March Roll Returns

The March return gets an exact count of students enrolled on Roll Count day, on which that year's school funding is based.

The focus of the Ministry of Education’s March return is to get an exact count of students enrolled at the school on the March Roll Count day - the school funding for that year is based on that roll count.

Introduction and Process

Ministry returns are summarised with more information on our Summary page. The student count is broken down into Type (Regular, Adult/Part-time, NZAID-funded, International Fee-Paying students, etc); Status (Full Time, Part Time, etc); and Ethnicity (NZ European, NZ Māori, SE Asian, etc.) as well as a number of other fields from which data is gathered for statistical purposes. The return for July also counts students, but is determining staffing for your school for the following year.

For schools with year nine students and above there are two additional roll returns, in June and September. edge has been coded to handle these as required by MoE specifications.

Use the Ministry's MoE Roll Returns Guidelines to help with requirements for MoE returns, which may change from year to year eg. new data fields added to collect different data. Also available to guide you is our edge Ministry Returns for primary video.

▶️ Watch this video on YouTube

In summary, the process follows:

• Checking and correcting your data
• Submitting your .moe file

Checking and correcting your data

Prior to March, use Check Data (Admin > MoE Returns > Check Data) to list any data errors or warnings. If you have any errors or warnings:

Print these out using the ‘print data validation report’ link then correct them through People > Students > Students Details.

Errors must be corrected, however warnings may be okay with the data being just outside of expected parameters 

1. Printouts such as ‘print data validation report’ will appear as a link for you to click on the page, then select ‘Open’ as the next choice. You may need to click F5 to refresh the page to see this link.

2. A full school list can be generated for cross checking using People > Students > Enrolment Summary > Print All Enrolled

Optional Marking Rolls (no longer required for MoE purposes)

• Class Rolls can be printed the day before the roll Return which is the first of the three school days of the Roll Count Period. Admin > MoE Returns > Audit Class Lists.

• Class Teachers need to mark the roll for each of the three days then sign and return the roll to the office 

 Once your data is error free, a full school audit list should be printed and used to cross check your class lists. To do this:

Admin > MoE Returns > Check Data > Validate and Create file to create your .moe file from which an Audit List can be printed. 

To print this file, from Admin > MoE Returns > Audit Log click on the relevant link under the Roll Return Files heading.

Submitting your .moe file

- Electronic Sign-Off.

You can only submit your Roll Returns Tables electronically, which eliminates the need to print, sign and send the tables to the MoE. This can be completed either by the Principal or Principals nominee, and they will need to have been selected in the Approvers section of the Roll Returns Summary screen (as well as have Principals Nominee user rights set up).

Common questions and errors

If a student leaves on Roll Count Day do I count them on my school roll?

Yes. If they leave on Roll Count Day it means they left at the end of the day.

If a student arrives on Roll Count Day do I count them on my school roll?

Yes, as theoretically they left their previous school at least the day before.

Addresses missing   -   edit in Student Details > Caregivers tab and tick the students address box

Year Level Errors   -   This Year vs. MoE Year  

Current Year Level  is the year level of the student's class, and the level at which the student spends most of their time at school

Students starting school for the first time from 1 January-1 July are year 1;  from 2 July onwards these students are year 0 for the current academic year. While the academic year and MoE funding year fields are usually the same, errors can be made in the data entry - because a student started school after July 1 (they begin as an MoE Year 0), although your school may have your 'This Year' field as Year 1

Funding Year Level  for most students is based on the date they first started school, measuring the actual number of years (or July returns) that the student has attended a school. It provides the Ministry with a method of counting students for funding purposes which is independent of the way schools are organised or the particular programme of study that a student may undertake

Boarding Status   -   cannot be blank

Probably the most common ‘error’ that edge Learning Solutions has been contacted about during returns time is apparent miscalculations in the number of students at each year level.

Schools must note that Returns tables are calculated on a student's funding year level, i.e. calculated from the ‘First Schooling Date’ field, not the ‘School Year Level’ field. While these fields are usually the same, errors can be made in the data entry, or beginning school after July 1 therefore a MoE Year 0, although the school may have their ‘School Year Level’ field as Year 1. 

Other data errors

1. Start Date Here - check the First Schooling Date field
2. Year of schooling is missing - Enter a value into the ‘School Year Level’ field
3. A Full Time Student must have ‘1.00’ entered in the Full Time Equivalent (FTE) field
4. Enrolment Status must be ‘enrolled’
5. Some subjects are showing too many hours
6. My FTE (Full Time Equivalents - number of students) is not quite right. Usually the number of hours on Part Timers has been entered incorrectly

e-Return Connection to Ministry Server and Passwords

This is usually handled automatically by edge, however if you receive an error when submitting your .moe file please contact Support team at support@edgelearning.co.nz.