The Ministry newsletter keeping principals up-to-date
Feedback on National Standards webinars
More than 600 people are booked to take part in the introductory webinar sessions on National Standards.
You can still book for the one-hour webinars on the e-Admin Training Team website. Go to:
Feedback has been very positive, with principals saying the webinar sessions provide an ideal introduction to the standards for staff, particularly if they haven’t read the pack. Others would like more detail on specific issues. Please note, the sessions provide a basic introduction to the standards and the standards packs.
More in-depth information is available through face-to-face meetings with School Support Services and local Ministry of Education staff. Please contact your local Ministry office if you would like to organise a meeting.
We are also taking questions that come up during webinar sessions and posting them, along with answers, on the Ministry’s website. Go to:
More information about implementing the standards is also available on Te Kete Ipurangi, through the National Standards pages on NZ Curriculum. The website also links to material on assessment, reporting to parents, moderation, overall teacher judgements and home-school partnerships.
Go to:
Truancy service to continue next year
The District Truancy Service and provider agreements are set to continue in 2010.
The decision coincides with the release of a 2009 evaluation of the service by Martin, Jenkins and Associates Ltd. The evaluation identifies areas of best practice, recommends areas for improvement and provides an insight into how different truancy services operate through case studies.
The findings will help the Ministry make decisions about how best to use the additional money announced in this year’s budget to improve attendance. Read the evaluation on the Ministry’s website, go to:
A variety of other research findings is available to help schools make decisions about how best to improve attendance. Findings of particular interest include:
the quality of student relations with significant adults outside the family, notably teachers, has a significant impact on attendance
non-attendance is often linked with experience of bullying
students who frequently don’t attend school show higher levels of normal adolescent risk-taking behaviour such as higher levels of drug and alcohol use compared to their peers.
For more evidence relevant to education policy and practice, go to:
Preferred supplier update
Schools in the Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne and Northland regions can now choose property managers from a list of preferred suppliers.
The Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne region has nine professional planning and project management suppliers on their list while Northland has seven.
We encourage schools when they are looking for a project manager to review the preferred supplier list as it will save time and money. Listed project managers can also provide advice on 10-year property plans and capital building projects.
When selecting a preferred supplier, schools must ensure there is a comfortable fit between the school and the nominated supplier to help staff develop an on-going relationship with suppliers.
Meanwhile, we are approaching the end of the formal Request for Proposal (RFP) phase of the procurement process for a further six regions. We expect to have preferred supplier lists finalised by early 2010 for the following regions:
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Chatham Islands
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Westland, Grey, Buller
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Kawerau, Opotiki, Whakatane
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Kaikoura, Hurunui, Waimakariri, Selwyn, Ashburton, MacKenzie, Waimate and Timaru
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Masterton, Carterton, South Wairarapa, Tararua
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Manawatu, Wanganui, Rangitikei, Ruapehu and Horowhenua.
Also, we are in the Registration of Interest (ROI) stage for another two regions (see list below). We expect to finalise their preferred supplier lists by the end of March 2010.
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New Plymouth, Stratford and South Taranaki
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South Waikato, Otorohanga and Waitomo.
For more information, please visit the Ministry’s website. Go to:
Education leaders: call for 2010 events
Wherever you are in your leadership career, you should find the materials, tools, resources, news and discussions you need on the Educational Leaders website.
Go to:
Educational Leaders aims to help you solve day-to-day problems and issues quickly, so that you can focus on the strategic role of being a principal or leader in your school.
We are currently updating the ‘Leadership Events’ calendar on the Educational Leaders website. Please let us know about 2010 conferences, seminars, professional opportunities and events relevant to middle and senior leaders and school principals and we will add the information to the calendar.
Email details to the website coordinator at:
Paying employees in advance
Please note that advance payments to employees are illegal under the Education Act 1989.
Ensure your board is confident that the necessary processes and systems are in place in your school to meet legislative requirements, relating to the Employment Relations Act 2000 and Education Act 1989.
Past financial audits by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) identified that some schools had prepaid employees by falsifying time and wage records. The findings mainly related to the banking staffing time period for balancing. Not only is this practice illegal, but there are risks, eg, the person may not subsequently complete the work.
The OAG has asked us to remind you that:
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advance payments are illegal under the Education Act 1989
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the Employment Relations Act 2000 requires the employer to maintain accurate wage and time records for their employees
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falsifying wage records to prepay employees, eg, stating an employee has worked in the school on dates they didn’t, is in breach of the Act
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payments of this nature fall within the Ministry’s fraud policy and boards and/or individuals are liable to prosecution.
The correct process is as follows:
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employees should only be paid for work done
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time worked should be accurately recorded
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instruction to the Payroll Service Centre must be to pay for time that employees have worked within that fortnight.
Please authorise your Novopay access
Novopay access authorisation forms for all South Island schools are due back to us by the end of this week, Friday November 27.
The information you provide will be used to set up Ids and passwords and online training access for you and your payroll users to use next year.
Principals should make sure they have personal access to Novopay by completing the form, NOVO5P – Novopay Access Authorisation – Principals. Your board needs to sign this authorisation for you.
You should still complete and send back a NOV05P form, even if you don’t have a hands-on role in payroll work in your school. This is because Novopay will give you online access to a range of important management information about your staff such as up-to-date annual and sick leave balances, leave bookings for all staff for a given time period and pay step and grade details.
You need to approve the use of Novopay by other people in your school by signing and returning the form, NOVO5 – Novopay Access Authorisation – Admin.
For more information on the Novopay authorisation process, check out the School Payroll website. Go to:
Resourcing update
Here’s an update on two of our funding processes. Please visit the Ministry’s website for more information, go to:
Out-of-hours music and art classes
A reminder that schools are allocated an annual entitlement at the beginning of the year, with quarterly payments made with each instalment of Operational Funding.
Deadline for school staffing changes
Friday December 4 is the deadline to apply for school staffing changes resulting from roll growth. Please note, a school’s permanent daily roll has to have been maintained for 10 school days before an application can be approved.
ENROL – end of year withdrawals
Please ensure that all school leavers for 2009 are withdrawn from ENROL before the end of the calendar year.
ENROL allows the batch withdrawal of school leavers before their last day of attendance. Schools could do batch withdrawals from Wednesday November 18.
For help, enquiries or information about batch withdrawal training, contact the e-Admin Training Team at:
Schools with Student Management System (SMS) and ENROL interoperability can withdraw school leavers for 2009 using their SMS, which will also update ENROL. Please contact your SMS vendor if you have questions about this function.