered school while your application is being progressed. This is a legal requirement.

The Ministry may ask you for additional information once it has received your application. This is a normal part of the process. Your application may take more than 6 weeks to process while additional information is being gathered. You should factor this in when considering the best time to make a home education application.

Home educators are eligible for the home education supervision allowance. It is calculated on the number of children you are home educating.

The annual total paid per child is as follows (from 1 January 2024):

• first child $796.00
• second child $677.00
• third child $557.00
• subsequent children $398.00.

The allowance is paid in instalments twice annually - in June and December each year – for the preceding 6 months. The first payment for a child new to home education will cover the period from the date of the issue of the Certificate of Exemption until the next payment round, either in June or December of that year.

You must continue to meet the requirements of your Certification of Exemption to keep receiving the allowance.  You must complete a declaration to confirm this in April and October each year.

It is important that the Ministry has your current address to post the declarations to you.

A child can continue to receive the supervision allowance up until the end of the year in which they turn 19 provided their exemption certificate was issued before their 16th birthday and the declaration continues to be completed and returned to the Ministry.

Curriculum and other support documents

Though it is not a requirement to use it, you are eligible to receive The New Zealand Curriculum or Te Marautanga o Aotearoa free of charge.

The Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI) website has information on the New Zealand Curriculum or Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.

New Zealand Curriculum – TKI (external link)

Te Marautanga o Aotearoa – TKI (external link)

You can also get a hard copy of these documents - contact:

Ministry of Education Customer Services P O Box 932 DUNEDIN 9052

Phone: 0800 660 662 (external link)

Fax: 0800 660 663

You can also access the Literacy Learning Progressions and the Number Framework.

Literacy Learning Progressions (external link)

Number Framework (external link)

Home educators can access the Ministry of Education's catalogue of teaching and learning resources for schools Down the Back of the Chair.

Down the Back of the Chair (external link)

Note: fees may apply on some resources.

Some of the more popular Down the Back of the Chair resources and support are available here:

• English medium literacy instructional series. (external link)
• Primary literacy mailing list. (external link)
• Secondary Literacy mailing list. (external link)
• Artsonline Community. (external link)

Home education and learning support needs

If your child has learning support needs, then it is important that you can provide the same level of support that is available through school. The Ministry cannot approve your application to home educate without first being satisfied that these supports are in place.

Support for home educators

Children and young people who are home educated and have identified learning support needs can access support from the Ministry’s specialist services. Any request for services will be treated in the same way as they would be in a school context.

The focus of the Ministry’s services and support is increasing the capability of the adults around the child.

Information about these services is available in the learning support section. Parents can apply for the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS) on the same basis as a school for children with the highest needs.

Learning support section

Your local Ministry Learning support office (external link) can give you more information.

Local Ministry Learning support offices (external link)

Support only available at school

Some learning supports are not available to home educators. This is because they are services which are designed to support teachers in a school setting. They include:

• Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB)
• Resource Teachers: Literacy
• the Severe Behaviour Service
• the School High Health Needs Fund
• direct teaching services related to children who are blind or low vision and deaf or hearing impaired
• additional teacher and teacher’s aide time as part of the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS).

Support after the age of 16

If your child has been verified through the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme, and has a current certificate of exemption at age 16, this exemption can continue until the end of the year in which he or she reaches the age of 21. 

To qualify for the supervision allowance and to continue receiving specialist services for their child, beyond compulsory school age, parents need to contact their local Ministry of Education office.

Inclusive Education website (external link) - This site provides New Zealand educators with practical strategies, suggestions and resources to support learners with diverse needs.

Much More than Words (external link) -  A booklet about children’s communication development so you can think about how your child is talking and support them, using their skills and interests.

Dyslexia and Learning (external link) - Information for teachers and parents about students who show signs of dyslexia.

Ministry of Education Special Education booklets - a series of booklets looking at how different special education needs influence learning and providing strategies for teachers:

• ADHD - Mate Takawhiti Takarepa Aro (ADHD) (external link)
• Students who are deaf or hard of hearing booklet (external link)
• Physical Disabilities - Ngā Hauātanga ā-Tinana (external link)
• Developmental Dyspraxia - Mate Pūkenga Nekeneke, Whanake Hoki (external link)
• Speech, Language And Communication Needs - Ngā Pūkenga Reo Ā-Waha, Whakawhitiwhiti Kōrero Hoki (external link)
• Down Syndrome - Mate Pūira Kehe (external link)
• Students who are Blind or have Low Vision - Ngā Ākonga Kāpō, he Kaha Kore te Āheinga Kite rānei (external link)

Access to Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu – Te Kura (formerly the Correspondence School)

Once you have a Certificate of Exemption, you can purchase tuition from Te Kura. Students aged 15 and under can enrol in up to 5 subjects as a fee paying student with Te Kura and still retain their home education exemption certificate.

Students aged 16 and over can enrol in subjects free of charge under the Young Adult Gateway category. However, if they enrol in three or more subjects they are regarded as full-time students with Te Kura and will lose their home education exemption certificate.

Qualifications for home-educated students

If you are eligible to access courses through Te Kura, then you may earn credits through that school towards a National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) at Levels 1 to 3.

It is also possible for home educated young people to be assessed against NCEA standards through a school that has been granted “consent to assess” by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA). There is no obligation on the part of any school to act as a link school for home educated young people.

The NZQA website has information about the eligibility of home-educated young people to access NCEA through link schools.

Eligibility of home-educated young people to access NCEA – NZQA (external link)

Cambridge International Examinations

Home educated students can sit Cambridge International Examinations at approved schools annually in October/November as a private candidate.

Not all syllabuses are available to home educated students. Home educated students must negotiate directly with the approved school of their choice and pay the required fees if accepted.

Association of Cambridge Schools in New Zealand (ACSNZ) (external link)

There is also an email group for home educated students using the Cambridge system.

NZ Home Ed Cambridge Yahoo Groups page (external link)

University entrance requirements

The University of Canterbury has an entry pathway specifically designed for home educated students:

Home school students – University of Canterbury (external link)

Massey University also accepts home educated students who can provide evidence that their work is at an equivalent standard to their discretionary entrance requirements.

Entrance requirements – Massey University (external link)

Home educated students can enter university if they have Christian Education New Zealand (CENZ) Level 3 certificate or CENZ Level 3 certificate with Honours.

Other equivalent qualifications – Universities NZ (external link)

For other tertiary providers and for home educated students who do not hold a suitable CENZ qualification it is recommended that they contact the provider's admissions departments (or equivalent) directly to establish what their entry criteria are. This should be done up to two years in advance so a suitable entrance pathway can be developed.

Career pathways

There are a number of useful tools to help home educated students as well as their parents and whānau explore career pathways.

Plan your career – Careers NZ (external link)

Skill Matcher – Careers NZ (external link)

Access to healthcare services

Your child is entitled to a number of free or subsidised healthcare services, including but not limited to:

Your child may be eligible for zero–fee visits to general practices.

Zero–fee visits to general practices – Ministry of Health (external link)  

Eyesight and Hearing

For information about eyesight and hearing checks that occur when students are age 11, contact your local District Health Board.

Local District Health Board – Ministry of Health (external link)

Under the Talk Teeth programme, children get free basic care for their teeth until they are 18. For information on this service, including arranging access, contact your local Community Oral Health Service.

To find out about other healthcare services your child may be eligible for, contact your local District Health Board.

Advice and guidance

There are a number of independent home education groups around the country.

These groups can give you information about learning activities, outings, social events for the group. Joining a local home educators group is one way to receive support when home educating or considering home educating.

Support groups – National Council of Home Educators New Zealand (NCHENZ) website (external link)

Find out more about the CENZ/ACE home schooling curricula and qualifications.

Home Schooling New Zealand (HSNZ) (external link)

Home Education New Zealand (HENZ) (external link)

You must complete a declaration twice a year, in April and October. This will:

• assure the Ministry that the home educating is continuing
• ensure your Certificate of Exemption is valid, and
• allow you to receive the home educator supervision allowance.

Even if you do not want to receive the supervision allowance, you must still complete the declaration twice a year.

The declaration will be sent to your home address, so you must advise your local Ministry of Education office if you change your address.

If the Ministry has still not received the declaration by the date set in the reminder letter your supervision allowance payments will cease.

You need to let the Ministry know if:

• you change address,
• you are no longer home educating your child,
• you have registered your child in school (full time or for a trial period), or
• you go overseas long term (a period longer than 28 days).

Trialing a school

Under Section 38 of the Education and Training Act 2020 your exemption will cease when you enrol your child at school.

But, if you trial school for a period of 10 weeks or less and then return to home education, a new exemption application will not be required unless there has been a material change of circumstances.

Contact your local Ministry office (external link)

Your home education supervision allowance may be impacted, depending on how long your child attends school:

• 0-28 days – no effect on your allowance.
• 29 days – 10 weeks – your allowance will be reduced, based on the length of time that your child was attending school.
• More than 10 weeks – your allowance will be ceased and you will need to reapply for your exemption certificate.

Travelling overseas

If you and your family plan to be away from New Zealand, it may impact your supervision allowance (depending on how long you are away):

• More than 28 days, but less than 6 months – your allowance will be recalculated and only paid for the time in New Zealand.
• More than 6 months – your allowance will stop and you will need to apply for it again when you return to New Zealand.

If you are going to be away for more than 28 days then you need to let your local Ministry of Education office know  your departure date and when you return to New Zealand.

Contact your local Ministry of Education office (external link)

Un-enrolling 5 year olds

Legally all children aged over 6 years must be enrolled at and attending school. Children who are 5 years old are not required to be enrolled. If they are currently enrolled at a school they must be attending, but they can be removed from the roll and leave the school at the parent or carer’s request.

Home educating parents and legal guardians have the primary responsibility for monitoring the quality of their children’s education. By designing a robust curriculum and regularly reflecting on progress made, you can ensure that your child’s needs are met by the education you provide.

As the administrator of the Education and Training Act 2020, the Ministry of Education also has obligations regarding the monitoring of home education. To meet these obligations, staff from your local Ministry office may contact you for information about your home education practices from time to time.

In some circumstances, the Ministry may request the Education Review Office (ERO) to conduct a review of a home educator. The Ministry will inform you if you have been referred for a review and explain why. ERO will then contact you to provide information about the process and arrange a time for a review.

To help ERO, the Ministry will provide them with a copy of your application. You do not need to provide ERO with a separate copy of this.

You will be given the opportunity to comment on the draft ERO report. If the ERO report raises concerns, the local Ministry office will ask you to show how you intend to address these. If ERO and the Ministry are not satisfied that these concerns will be addressed, your Certificate of Exemption may be revoked.

Unlike school reviews, the ERO home education reviews are confidential and are not published on the ERO website.

Information for parents about home educator reviews – ERO website (external link)

Can my home educated child attend an ECE service? 

Non-enrolled children visiting licensed early childhood education and care centres – Ministry of Education (external link)

You must download then 'save as' the form to your computer before you begin to fill it in. Open the saved form in adobe reader, complete the form and click 'save as' to re-save to your computer.

Home education application form [PDF, 1.6 MB]

Read the Ministry's guide to help you complete a home education application.

Home education application guidance [PDF, 105 KB]  

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Last reviewed: 24 April 2024 Has this been useful? Tell us what you think.

Home education (home schooling)

Home education (sometimes known as home schooling) is an option in New Zealand.

Information for parents and caregivers

Parents and caregivers who want to educate their child at home need to first get approval from their local Ministry of Education office.

Visit our Parents website for more information.

Home  education — Parents website (external link)

Last reviewed: 08 December 2020 Has this been useful? Give us your feedback

Support with providing distance learning

Our Service Desk staff are happy to respond to queries from early learning services, schools and kura about online learning.

Our operating hours are 7.30AM to 5.30PM on business days.

Phone - 0800 422 599

Email - [email protected]

Learning resources

Information for parents, whānau and schools.

The aim of this website is to support parents, whānau, early learning services and schools so that children and young people can continue learning at home.

Learning happens in every language. If your home language is a language other than English, use that language when communicating with your child. You can use your home language to talk about activities provided and the activity can be completed in English (or in your home language).

Supporting learning from home resources

We have identified some resources you might find useful. Download and print them to create a learning pack for ākonga. You can also direct parents and whānau to the resources online.

All learning from home resources

Browse all resources that have been selected by the Ministry of Education to support learning during an emergency event.

Resources for early learning

Resources for school years 1 to 4

Resources for school years 5 to 8

Resources for school years 9 to 13

Resources for learning support

Resources offered by providers

The Ministry of Education thanks providers who have offered to share their resources with the education community.

2022 Learning from Home packs

In Term 1 2022, the Ministry is trialling a new set of learning packs. The Learning from Home packs are designed to support learning against rich curriculum themes, drawing on a range of bicultural and multi-cultural contexts. They provide rich learning opportunities across several year groupings, covering multiple curriculum areas, including literacy and numeracy. 

Hard copy resource packs

The Ministry’s hard copy learning packs provide materials for ākonga who may not have access to online learning during this time and are there to complement their school’s learning programme. The packs include stationery, reading books (e.g school journals), subject specific learning materials and fun activities. Parent and whānau guidance is also included to support children learning from home.

Home Learning TV | Papa Kāinga TV

Watch programmes and lessons for early learners and students on demand.

Home Learning TV page - TVNZ OnDemand website

2024 ICAS registrations are now open! Click here to register .

Focus Education NZ

The role of homework in your child’s education.

Most students are set homework as a default. Schools may have different homework policies, which can also vary by student age. In general, homework expectations increase as students enter intermediate and then high school. Students can struggle to understand why they need to do homework, or parents can struggle to support their child to complete difficult or confusing tasks in what free time they have.

So what is the role of homework, and how can you help your child navigate it?

Reinforcing learning

The expectation is, for many countries worldwide, that homework reinforces what students learn in school. It is now commonly agreed by educational researchers that retention of learning drops quickly if not reinforced by regular practice.

Expanding the scope of school activities

Schools have limitations in what they can guide students to do in class, such as pursuing individual research projects, self-directed writing, and community trips. Sending a student home with an activity such as this helps to enlarge the scope of the student’s educational experiences.

Building self-discipline and study routines

A key aspect of homework is how it encourages students to build good routines around their education and practice doing something unwelcome in order to achieve a good outcome. Many future life experiences rely on sustained effort that is not always pleasant, such as building the qualifications to enter a desired job, maintaining good physical health, having a long term satisfying relationship, and contributing to the community.

Busywork and stress

However, homework is not necessarily helpful. Homework should be pertinent to your child’s learning, suitable for their age and stage, and achievable in the time available. Simply doing work for the sake of it may not reinforce any learning. Homework can also cause your child stress, with the pressures to complete it and to do a good job. This is particularly a danger in high school where students are preparing for external assessments.

Inappropriate or stressful homework experiences can, unfortunately, reinforce a negative feeling and attitude towards study and make it more of a struggle for your child and the family. Ultimately, this will also negatively impact your child’s learning, whether in school or out.

Tips for a positive homework experience

So what can you do to help? Here are some tips for supporting your child to have a positive and useful homework experience.

• Create a set time and place to study. Homework becomes part of the daily routines of your child, and this can minimize time management issues and avoidance.
• Model a learning mindset. Your child’s attitude to learning rests on how you behave towards it too. By showing that you value learning in your own life, you demonstrate to your child that despite difficulties, learning is intrinsically important in life, not just in childhood.
• Make the study environment as pleasant as possible. Learning happens most when students are engaged in their work. Elements such as lighting, music, stationery, snacks, and rewards can help to make doing homework a much more pleasant part of your child’s daily routine. Adjust these so that they are not distracting but allow your child to relax into the studying process.
• Communicate with your child’s teachers. Understanding the role of specific homework tasks, as well as which topics and skills your child needs to work on, can allow you to guide your child’s approach to their homework.
• Take action when things go wrong. Inevitably there will be successes and disappointments in your child’s education. Some issues, such as misunderstanding a homework task, or running out of time to complete all homework, are minor and can be gradually worked on. If major issues crop up, such as your child struggling to learn at all, seek out information and advice. While educational issues are rarely urgent, they do need to be addressed sooner rather than later, so that your child can keep developing their knowledge and skills for the future.

Further Reading

Primary School – Homework (Ministry of Education)

What Research Says About the Value of Homework (Reading Rockets)

Homework: Why It’s Worth the Hassle and How to Make it Work in Your Family (LearnWell)

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Homework serves an important role in developing good study and work habits in our high school students. Our knowledge of the “science of learning” shows that repetition, and reinforcement of skills and concepts, are important to mastery. Homework is an opportunity to ensure that learning is consolidated.

In general, students can expect homework from each day’s subjects every night in the region of:

                                Yr 9  -    40-60 minutes

                               Yr 10 -     60 minutes

                Senior School -      1 – 2 hours

Teachers post homework for each class in their Class Teams. This can be accessed by students from any computer with internet connection.  Some subjects have homework books or on-line programmes like Education Perfect.  Students may be given specific pages from these books or Education Perfect tasks to work through for homework.

Senior students may have larger assignments that they work on at home over a period of time. Good time management is crucial for prioritising, chunking down, and pacing progress through these larger tasks.

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Budget 2024: education sees funding for new schools, training and cyber security.

Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller

Government spending on schools and early childhood education increases nearly $1 billion in the next financial year to $19.1b.

However, the Budget showed the education spend would drop below $19b in 2025 and beyond.

The Budget included $2.5b in new spending over four years and a further $429 million in redirected savings, most of it from the Ministry of Education.

School property took half of the money - $1.5b over four years - including funding for new schools, maintenance and depreciation.

Early childhood subsidies increased two percent and school operations grants 2.5 percent with payments to schools for socioeconomic disadvantage increasing three percent for a four-year cost of $199m for schools and $191m for early education.

The other big-ticket item was $153m for school IT infrastructure and services including email protection, cyber security, software licences, and equipment replacement at the school network provider the Network for Learning (N4L).

Previously-announced initiatives included $476m to continue free school lunches until the end of 2026, $153m to establish charter schools , $67m for structured literacy training and resources, and $53m for teacher supply including school-based teacher education courses.

In tertiary education, the Budget switched the fees free policy for tertiary students' course fees from the first to last year of study from next year, saving the government $877m over four years.

The Budget also increased tertiary institutions' government subsidies 2.5 percent at a cost of $266m over four years.

Institutions would also be allowed to increase the fees they charge students by up to six percent.

The tertiary education budget included $65m over four years to continue monthly payments to employers who employed apprentices.

Overall spending on tertiary education was budgeted to decrease by about $1b over four years, but the total did not include an undisclosed sum set aside for costs associated with the disestablishment of the national skills and training institute Te Pukenga and the creation of a replacement.

The decline also reflected the eventual expiry of a short-term boost to tertiary institutions' subsidies provided by the previous government.

The Budget increased the interest rate on student loans for debtors living overseas from 3.9 to 4.9 percent for five years starting in April next year.

Savings in tertiary education included $195m over four years from the disestablishment of Workforce Development Councils, and $220m over five years from halting the creation of Te Pukenga.

The Education Budget showed savings from the ministry totalling more than $367m over four years plus $4.7m cut from it via the Tertiary Education Budget.

The cuts included $148m from staff costs and more than $100m from contractors and out-sourced professional services.

The Budget also cut almost $2.5m a year from the Education Review Office, $3.7m a year from the Tertiary Education Commission, and $2.3m a year from Education New Zealand.

The Budget for Business, Science and Innovation cut a total of about $35m from four major research funds - Health, Endeavour, Marsden and Strategic Science - from 2027.

It said $756m would remain in those funds in the 2027/28 year.

A further $173m over four years was saved from the conclusion of the National Science Challenges in June this year.

Copyright © 2024 , Radio New Zealand

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James Cook High assistant principal Seelan Ramiah struck off for inappropriate conduct

Jeremy Wilkinson

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James Cook High School teacher Seelandran Ramiah pictured in 2017. Photo/George Novak

Warning: This story contains sexualised content

An assistant principal attempted to pursue relationships with three of his students as well as a colleague by sending them naked pictures of himself and trying to give two of them sex toys at school.

Seelandran Ramiah, who goes by Seelan, has had his teaching registration cancelled for the behaviour, which took place at Auckland’s James Cook High School between 2020 and 2022.

Full details of Ramiah’s offending have been released by the Teachers’ Disciplinary Tribunal this morning as it announced his cancellation.

According to the charges, which were admitted at a hearing held on the papers earlier this year, Ramiah began messaging a Year 12 student between 2020 and 2022 telling her that he loved her. He also asked that she keep their communications a secret.

They exchanged thousands of text messages, many of them of a sexual nature.

“I’m in love with your ass,” one message from Ramiah reads.

“Send me a pic of every time you weigh yourself,” another message to the student reads, despite him knowing she had a history of depression and anxiety, and struggled with her appearance and weight.

Over a similar time period, the teacher also engaged in similar conduct towards a student in her final year of school by asking her to download the app Signal so he could message her privately.

Ramiah also removed the student from one of her classes and brought her to his office where he told her he’d had relationships with former students, talked about himself masturbating and asked if she wanted to use a sex toy he had brought with him to school.

Although the student received several messages from Ramiah she didn’t read them and deleted the app.

A third student also drew Ramiah’s attention in 2022. He also asked her to download Signal, where he messaged her telling her she was “beautiful” and “sexy”.

He also offered to send the girl photos of himself masturbating and told her that he could teach her to masturbate and had done so to other students.

The student ceased all contact with Ramiah and deleted the app when the sexual nature of the conversations in person and via the app made her uncomfortable.

However, it wasn’t just students that drew the unwanted sexual attention of Ramiah after he told a female staff member that he wanted to pursue a relationship with her and commented on her physical appearance as well as telling her what he wanted to do to her sexually.

The man sent his colleague photos of his penis as well as videos of himself masturbating and requested that she send him similar visuals of herself.

Investigation

In May 2022 the school’s then principal, Grant McMillan, became aware of Ramiah’s interactions with the first student and placed him on discretionary leave before suspending him on full pay pending a full investigation.

The Teachers’ Disciplinary Tribunal was then notified and a Complaints Assessment Committee (CAC) charged him with misconduct.

Now, the tribunal has opted to cancel Ramiah’s teaching licence, though he has voluntarily withdrawn from the profession as of 2022, and he was ordered to pay $7000 in fines and legal costs.

Ramiah admitted his conduct towards the first student and said there was no way forward but to renounce his teaching certificate and resign from the profession.

In regards to the other two students, Ramiah opted not to respond and claimed that doing so could be seen as him defending his actions.

He maintained that his communications with his female colleague were mutual.

Counsel for the CAC, Elena Mok, said in submissions that Ramiah took advantage of the first student’s anxieties in conduct that amounted to “emotional abuse”.

“Student A was highly vulnerable due to her young age, body-image issues, and history of self-harm. She entrusted Mr Ramiah with these issues,” Mok said in her submissions.

“Mr Ramiah communicated with Student A via text message, exchanging wholly inappropriate and sexualised messages with her, over several months in 2022. The messaging was clearly intended for Mr Ramiah’s own sexual gratification, and at the expense of Student A’s needs.”

Mok said Ramiah initially appeared to show concern for the student’s expressions of anxiety and insecurities, but he would then, in the same conversation, proceed to encourage her to engage in messaging about sexual topics and to send nude photographs to him.

“Mr Ramiah put his own interests first in his interactions with these students, abusing his position of authority for his own sexual gratification.”

The tribunal said Ramiah’s conduct was aggravated by him urging the students to keep their communications with him secret, which suggested he was well aware of how inappropriate his conduct was.

“Mr Ramiah’s conduct involved more than one student, apparently for his own sexual gratification and regardless of the students’ wellbeing.”

“He was persistent and forced his demands on the students despite them expressing discomfort.”

The tribunal said Ramiah’s conduct to each of the young women involved “gross breaches of trust and abuse of his position of responsibility” given he was an assistant principal and had a duty of pastoral car towards his students.

“There was a pattern of behaviour over an extended period with Mr Ramiah pursuing relationships with four young women which he ought to have recognised was wholly inappropriate and contrary to the professional standards expected of registered teachers,” the tribunal said.

“There is little evidence that demonstrates that Mr Ramiah fully understands the impact of his conduct on the students and staff member, or the importance of the professional boundary and the seriousness of breaching the boundary.”

The tribunal said it was concerned that there was no evidence that Ramiah had apologised to his victims.

He has been approached through his counsel for comment.

Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.

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• School Education /

Holiday Homework for Class 8 Computer 

• Updated on  
• Jun 4, 2024

Summer vacation is a time for enjoyment and relaxation and a fantastic opportunity for young children to continue learning and stay active. Say goodbye to tedious spreadsheets! This blog article offers a plethora of creative ideas for computer holiday homework for Class 8 students. We’ll explore a range of engaging activities, including multiple-choice questions (MCQs), fill-in-the-blank exercises, short-answer questions, long-answer questions, and interactive projects. These tasks are designed to make summer learning engaging and enjoyable for kids, teachers, and parents alike.

Table of Contents

• 1.1 1. Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
• 1.2 2. Fill in the Blanks
• 1.3 3. Short Answer
• 1.4 4. Long Answer
• 1.5 5. Exercises

Computer Holiday Homework for Class 8

1. multiple choice questions (mcqs).

Also Read : Holiday Homework for Class 3 Science: Creative Ideas for Curious Minds

2. Fill in the Blanks

Also Read : Fun and Engaging Holiday Homework Ideas for Classes 1-8  

3. Short Answer

4. long answer.

Also Read : Class 1 Holiday Homework: Check Ideas Here!  

5. Exercises

Explore Art Therapy Courses ! 

Ans: It allows students to apply and reinforce what they have learned in school.

Ans: Create a schedule that fits around your holiday plans, and stick to it as much as possible.

Ans: Schedule everything out carefully in advance. Maintain your study space tidy and orderly, and keep your study aids close at hand. 

Explore interesting ideas for school children here : 

To refer to interesting ideas related to children’s school education and Holiday Homework activities, follow Leverage Edu now!! 

Aayushi Vardhan

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