After section 5, insert:
(1)
A State school, State integrated school, or partnership school kura hourua may adopt or revoke a cohort entry policy if the school consults and gives notice in accordance with section 5C.
(2)
A cohort entry policy must—
apply to all children aged 4 or 5 who have not previously enrolled in a registered school or an enrolling community of online learning; and
provide that a child may only be enrolled on a term start date determined in accordance with section 5B.
(3)
Despite a school having a cohort entry policy in place, a child may be enrolled on a date that is later than the date determined under the policy if the later date—
is a term start date; and
otherwise complies with this Act.
(4)
In this section and section 5B, a term start date for a school means, in relation to a term, the first day in that term that the school is open for instruction.
If a school has a cohort entry policy in place, the term start date on which a child may be enrolled in the school must be determined in accordance with this section.
A child whose fifth birthday is on or after a mid-term and before the next mid-term, may not be enrolled until the term start date of that next term.
The Minister may, before 1 July in any year, prescribe the mid-term dates for the next year.
If the Minister has not prescribed mid-term dates for a year, the same mid-term dates as the year before will apply.
When developing a proposed cohort entry policy for a school, a board must take all reasonable steps to discover and consider the views of the following persons about the policy and whether it is generally acceptable:
parents of students at the school:
employees of the board at the school:
early childhood services in the local community:
parents of prospective students of the school.
When considering whether to revoke a cohort entry policy, a board must take all reasonable steps to discover and consider the views of the persons described in subsection (1) as to whether the policy should be revoked.
A board must take all reasonable steps to give notice of at least 1 term to the Secretary and the persons described in subsection (1) before a cohort entry policy takes effect or ceases to have effect.