Background
Since 2008, Synergetic has been used to meet the New Zealand Ministry of Education (NZ MOE) attendance and absence requirements.
Either Synergetic or SynWeb can be used by teachers to record student attendances. See:
- Class attendance in this manual
- Class attendance in the SynWeb Attendance and absence events manual.
Attendance and absence codes
The following attendance and absence codes apply to New Zealand schools.
Code | Reason | Description | In class? | Audit code | Truancy code | Half day calc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
? | Unknown |
It is updated as soon as relevant information becomes available about the reason for the absence
reason (temporary) | Temporary code used when the reason for a student’s absence is initially unknown. This will be updated once the reason is confirmed. | No | U | U | A |
A | Alternative |
provision |
Student is |
present in a Ministry approved alternative provision, such as a teen parent unit, alternative education, secondary-tertiary program, health school or activity centre. | No | N | P | P |
C
Justice Court proceedings
Under existing legislation this type of absence is deemed to be present when calculating half day summaries.
No
J
J
P
D
Doctor/Dentist
D | Approved external appointment | Student is present but has a medical appointment which is unable to be scheduled outside of school hours (e.g. doctor or dentist and includes travel time) or is participating in court proceedings. | No | J | J | P |
E | Explained but |
not approved | Student is absent and the reason provided does not meet the school’s policy for a justifiable absence (e.g. a parent states their child didn’t want to attend sports day). | No | U | U | A |
F
Off site course/class
The student is not in class but is on a legitimate off-site school-based course.
No
S
P
P
H
Health camp/school
The student is not in class but is in an approved environment for which the school is entitled to be funded, including:
- health camp
- regional health school
- residential school.
No
F
J
P
I
Internal school appointment
Students who are out of class for internal school appointments, such as meeting with form teachers, deans, senior management, counsellors, sports administrators, nurses or careers advisors.
Students who are on an administration activity such as acting as a messenger or collecting attendance.
It should not include a student sent out of class (during the period) to the administration area for disciplinary reasons; they would be coded P in the class and possibly changed to R by the senior staff member attending to them.
No
J
J
P
J
Justified
Justified explanation within the school policy that may include:
- unintentional absences such as a bus breakdown, accident, road closure and so on
- nonattendance which is pre-arranged and justified such as for national or local representation in a sporting or cultural event
- family circumstances or bereavement.
No
J
J
A
K
Teen parent unit
The student is not in class, is on the school roll but funded elsewhere.
No
N
J
P
L
Late
| G | Holiday during term time | Student is absent due to a holiday taken. | ||||
J | Explained and approved | Student is absent due to explained and approved reasons (e.g. family emergencies, bereavement, representing in national / cultural events, approved exemptions, or accompanying parents on overseas diplomatic / military postings). | No | J | J | A |
L | Late to class | Student is late to class. Schools set the threshold for lateness (e.g. 10 minutes) in their school policy. | No | P | P | P |
M | Illness / Medical |
absence | Student is |
absent due to illness or medical |
reasons, including mental health-related absences (e.g. anxiety). | No | J | J | A |
N |
School based activity
On site school-based activity, such as:
Present but out of class | Student is present but out of class due to an on-site school activity (cultural or sporting event), internal appointment, temporary removal from class, or time in the sickbay. | No | S | P | P |
O
Justified Overseas
No
J
O
A
P | Present | Student is present in |
class. This includes supervised dual tuition with Te Kura. | Yes | P | P | P |
Q |
Attending a school trip/camp
Off-site school-based activity, such as:
Board approved offsite learning | Student is present in Board-approved off-site learning, including courses, school-organised activities, and work experience. | No | S | P | P |
R
Removed temporarily from class
Students who are being temporarily supervised in another teacher's class or in the administration corridor.
No
S
P
P
S
Sick bay
Student is known to be in the school sick bay.
No
J
J
P
T
Truant
It may also be applied when the student offers an unacceptable excuse for not attending the class.
T | Truant | Student is absent without explanation or permission from a parent / caregiver (e.g. skipping class) | No | U | U | A |
U |
Stood down or suspended | Student is |
absent due to formal stand down or |
suspension. This code applies to the period of the stand-down or suspension, excluding the day it was | No | J | J | A |
V |
Study period
A school's process should include the means by which the codes are collected and entered for non-supervised study. The school's policy should clearly state the limits of their knowledge of students' whereabouts for unsupervised study
Unsupervised exam study | Student is present in an examination or unsupervised study where the student is on-site. | Yes | S | P | P |
X |
Exam leave | Student is |
X
Exam leave
Under existing legislation, a student on exam leave from school is deemed absent when calculating half day summaries.
No
S
J
A
Y
Activity centre
The student is not in class but in an approved environment for which the school is entitled to be funded.
No
F
J
absent studying offsite preparing for exams. NOTE: Time allocated to this code is not included in Ministry attendance calculations. | No |
F
P
P
S | J | A |
The following codes were inactivated in Dec 2024 for 2025:
Code | Reason |
|---|---|
I | Internal school appointment |
R | Removed from class |
S | Sickbay |
C | Justice Court proceedings |
F | Off-site class / course / distance learning |
W | Work experience |
K | Teen Parent Unit |
Z | Secondary-Tertiary Program |
H | Health camp / health school / residential school |
Y | Activity Centre |
O | Justified overseas posting |
For more information:
- Refer to Electronic Attendance Register 2008: Design Specification for SMS Vendors version 3.3.2025 - Attendance code tree TeMahau v11.pdf
- See luAbsenceType lookup table in the Synergetic System maintenance manual. These codes can be loaded using the NZMOE external system codes. See Loading lookup tables for external systems in the Synergetic System maintenance manual.
Audit codes
The following audit codes apply to New Zealand schools and are used for audit resourcing.
Audit code | Description |
|---|---|
S | Student is not in class but is on a legitimate school-based activity. |
J | Student is not in class but the absence is justified (Ref 1998/48 Circular). |
F | Student is not in class but is in an approved environment for which the school is entitled to be funded with the required supporting documentation. |
U | Student is not in class and the absence is unjustified. |
P | Student is present for tuition in the class. |
N | Student is on the school roll but is funded somewhere else. |
Truancy codes
The following truancy codes apply to New Zealand schools and are used for truancy reporting.
Truancy code | Description |
|---|---|
J | Justified absence. |
U | Unjustified absence. |
P | Present. |
O | Overseas holiday. |
...
- attendance rate calculation and reporting
- alerting the school should a student's unjustified absenteeism reach a certain number of half days.
Half day calculation code | Description |
|---|---|
A | Marked as absent based on certain absence codes that apply to the student's class on a given day. |
P | Marked as present based on certain attendance and absence codes that apply to the student's class on a given day. |
...