Strategic Plan

The Education Act 1989 requires every school to complete a charter and a copy of the annual charter update to be sent to the Ministry of Education each year.

The role of the board is to prepare and maintain the school charter.

Annual charter updates are required to be submitted to the Ministry by 1 March each year. The charter is a key planning document that sets out the school’s objectives and targets for the year, it is important it is in place at the start of the school year. It can then be effective in setting teaching and learning programmes and guiding the activities of your school.

The purpose of a school charter is to establish the mission, aims, objectives, directions and targets of the board that will give effect to the Government’s National Education Guidelines and the Board’s priorities.

Under the National Administration Guidelines (NAG2(a)), a board is required to develop a strategic plan which documents how they are giving effect to the National Education Guidelines through their policies, plans and programmes, including those for curriculum, National Standards, assessment and staff professional development.

A charter must contain all annual or long-term plans or a summary of each plan or reference to it. The strategic plan required by NAG2(a) must be included in the charter (or summary of or reference to it).

Section 61 of the Education Act 1989 provides the required content of a school charter. A full copy of the Education Act 1989 can be found at www.legislation.govt.nz