Overview of Ministry of Education roll returns (March, June, July, September) and the MoE Returns Summary page functions.
Roll Returns to the Ministry of Education are due in March, June, July and September each year. Check our MoE knowledge base pages for your primary or secondary school requirements as the reporting varies according to school type.
Checklist of tasks for roll returns
For the list of changes from previous year for current roll return requirements provided by the Ministry, see our Changes to MoE guidelines article. Use the MoE Roll Returns Guidelines document available from the Ministry's Education Counts website which outlines requirements for MoE returns, which change annually eg. new or updated data fields and lists added to collect different data. The MoE Returns Summary page provides links for what's changed, the steps, and during official roll returns periods, activates the 'Print Files' and 'Submit File' links.
Select from these options for more on your:
March roll return required for all schools
June roll return required for all schools with students year 9 and above
July roll return required for all schools
September roll return required for all schools with students year 9 and above. For more, see Ministry Flyer online and September Roll Returns article.
The focus of the 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 being based on that roll count. The 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 each category or combination of categories is worth differing amounts of money, and zoning information is also recorded.
The July return (for which students must have an NSN recorded) also counts students but this is to determine school staffing for the following year. The Ministry details roll return data use on their website for:
- funding and staffing schools
- support policy analysis, and
- monitoring results of the New Zealand education system
In addition the Ministry collects June and September returns from all state and state-integrated schools with funding year level 9-15 students. Data gathered includes ethnicity, subjects and Māori language learning; Secondary Tertiary Programme participation, and unless excluded, Youth Services initiative details.
Roll return settings are on the MoE Returns Summary page, where your School Enrolment Scheme date is entered if there is a School Enrolment Scheme in place for zoning. For Integrated schools only, a Maximum Roll Number field will be available to complete and save, providing a total comprising Currently Enrolled students to compare with maximum roll number on the Students > Summary page, Student Counts tab.
Where schools are submitting an electronic return, there is now a requirement to complete "Approver" details to identify the person completing the Electronic Sign-off of the Roll Return process. These details are completed on the Enrolments > MoE Returns > Summary page.