Provisional school attendance data for Term 2 shows in-person attendance rates were higher than any Term 2 since 2016, Associate Education Minister, David Seymour, has confirmed.
In Term 2, 64.2% of students attended school regularly – a 5.8% increase from 58.4% in Term 2 2025. A student attends school ‘regularly’ when they are in class for more than 90% of the term.
“When the Government takes attendance seriously, so do students and their families and care givers,” Mr Seymour says.
“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.
“In Term 2 2022 regular attendance was at 39.6%. In Term 2 2026 about 199,134 more students attended school regularly. Kiwi students are showing up to school more, and parents are pushing them to attend. Those students and parents should be proud.”
The region with the biggest increase in Term 2 this year was Bay of Plenty (up 8.0 percentage points to 60.5% in Term 2 2026 from 52.5% in Term 2 2025). This was followed by Nelson/Marlborough/West Coast (up 7.3 percentage points to 64.8% in Term 2 2026 from 57.5% in Term 2 2025) and Tāmaki Herenga Waka (up 7.1 percentage points to 57.8% in Term 2 2026 from 50.7% in Term 2 2025).
“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,” Mr Seymour says.
“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.
The full provisional data breakdown can be found here: Attendance | Education Counts.
This data is provisional and subject to minor changes. 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.
