Software
The Ministry of Education provides software for schools to support with the management of student and teacher data.
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.
SketchUp Pro licensing
The licence rights cover all New Zealand state and state-integrated schools. Schools can obtain licence keys for SketchUp Pro by emailing the Ministry’s ICT helpdesk.
- Email: callict@tki.org.nz
The SketchUp Pro 2018 licence expires on 20 November 2020.
SketchUp Pro is available for Windows and Mac OS X platforms.
SketchUp for schools – is free with a G Suite or Microsoft education account.
If you have further questions contact the Ministry's ICT Helpdesk »
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 – Ministry of Education website
- N4L Managed network website or phone N4L on 0800 LEARNING
- Netsafe schools provides guidance for schools and Kura , including creating a digital safety management plan
School management systems perform two main functions:
- Administration of student and staff information
- Management of curriculum and pedagogical resources
The Ministry of Education works with both accredited and non-accredited SMS vendors to provide data sharing services to schools.
Ministry of Education information
Contacting vendors of school management systems
Contact details for vendors of software for managing students and teachers, including:
- Student management systems (SMS)
- Learning management systems (LMS)
- Early notification systems (EN)
- Identity and access management solutions (IAM)
Sharing data from your Student Management Systems
- Information about the modules and systems compatible with each SMS such as ENROL, NSN, EN, SRT and IDE.
Transferring data between schools
- Information about how to get and use the Student Record Transfer (SRT) system, which electronically transfers student data between schools.
Te Rito (Student information sharing)
- The development of a national repository of learner data that enables the safe and secure transfer of information between schools and the sector. Planning is underway to consider how Te Rito can connect with and enable the safe and secure sharing of information between Student Management Systems and other educational or learning systems.
- Learning support register – a standardised learning support register (sLSR) is being introduced to the Te Rito platform in 2020.
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.
