Annual report
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Important The Education (School Planning and Reporting) Regulations 2023open_in_new are expected to be updated before the end of 2026. This article has been updated to reflect the intended wording of the new regulations. Your board’s first strategic plan under the new regulations (effective 1 January 2027) will be in place for 2 years to align with the next triennial board election cycle. |
As part of the annual planning and reporting cycle, boards are responsible for ensuring that an annual report is developed.
This document reports on school progress and the use of school resourcing.
Keep reading to learn more.
What is the annual report?
The annual report shows your community and the Ministry of Education how your board has delivered on achieving the goals set out in your strategic and annual implementation plans.
It shows how well all students have progressed over the last year and how you have used your school’s resources to improve their outcomes.
The annual report provides a chance for your board to reflect and assess progress using the targets, expectations, and measures set out in the annual implementation plan and to celebrate progress with your school’s community.
It is one of the most important documents you share with your community.
When must your annual report be published?
Under Section 134open_in_new of the Education and Training Act 2020, the Secretary for Education has determined that each school board must submit its annual report to the Ministry by 31 May every year.
After submission, boards publish their annual reports online as soon as possible.
Remember that the annual report must be written and presented in a way that is easy for your school community to understand.
Why must your annual report be made available to the public?
As the community helped shape your board’s strategic goals, they will have a vested interest in knowing how your board has used its resources (such as financial and staffing) to achieve these goals.
The annual report is also the main way your board accounts for how it has used public funding.
As a Crown entity, your board must comply with public sector regulations to demonstrate how it has used the funds it receives.
The Education (School Planning and Reporting) Regulations 2023open_in_new aim to improve the transparency of schools and kura; publishing your report is one way you can achieve this.
What must your annual report contain?
Your annual report must include:
- Your statement of variance (from what you planned to achieve in your strategic and annual implementation plans).
- An evaluation of students’ progress and achievement, assessed against curriculum expectations (informed by PAT or SMART), which should include priority groups of learners.
- How your school is supporting students not meeting curriculum expectations.
- Any actions you have taken in response to any Education Review Office (ERO) improvement actions, including a decision to take no action, and why.
- Statement of compliance with employment policy.
- Audited annual financial statements – including a signed statement of responsibility.
(This acknowledges that your board is responsible for the preparation and accuracy of the financial statements and states that your board has established and maintained a system of internal control to safeguard the assets of the school or kura.) - KiwiSport funding – a statement on how your school has used this funding to increase students’ participation in organised sport.
- Other reports on special and contestable funding (if applicable).
Your board can also choose to include:
- A board report written by your presiding member or principal. This could be a statement that informs your community about the achievements of the previous year.
- A list of all board members, which may also include the date they started and/or finished their term of office during that year.
The Ministry’s school annual reportsopen_in_new page provides a comprehensive list of what your annual report must include, further details, and an optional template.
Who prepares and submits the annual report?
Generally, it’s the principal and school staff who will prepare the annual report for your board’s review and approval.
The principal will also submit the annual report through the Ministry’s School Planning and Reporting Application on your board’s behalf.
While your board is ultimately responsible for the annual report, the principal oversees that it is accurate, complete, and submitted on time.
Part of the principal’s role is to assure your board that the report is on track.
How should you share the annual report with your community?
Section 136open_in_new of the Education and Training Act requires your board to publish its annual report on a website maintained by or on behalf of your board.
If your school doesn’t have a website, the Ministry can host your annual report on its Education Counts websiteopen_in_new.
Your annual report should remain online until you publish your next one, but it’s good practice to keep the previous versions up.
Remember to ensure that the information is presented in a way that’s easy to understand.
Also, you should consider being proactiveopen_in_new by letting everyone know when the report is available.
What information should be redacted before publishing your annual report?
Before it is made publicly available, your annual report needs to be redacted to protect everyone’s privacy.
The following information may impact an individual’s privacy:
- Names of individual students
- Comments about individual students/families/teachers
- Any data where school community members could reasonably identify the identity of individual students (for example, when you have a small number of students within a particular ethnic or gender category for a particular cohort of students)
- Photos of students where permission has not been given by the student/parents
- References to specific disabilities of students (depending on context).
The report should redact or group student data to remove identifying factors.
It should not remove information about the principal’s remuneration and any settlement payments paid to staff or board members.
While the statement of responsibility document (part of the annual financial statements) must be signed by your principal and the presiding member, the documents you publish online should not display these signatures.
A typed name for each signature is sufficient.
If the documents are being scanned for publication, ensure the signatures are covered.
This list is not exhaustive. If in doubt, please seek advice from us or the Privacy Commissioneropen_in_new.
Questions your board could ask
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Do we understand our annual reporting requirements?
- Have we been assured that any information that may breach an individual’s privacy has been redacted?
- Are our annual reports published on our school website?
- Are our reports written and presented in a way that is easy for the school community to understand?
- Do we discuss any gaps, challenges, strengths, and opportunities that the annual report may have highlighted?
- Do we use the annual report to celebrate progress with the school community?
Templates, resources, and references
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