Funding year levels

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Last updated: Jan 11, 2021 by Richard Kennedy (Unlicensed)
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Funding year level measures the actual number of years that a student has attended a school. The funding year level for most students is based on the date they first started school.

It provides the New Zealand Ministry of Education (NZ MOE) with a method of counting students for funding purposes which is independent of the:

  • way schools are organised
  • particular program of study that a student may undertake.

The allocation of school resources is based on the number of students at each funding year level.

Rules for determining the funding year level for a student

  • Students who begin attending a school for the first time between 1 January and 1 July (inclusive) are coded as year 1.
  • Students who begin attending school for the first time between the day after July roll count (2nd July) and 31st December (inclusive) are coded as year 0. Year 0 students are not counted in the July roll returns but will be picked up in the following March roll return as year 1 students.
  • Funding year level for all students is increased by 1 at the start of each school year and will generally remain the same value for the whole school year. The one exception to this is when a student leaves school between 1st January and 1st March – see the special case below.
  • Students whose progress through the school system has been delayed or accelerated have their funding year level increased by one at the start of each school year in the same way as other students. See Synergetic fields used to set funding year level below.
  • The funding year level for a student can be reset as year 7, year 8 and year 9 levels only.
  • To generate appropriate funding and staffing for technology students in their final two years of primary and intermediate schooling, students must have their funding year level set to year 7 and year 8.
  • Contributing (1-6) schools must reset the Funding Year Level of ORS students to YEAR 8, in order for these students to count towards their funding calculations.
  • All students in their first year of secondary schooling will be classified as year 9.
  • Students who start school after the compulsory starting age of 6 years old, such as migrant children or home-schooled children, will be given the same funding year level as the majority of students the same age.
  • Students aged over 16 who have been absent from schooling for at least one year will be given the same funding year level that they had when they left.
  • Returning adult students equal to or over 19 years of age on 1st January will assume the funding year level corresponding to the level at which the majority of their subjects are being taken.

Special case for students in year 9 and above

Students who attend for a period of time at the beginning of the school year, and who have had their funding year level incremented, but leave school before 1st March must have their funding year level decreased by 1 before the MOE file is generated.

Synergetic fields used to set funding year level

The School tab of Current Student Maintenance is used to update the student's Year Level and Schooling Year Offset to determine the students funding year level using the rules defined above.

See Current Student Maintenance - School tab (Roll returns).