Module 11: Policy Writing and Review
“Hapaitia te ara tika pumau ai te rangatiratanga mo nga uri whakatipu” “Foster the pathway of knowledge to strength, independence, and growth for future generations.”
Module Objectives:
- Define the purpose and critical importance of policies and procedures within a New Zealand school.
- Distinguish between policies and procedures and articulate their relationship.
- Identify key legislative and regulatory requirements that underpin school policies in Aotearoa.
- Explain the typical cycle of policy development, review, and communication.
- Analyse their role in implementing, upholding, and communicating policies and procedures within their teams.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of existing policies or procedures within their kura and suggest improvements.
- Contribute to a culture of compliance and consistency that supports a safe and well-managed learning environment.
Following the pathway of knowledge is a lifelong journey, and the time spent in school is an early and vital part. For the learning community that is a school to foster knowledge, strength, independence and growth, it must have a clear direction and the tools to navigate in that direction. One set of tools providing scaffolding for certainty and safety on the knowledge journey is the policies and procedures that schools have in place. Implementation of the school’s vision and effective delivery of the national curriculum needs to be supported by a framework of policies that demonstrate qualities such as inclusion, fairness, and integrity for all members of the school community.
Policies and procedures are the backbone of any well-functioning organisation, and schools are no exception. They are fundamental tools for ensuring consistency, legal compliance, safety, and operational efficiency across all aspects of school life. As a school leader, you are on the frontline of policy implementation, making them come alive in the day-to-day work of your team and ensuring they support the school’s vision and strategic goals.
Legislative Foundations
The role of policies and procedures in schools is fundamentally covered in the Education and Training Act 2020 in sub sections 125, 126, and 127. These sections clearly outline the Board of Trustees’ responsibilities for governance, including setting policies, making bylaws, and ensuring that the school operates in a way that promotes student achievement, safety, inclusivity, and gives effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
- Section 125 – Board is governing body: States that the Board is responsible for the governance of the school, including setting the policies. The principal acts as the Board’s chief executive in control and management.
- Section 126 – Bylaws: Grants the Board the power to make bylaws necessary for school control and management, requiring consultation with staff, students (where appropriate), and the school community.
- Section 127 – Objectives of boards in governing schools: Outlines the primary objectives for Boards, which directly inform policy development. These include ensuring:
- Every student reaches their highest educational standard.
- The school is a physically and emotionally safe place for all students and staff.
- Student rights are upheld (Education and Training Act, NZ Bill of Rights Act 1990, Human Rights Act 1993).
- Elimination of racism, stigma, bullying, and discrimination.
- The school is inclusive and caters for students with differing needs.
- Effect is given to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, including reflecting local tikanga Māori, mātauranga Māori, and te ao Māori in plans, policies, and curriculum, and striving for equitable outcomes for Māori students.
- The Board operates in a financially responsible way and complies with all other legal obligations.
You can find the full text of the Act here: https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2020/0038/latest/whole.html?search=sw_096be8ed81af84b7_policies_25_se&p=1#LMS177735
Educational Policies (and procedures) are the ‘safety net’ for schools to ensure they are compliant with the legislation governing them, provide clarity and structure of expectations to the staff, student and parent community, and allow the Board of Trustees to discharge their governance responsibilities effectively and safely. In order to function well, schools must have clear policies and procedures that guide day-to-day processes.
Policies vs. Procedures: Understanding the Distinction
It’s important to understand the difference between these two interconnected concepts:
- Policies: These are high-level statements that define the principles, rules, and intentions that guide decision-making and behaviour within the school. They explain what the school does and why. For example, a school might have a “Health and Safety Policy” or a “Digital Technologies Use Policy.”
- Procedures: These are the detailed, step-by-step instructions that describe how a policy is to be carried out. They provide clear guidance on the actions to be taken in specific situations to ensure the policy is followed consistently. For example, the “Health and Safety Policy” might have procedures for reporting accidents, managing emergencies, or conducting risk assessments.
Together, policies and procedures provide clarity and consistency, ensuring that everyone understands expectations and responsibilities. School policies commonly group as operational policies (day-to-day) and governance policies(directional overview). They help a school establish rules, procedures, and create standards of quality for learning and safety, as well as expectations and accountability. Without these, schools would lack the structure and function necessary to provide the educational needs of students.
The Policy Life Cycle:
Effective policies are not static; they go through a continuous cycle:
- Development: Identifying a need for a new policy, researching best practice and legal requirements, drafting the policy with stakeholder input.
- Approval: Formal endorsement by the Board of Trustees.
- Communication: Ensuring all relevant stakeholders are aware of the policy and understand its implications. This is where middle leaders play a crucial role.
- Implementation: Putting the policy into practice through consistent procedures and staff training.
- Monitoring: Regularly observing whether the policy is being followed and if it is achieving its intended purpose.
- Review: Periodically assessing the policy’s effectiveness, relevance, and compliance, often on a scheduled cycle. This may lead to revisions or retirement of the policy.
The Ministry of Education’s advice on “Legislation and school policies” highlights the ongoing responsibility for keeping policies current and compliant.
Your Role as an AP or DP:
As an AP or DP, you are vital to the effective functioning of policies and procedures. Your responsibilities include:
- Understanding: Familiarising yourself thoroughly with all relevant school policies and procedures.
- Communication: Clearly communicating policies and their associated procedures to your team, ensuring understanding.
- Implementation: Ensuring that your team consistently adheres to all policies and procedures in their daily work.
- Modelling: Leading by example in your own adherence to school policies.
- Monitoring: Observing how policies are working in practice within your area and identifying any challenges or inconsistencies.
- Feedback: Providing constructive feedback to senior leadership or the Board regarding the effectiveness or challenges of existing policies, contributing to the review cycle.
Task:
Using the ‘5 Tips for Writing Meaningful Policy and Procedures for Schools’ and ‘Importance of
School Policies and Procedures’ resource, write a statement about the quality of your current
policies in meeting the criteria outlined in these documents.
- b. c. Does your school model best practice?
Are there any gaps in your current policy structure?
Have any of your policies caused discussion or feedback from the school community
and/ or staff?
- Recommendations you would make for improvement to the policy creation or review
process?
Resources:
Operational Policies – NZSTA / Governance – NZSTA
https://www.nzstaresourcecentre.org.nz/learningeventsresources/?aId=ka0RF00000068HRYAY
5 Tips for Writing Meaningful Policy and Procedures for Schools
https://www.thoughtco.com/draft-effective-policy-and-procedures-3194570
Importance of School Policies and Procedures’
Education and training Act 2020
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2020/0038/latest/LMS170676.html
Policy writing resources
9 Responses
Does your school model best practice?
Our school uses the Policies and Procedures provided by SchoolDocs, which are considered the best practice framework for New Zealand schools.
Are there any gaps in your current policy structure?
There is currently no specific policy relating to Artificial Intelligence. This is an area that needs to be addressed.
Have any of your policies caused discussion or feedback from the school community
and/ or staff?
The review process allows for feedback from board members, staff, and parents.
Recommendations you would make for improvement to the policy creation or review process?
We need to continue to increase community awareness and engagement with the policy review process by promoting this through the school website and newsletters.
Does your school model best practice?
We currently use SchoolDocs (under review) and our School follows a regular review process. I believe given the operation guidance from NZSTA and using legislation, we consistently ensure we model best practice with the policies we currently have
Are there any gaps in your current policy structure?
I am sure there are, but it is minimising this and as these are constantly reviewed cyclically the gaps are usually in changes or “newish” occurrences, AI and EOTC being the obvious ones. And these gaps differ depending on the stakeholder, an example of this is with A.I Teachers care very much about it’s inherent problems with NCEA and “cheating” there are mixed opinions and so it has been interesting to watch this play out. Parents want to know their child is getting the most up to date learning with A.I so they can use or don’t want their child to have anything to do with it! and students just want “carte blanch”
Have any of your policies prompted discussion or feedback from the school community and/or staff?
Yes, and rightly so. I am glad of this because it means the school community is reading them! Again most of this discussion is from teaching staff re A.I at the moment.
Recommendations for improving the policy creation or review process:
EOTC and A.I need improvements, I am currently doing both of these and using industry experts really helps, EONZ for EOTC and PLD in A.I has been fantastic in aiding the review process.
Most of this at the moment for us is the use of school docs as a system. We are currently reviewing our use of the school docs because we have a few issues with it, one it is expensive, two it is written as though we are legal experts, and three it blurs the lines between policy and procedure a bit to often. We may end up keeping it, but the question is around improvement, so we are looking at a customised solution which we will have to engage legal assistance to produce, not a cheap fix but potentially a better long term solution.
Does your school model best practice?
We use SchoolDocs for all of our policy documents, and our Kura follows a regular review process, of which I was part of one to discuss whether the processes around student and staff safety were adequate under a variety of conditions. I believe our school does model best practice with regard to ensuring policy is intentional, regularly reviewed, and upheld.
Are there any gaps in your current policy structure?
There are minimal gaps, but then there will always be gaps, due to the nature of societal changes and risks impacting the rigid or general nature of policy that hasn’t been fully applied in all contexts…so ensuring ongoing reviews of policies is vital, especially due to the nature of our Kura’s special character (Christian School), of which we need to uphold and protect. To minimise gaps, we do our best to ensure reviews are undertaken by people who support our character, and with a good understanding of the concepts within the policy, the motivation for any changes, the impact upon our Kura’s community, and the ability/willingness/integrity to discuss these policy nuances robustly. During the review I was involved with recently, there were a couple of points that hadn’t previously been considered – involving how to handle the media, and how to protect someone who is potentially innocent of specific accusations. This was prompted by some cases noted in local and national media at other schools.
Have any of your policies prompted discussion or feedback from the school community and/or staff?
Yes, some sections of our school community have had discussions as a result of changes made in policy, with regard to policy updates due to health and safety, and impacts that could have in various circumstances (e.g. camp tragedy, or accusation of parental physical abuse).
Recommendations for improving the policy creation or review process:
As the nature of the policies tends to be generic, we need to specify areas which pertain to our Special Character, continuing to ensure we select with care who is reviewing each policy, has adequate background knowledge and is free from conflicts of interest, and also to our particular needs within the community of our Kura. Therefore, we will need to ensure that each Board representative has the opportunity to have adequate preparation, including professional development, alongside experienced members through the policy review process.
Does your school model best practice?
Previously, our school board was responsible for independently writing and reviewing policy documents. We have recently transitioned to using SchoolDocs. As this is a new system for us, both our staff and board are currently becoming familiar with its format and processes.
Are there any gaps in your current policy structure?
Under our previous system, the policy review cycle was not consistently or systematically followed. Now, with the adoption of SchoolDocs, we are in the process of aligning ourselves with its structured policy framework and becoming familiar with the full scope of the documentation.
Have any of your policies prompted discussion or feedback from the school community and/or staff?
Yes, there was a concern raised regarding staff use of social media. By referring to our cybersafety policy, we were able to clarify expectations and resolve the matter to the satisfaction of all parties involved.
We also recently addressed a student wellbeing issue. By following the appropriate procedures within our child protection framework, we were able to ensure the child’s safety effectively.
Recommendations for improving the policy creation or review process:
While SchoolDocs offers a comprehensive and well-structured policy framework, it is generic in nature. As part of our familiarisation process, we need to critically assess the policies to identify any areas that may require adaptation—whether through additions, modifications, or removals—in order to better reflect the unique needs of our school and community.
Does your school model best practice?
Our school uses SchoolDocs, which is a useful tool as it provides policies that are relevant across most New Zealand school contexts. However, at times these policies feel too generic and not specific enough to our context. Because there are so many, we have not always taken the time to tailor them to our needs. Policies are also rarely discussed with staff, as curriculum matters and day-to-day operations usually take priority in staff meetings.
Are there any gaps in your current policy structure?
I don’t believe we have any significant gaps. The main challenge is keeping up with technological shifts eg. this year we recognised the need to develop a policy around the use of AI.
Have any of your policies caused discussion or feedback from the school community and/or staff?
Yes. Parents often contact SLT when they feel a policy has not been followed correctly, or when they disagree with how an issue was managed. In recent years this has centred around the wearing of taonga, search/surrender/retention of property, and during a lockdown when students used smartwatches to contact parents and the media (this incident highlighted a need to review our devices at school policy).
Recommendations for improvement to the policy creation or review process
I think we need stronger communication and greater awareness of policies among staff and students. Policies are vital for guiding practice and ensuring consistency, and they give us structure to fall back on when needed.
Our Kura utilises SchoolDocs to provide us with policies and procedures. Our leadership team along with the Board regularly reflect on these and update them when and where necessary. We are currently in the process of refining a policy document in relation to the use of AI and assessment so will ensure that this is reviewed by teachers, students, whanau and community before discussing at board level to make sure it is revised and thought out. I believe that due to using SchoolDocs, we don’t have gaps as such in our policies and their structure however I do feel as though not all teachers are familiar or keep up to date on the schools policies and procedures.
We have had members of the community and whanau draw on information from our policies for clarification around certain areas which has at times led to discussion and feedback and the need to unpack these further with both whanau and staff. I believe this has been good reflective practice though for everyone involved.
I would like to see/recommend that there is more time given to ensure teachers have read poilicies and procedures and are up to date with the latest policies, know how to access and use SchoolDocs etc. I would also like to see teachers and students involved more in the review process as this would mean there is more knowledge around policies.
Notes regarding school policy and procedures
At our school, policies and procedures are in place as a framework that supports safe, inclusive, and consistent practice.
Our policies are reviewed on a regular cycle by the Board, as a result of this course I sit on the board, we have input from some staff and community BOT reps – specific policy go out for consultation to keep them relevant and responsive – some policy writing is simple such as the missing child policy I drafted for the BOT.
We use agencies to support us in specific cases such as the Police – Links with Health and safety / KOS etc
We don’t have school docs as it is expensive – we know it has the most recent legislation – we have our own cycle – using NZSTA (former) templates – we are still compliant
Not all staff are fully confident in every (relevant) policy, we need more consistent communication.
There can be debate over policy e.g. Digital Technologies, Behaviour Management we need to respond to each context individually
To strengthen our policy framework, I would recommend:
Building in time for staff to gain clarity around policy
Continued Whānau voice, when relevant
Ensuring we use plain language to improve accessibility for students and parents.
Ensuring reviews not only meet compliance requirements but also reflect cultural responsiveness
Our school follows best practice but we have had a disucssion about using school docs to keep up to date rather than having to download updates
We have had consultation over the Health and safety EOTC, culture, uniform, cohort entry on so on
We need to upskill teachers on the relevant policies
We need to investigate school docs – huge amount of work to set up / switch over
Hi,
Posting my Task response here:
Does your school model best practice?
Are there any gaps in your current policy structure?
Our school, like many others, utilises SchoolDocs to provide us with policies that we regularly update at Board Meetings, or our Principal provides assurances for. An example of this would be how we recently updated our Health Education Policy. It had included the Keeping Ourselves Safe Programme, which needed to be removed as we no longer utilise this. The reminders from SchoolDocs regarding what policies need updating support this process well. Because of this, I do not believe there are any gaps in our policy structure, and we do model best practices.
Have any of your policies caused discussion or feedback from the school community
and/ or staff?
The relationships and sexuality education (RSE) resource brought out by Family Planning, which would fall under our Health Education Policy, brought on a lot of discussion from our Community.
SchoolDocs states:
Once the board has considered feedback from the school community, it adopts a final statement on the delivery of the health curriculum and informs the school community. The final statement describes how the health curriculum will be implemented, and notifies parents that they may request to withdraw their child from parts of the curriculum related to sexuality education.
We held a Community Event for consultation. We found our community did not want our school to participate in utilising the resource, beyond friendship and consent related to this. This has meant that after consultation, we have continued to utilise the P.E Curriculum rather than this resource.
Recommendations you would make for improvement to the policy creation or review process?
My recommendations would be to include some of our Year 6 students in the consultation process for matters such as Digital Citizenship. Also, to continue to involve ongoing discussions with staff when policies are updated, so they are clear in how they can support its implementation.
Thanks
Kylee
Notes regarding school policy and procedures
At our school, policies and procedures are in place as a framework that supports safe, inclusive, and consistent practice.
Our policies are reviewed on a regular cycle by the Board, as a result of this course I sit on the board, we have input from some staff and community BOT reps – specific policy go out for consultation to keep them relevant and responsive – some policy writing is simple such as the missing child policy I drafted for the BOT.
We use agencies to support us in specific cases such as the Police – Links with Health and safety / KOS etc
We don’t have school docs as it is expensive – we know it has the most recent legislation – we have our own cycle – using NZSTA (former) templates – we are still compliant
Not all staff are fully confident in every (relevant) policy, we need more consistent communication.
There can be debate over policy e.g. Digital Technologies, Behaviour Management we need to respond to each context individually
To strengthen our policy framework, I would recommend:
Building in time for staff to gain clarity around policy
Continued Whānau voice, when relevant
Ensuring we use plain language to improve accessibility for students and parents.
Ensuring reviews not only meet compliance requirements but also reflect cultural responsiveness
Our school follows best practice but we have had a disucssion about using school docs to keep up to date rather than having to download updates
We have had consultation over the Health and safety EOTC, culture, uniform, cohort entry on so on
We need to upskill teachers on the relevant policies
We need to investigate school docs – huge amount of work to set up / switch over