Source: New Zealand Government
Provisional school attendance data for Term 3 2026 shows despite a tough flu season in person attendance rates were the highest of any Term 3 since 2022, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says.
In Term 3 2026, 52.2% of students met the criteria for regular attendance, representing a 1.7 percentage point increase from 50.5% in Term 3 2025. A student attends school ‘regularly’ when they are in class for more than 90 per cent of the term.
“This data shows attendance rates continue to rise under this Government. We are focussed on fixing what matters, and few things are as important as school attendance,” Mr Seymour says.
“When the Government takes attendance seriously, so do students and their families and care givers. That’s the attitude we’ve taken to attendance during this difficult period.
“In Term 3 2022 regular attendance was at 45.8 per cent. In Term 3 2026 about 53,000 more students attended school regularly than in Term 3 2022. Kiwi students are showing up to school more, and parents are pushing them to attend. Those students and parents should be proud.
“The results speak for themselves. When faced with a tough flu season in Term 3 2025 attendance dropped 1.2 per cent. This year when faced with the same difficulties and an arguably tougher flu season, attendance rose 1.7 per cent.
“We’re on a roll, and I expect that to continue. Our attendance initiatives are now in force and have delivered results already. As educators, communities, and families become more familiar with new tools, those results will continue to improve.
“For example, every school is now required to have implemented their own attendance management plan (AMP). It means there are escalating responses for declining attendance.”
Some examples of how interventions might work are:
5 days absent: The school to get in touch with parents/guardians to determine reasons for absence and set expectations.
10 days absent: School leadership meets with parents/guardian and the student to identify barriers to attendance and develop plans to address this.
15 days absent: Escalating the response to an Attendance Service Provider. If absence escalates beyond this point (or for cases of non-enrolment) prosecution of parents becomes a possibility.
Budget 2025 also included $140 million of additional funding to improve attendance over the next four years.
“We’ve re-organised the provision of attendance services, awarding new contracts and increasing support for services providing excellent results,” Mr Seymour says.
“In 2024 Ministry of Education and ERO reviews found that the attendance services system wasn’t working. Funding was scattershot, distributed inefficiently, and failing to get results.
“Now, attendance services are much more effective. They’re better resourced, more accountable, better at effectively managing cases and more data driven. Thanks to this Government’s investment, they can reach twice as many students.
“As a result, attendance services are more effective at identifying non-enrolled students and are closing more cases. Support for schools to manage high numbers of re-enrolments is continuing and I would like to shout out the schools who have led this work.
“Our goal is clear: by 2030, 80 per cent of students will attend school more than 90 per cent of the time. School attendance is the first step to better learning, better health, higher incomes and stronger communities. Every student deserves that chance and we’re fixing what matters to make it happen.”
The years 2020 and 2021 are not included in comparisons because they’re not directly comparable with other years, due to the way that attendance was recorded during Covid-19 lockdowns.
The full provisional data breakdown can be found here: Attendance | Education Counts
Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/10/15/new-term-same-story-attendance-up-again/