Reporting to parents and whānau
The release of the revised Years 0-10 English, Maths and Statistics Learning Areas means all schools will be teaching, and reporting against these from 2026. This page provides information on new reporting guidance.
About this resource
This page contains information for teachers and schools about the new Reporting to Parents and Whānau guidelines. It contains info sheets, examples and comprehensive guidance.
This page was updated 1 July 2026
Reporting to parents and whānau
Reporting to parents and whānau is essential for developing a clear and shared understanding of children’s progress, achievement, and success. Clear reporting provides parents with timely and meaningful information about the progress their child is making in line with the curriculum, their strengths, and next steps.
From 2026 all state and state-integrated schools will be reporting against the revised Years 0-10 English, Mathematics & Statistics learning areas. There are new Progress Markers that define the level of proficiency expected at each year level, and new Progress Descriptors for teachers to use when reporting to parents and whānau.
There are also Common Components that schools are encouraged to use in reports to parents and whānau. The common components are:
- The Progress Descriptors
- A narrative about why the progress descriptor was selected, and how parents and whānau can support their child’s next learning steps at home
- Assessment Results
- Attendance information
- A visual representation of progress over time
The following information relates to reporting against the New Zealand Curriculum. For information relating to Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, see Kia māhorahora te reo Māori | Kauwhata Reo.
*Please note: schools run by a specified kura board can continue to use the pre-existing curriculum (i.e. the one in use in 2025) until the end of 2026, and can continue to use existing assessment, aromatawai and reporting approaches. They are welcome to begin using the updated curriculum and new tools in 2026, but are not required to implement these until the start of 2027. Specified kura board schools are defined as:
- a kura kaupapa Māori
- a designated character school with a character that is hapū- or iwi-based or that affiliates with Ngā Kura ā-Iwi o Aotearoa
- a state integrated school with a special character that is hapū- or iwi-based.
Please see the ‘Materials that come with this resource’ menu at the top of the page for downloadable versions of all documents.
- Information for Teachers
- Guidance for School Leaders and Boards
- Rubrics, Progress Markers, and Progress Descriptors
- Example Reports
Here you’ll find more information about the new reporting guidelines, including quick-reference info sheets, a comprehensive guidance document that provides detailed information, and a downloadable poster containing a full guide to all Progress Descriptors.
The one-page quick reference guides cover the following topics:
- What’s Changing in 2026?
- What’s Changing in 2026 for Years 9-10?
- Curriculum Progress Markers and Progress Descriptors
- Common Components
- Reporting for Diverse Learning Needs
You can download the full guidance document here: Comprehensive Guidance Document
For example reports, please see the Example Reports tab above.
Please see the ‘Materials that come with this resource’ menu at the top of the page for downloadable versions of all documents.
Videos
What's Changing?
Reporting essentials
Common Components
Making an informed decision
Reporting for complex learning needs
What to do in 2026
Regulatory Requirements
The regulatory requirements1 to report to parents and whānau have not changed.
At least twice a year, schools are required to provide a written report to students, their parents, and their whānau in plain language on the student’s progress and achievement across the curriculum and in literacy and mathematics.
There are no changes to these requirements, but schools are now required to report progress against the new English and Mathematics & Statistics Years 0-10 Learning Areas from 2026.
For all other learning areas, including English Years 11-13 and Mathematics & Statistics Years 11-13, schools should continue to report against the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum.
For some students, it may be appropriate to tailor the approach to reporting to reflect diverse learner needs. Leaders and teachers should work with whānau and families, alongside other learning support specialists, to develop support plans when appropriate (e.g. an Individual Education Plan (IEP), Collaborative Action Plan (CAP) etc.).
1. Regulation 21 of the Education (School Boards) Regulations 2020.
Common Components
We’re aiming to have clear and consistent reporting across the country, so from 2026 all schools are encouraged to reports to parents and whānau using these five common components;
- Progress descriptors for Reading, Writing and Maths: Emerging, Developing, Consolidating, Proficient, and Exceeding. See Materials that come with this resource to download the Info Sheet ‘Reporting Essentials’ for more information about using the descriptors, or the full Guidance for Teachers.
- A visual representation of the student’s progress over time. Your school's SMS provider will be developing this.
- A narrative about how progress descriptors were selected. This could be teacher comment, and/or assessment results, evidence of learning, or could reference the Progress Markers. It should also include information for parents and whānau about how they can support next learning steps.
- Assessment Results. This can include results from e-asTTle, SMART, or PATs. For Years 0-2 this could include Phonics Check | Hihira Weteoro results.
- An attendance record. This could be a simple count of days attended, or could include more complex information.
It is also important parents and whānau have access to results from specific assessments and aromatawai such as the Phonics check, Hihira Weteoro, Year 3-8 twice yearly assessments. You may want to attach these, or simply let parents and whānau know where they are available.
Schools will already have good practices in place for reporting that may be similar to these, but these Common Components will still be encouraged.
Communicating with Parents and Whānau
Schools and kura may wish to communicate with their parent and whānau communities about the changes in reporting. To help with this, the Ministry has provided a statement that schools and kura can use to explain why the changes are happening, and why parents might see a change in their child’s progress or achievement compared to previous years.
The statement can be attached to reports, published on the school website, or used in other communication to parents and whānau. You can download it at the top of this page, or find it at this link: Statement to Support Schools.
For schools planning to implement reporting changes over 2026, there is also a statement to explain to parents and whānau that the changes are being introduced time. See New Reporting Statement for Schools.
Reporting and Assessment Requirements and Expectations for 2026
To provide clarity on what schools are encouraged to include in assessment and reporting to parents and whānau, the table below shows what is required for curriculum, assessment, and reporting for Years 0-10 for 2026, and what is encouraged practice. (These images can also be downloaded.)
More Information
The Ministry recently held a series of webinars for teachers, schools leaders, and Boards, to present information about the new Reporting to Parents and Whānau guidelines. As part of each webinar there was an opportunity for questions and answers.
The collated questions and answers from all sessions is provided in this document.
Tools
With the release of the final curriculum content for Years 0-10 English Years 0-10 Mathematics & Statistics, we are moving to support consistency in the monitoring of student progress against the curriculum.
From the start of 2026:
- The use of the Phonics Check will be required.
- Twice-yearly assessment of Year 3-8 students in Reading, Writing and Maths using specified tools will be required. The specified tools are:
- SMART (the new Student Monitoring, Assessment and Reporting Tool), which will be available for use from the start of 2026 – TMOA or NZ
- PATs (Progressive Achievement Tests) – NZC
- e-asTTle, for 2026 only – TMOA or NZC
There is also a new table to compare the three supported assessment and aromatawai tools to help schools and kura make decisions about which tools to use to support twice-yearly testing in Years 3-8, ahead of 2026.
You can download this table using the link in 'Materials that come with this resource' at the top of the page, or you can download it here: 'Comparison of Assessment Tools'
The Ministry is providing a range of resources and supports that all teachers and leaders will be able to access. These supports include:
- Eight online learning modules on principles of effective assessment;
- Four online learning modules about the technical aspects of SMART;
- Three online learning modules about using SMART well.
During 2026, the Ministry will be providing facilitated webinars and workshops that teachers and leaders will be able to register for. Information on how to register for these opportunities will be communicated at the start of Term 1 2026.
The facilitated workshop opportunities will be regionally-located and webinars will be offered across multiple days and times.
Targeted assessment PLD will also be provided and will be available, initially, for up to 150 schools and kura. This PLD will consist of six days of in-school support and eight COPs per school and kura over a 12-month period. This PLD is designed to strengthen assessment capabilities among school leaders and teachers. It will support a system-wide shift toward consistent, evidence-based practices aligned with the knowledge-rich curricula and based on the science of learning.
For more information, please see the Ministry's PLD Assessment & Aromatawai page.