We have just moved and want to enrol our daughter at the local school, but the school says it is full and that we live outside its enrolment zone. We do not want to send her to a school much further away. Can a state school refuse to enrol a child, and what can we do about it?
State schools with an enrolment scheme under the Education and Training Act 2020 must enrol students who live within the home zone, but they can decline out-of-zone applicants when the school is at or near capacity, in which case places are allocated by ballot in a priority order set by the Act. Priority typically goes first to students with special programme needs, then siblings of current or former students, then children of former students or board employees, and so on. Ask for the school's enrolment scheme in writing and check the zone boundary on the Ministry of Education website. If you live in the home zone and are refused, ask for the decision in writing and raise it with the board chair and then the Ministry, which can intervene.
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