- Hon David Seymour
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today welcomed data showing that more cases of non-enrolled students (NENs) are being referred to attendance services, and more students are re-enrolling in school.
"In term 2 2026 attendance hit a decade high. Our attendance initiatives are in force, and delivering, so I expect attendance to keep rising," Mr Seymour says.
"For example, we re-organised the provision of attendance services, awarded new contracts and increased support for services providing excellent results."
Budget 2025 included $140 million to improve attendance over four years, including $123 million towards frontline services.
"Frontline attendance services are now better resourced, more accountable, better at effectively managing cases and more data driven. As a result, the Ministry has closed 11,579 NEN cases so far in 2026. This is more than the same period of any year since recording began in 2016. There was also a significant increase in the overall NEN re-enrolment cases requiring intensive support from 400 in Term 1 to 4,100 in Term 2," Mr Seymour says.
"Providers are also doing a better job at identifying NENs and making sure they don't fall through the cracks. So far this year 10,716 cases have been opened. This is more than the same period of any year since recording began in 2016.
"The new attendance service focus on individual students. They assess barriers to attendance, and tailor case plans to address those barriers in each case to improve attendance. They are doing a great job.
"With 11,579 cases being closed, a lot of students are being re-enrolled in school. Schools have been working hard to ensure these students are re-integrated into school seamlessly, and once at school, achieving more.
"We have been much more effective at identifying and re-enrolling NENs than first projected. Due to this, many of the supports for schools to manage high numbers of re-enrolments have not yet come into force. I would like to shout out the schools who have been doing their best with what they've got. While this is unideal, it is a much better problem to have than the alternative: thousands of NENs staying off the grid and wasting another year of their valuable education.
"We are working to provide schools with more support as fast as we can. For example, the Ministry is working to finalise Attendance Service Contingency Funds to allow schools to continue to deliver the complex re-integration services for more students.
"The Ministry is also finalising a funding source for Transition hubs. These hubs will be located at schools and provide a welcoming, focused space for the students and families to connect with the school during the transition back into school and learning.
"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."
Note to editors: Data relates to individual cases, not individual children. The same child can have more than one case during the year.
