Software

The Ministry currently offers fully-funded software packages for state and state-integrated schools.

Free Chrome licensing for all New Zealand schools

All state and state-integrated schools across New Zealand are able to claim Ministry-funded Chrome Education licenses at no cost courtesy of Google and New Zealand Ministry of Education.

Microsoft school software agreement

The Ministry of Education Microsoft Enrolment for Education Solutions (EES) agreement has been extended to 31 December 2021.

A range of new cloud-delivered services and tools are available under the agreement, including:

• Office 365 Pro Plus
• the Enterprise Mobility & Security suite
• Minecraft Education Edition

This agreement includes expanded Student Use Benefits (SUB) on more products.

More detailed information on the Microsoft website »

Symantec antivirus software

Licensing and support arrangements for Symantec SEP anti-virus software run through to 31 December 2019.

Apple software - Ministry of Education software agreement

Apple now provides their main operating system and office productivity software for free. You can still keep using software provided under the Ministry’s former agreement with Apple.

Novell School Software Agreement

The Ministry of Education has an ongoing agreement with Novell to provide software to New Zealand schools.

SketchUp Pro licensing

The SketchUp Pro licence rights expire on 20 November 2019.

SketchUp Pro is available for Windows and Mac OS X platforms.

Schools receive Government-funded services to help them provide a safe and secure online environment for students and teachers.

N4L, the free, uncapped, managed network for schools, has been designed for safety. It provides online content filtering and network security services. 

State and state-integrated schools not connected to the Network for Learning (N4L) Managed Network  need to arrange and fund their own ICT safety and security solution.

No content filtering solution or firewall can guarantee full protection. It is important for schools to consider additional measures such as digital citizenship and cyber-safety  programmes.

More information »

• ensuring your school internet is safe and secure  on the Ministry of Education website.
• N4L Managed network website  or phone N4L on 0800 LEARNING
• digital citizenship and cyber-safety  to encourage appropriate use of the internet in schools.

School management systems perform two main functions:

1. Administration of student and staff information
2. Management of curriculum and pedagogical resources

Contact vendors of school management systems »

The Ministry’s SMS project has now finished, and the main funding assistance offer for schools to move to an accredited SMS has ended. The Ministry continues to work with both accredited and non-accredited SMS vendors to provide data sharing services to schools.

An explanation of how to transfer data using SRT.

The Ministry of Education has a range of initiatives to improve student attendance and engagement in schools.

• Managing student attendance
• Early notification – messages about absences  – A text and email messaging service for sending customised messages to groups. It also provides a return path to the school’s register to update the reasons for a student’s absence. Early notification (EN) is not compulsory, but it significantly simplifies recording absences. EN is used together with the electronic Attendance Register (eAR) module of the school's Student Management System (SMS).
• Electronic Attendance Register (eAR) tracks attendance  – How to use the eAR, applying to get it, codes for recording attendance, and resources about using it.
• Attendance services  – Attendance Services combines the Non-Enrolled Truancy Service (NETS) and the District Truancy Service (DTS) into one integrated service to support schools and students to manage and improve attendance.

MyPortfolio  provides a personal learning environment to record and showcase evidence of achievement, manage development plans, set goals, and create online learning communities. 

Currently registration is free for New Zealand Schools. MyPortfolio works with any Learning Management System (LMS) supplied by the Ministry’s vendors.

The Ministry recognises that e-portfolio tools are an important teaching and learning resource.