Here are answers to questions which parents sometimes ask when they need to enrol their child at a school. If you want more detailed information, contact staff at one of the Ministry of Education offices listed at the end of this document. Staff there will be able to help you.
All children have the right to be enrolled at a State school between their fifth birthday and the first of January following their nineteenth birthday.
An enrolment scheme is a means of limiting the roll to prevent overcrowding at the school, and enabling the Ministry of Education to make best use of the current accommodation at schools in the surrounding area.
Each enrolment scheme must contain a home zone with clearly defined boundaries. Students who live in the home zone have an absolute right to enrol at the school.
Out of zone students who apply for enrolment at the school must be accepted in the following order of priority:
If there are more applicants in priority groups (b)-(e) than there are places available, selection within the priority group must be by ballot.
The Ministry has to agree that a scheme is necessary and has to approve the content of the scheme.
Each year the board must place a notice in a newspaper circulating in the area, stating:
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.
This means that the address you give when you apply for enrolment must be your usual place of residence. If the school finds that you have given false information, the school may cancel your child’s enrolment.
If you live in the home zone of a school with an enrolment scheme and you want to enrol your child at the school, the school must enrol your child. If you want to enrol your child at a school with an enrolment scheme but live outside the home zone, you will have to wait until the school next organises a ballot before your application for enrolment can be considered.
First of all ask whether the school has an enrolment scheme. If it does not, the school should not be excluding 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 office to discuss the possibility of the Ministry directing the school to enrol your child. The Ministry can do this if there are special circumstances relating to your child which might make it appropriate for the Ministry to override the scheme.
Schools of these types may have authority to operate enrolment schemes if there are likely to be more applicants for enrolment at the school than there are places available. Enrolment schemes at these schools do not have to include a home zone or provide for a ballot.
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