Schools are an agency of the government and at last count, at least 52 Acts of Parliament applies all or in part, to schools. We have certain statutory requirements which we are obliged by law to implement or have the legal backing to enforce.
The most obvious one is that children have to attend school regularly from the time the child is enrolled. The school is required to monitor children’s attendance and take all reasonable steps to ensure regular attendance. In severe cases, prosecution for truancy can result.

Children can be excluded from school (stood down) if they have contagious, untreated illness (including lice). If a parent refuses to seek medical treatment or sends a child back to school while still contagious, the law provides for the child to be stood down and for a referral for neglect to be made to CYFS – the state agency charged with protection of children.

When children make a disclosure of physical or sexual abuse, schools must pass on the allegations to CYFS, the Police or the Public Health Nurse. We do not judge the situation or determine its direction or outcome. We simply pass on the disclosure (as is required of us) and the appropriate agency then determines the validity of the allegation.

Schools do have discretion on whether to pass on a concern for care and neglect matters, but not for physical or sexual assault. For instance, if a teacher was concerned about a child having no lunch for a period of time, the school can decide whether or not to pass on its concern. (It may be that the child had been throwing away the lunch or eating it on the way to school).

Over the last few years Matipo Primary School have offered a number of seminars on anti violence towards women and children and sent home various pamphlets and resources. All staff have had professional development in ‘Keeping our Children Safe.”

In a country with horrific statistics in violence and murder to children and with the huge publicity being given to this area of concern, it should come as no surprise that schools are in the frontline of protection of children. Half of all murders in New Zealand are family violence related. On average every year, 14 women, six men and 10 children die as a result of family violence. Police attended 70,000 calls about family violence in 2006 – one every 7 ½ minutes. FAMILY VIOLENCE IS NOT O.K!