• YOUR RIGHTS

YOUR RIGHTS

Do I have the same rights in State, Integrated and Private Schools and Boarding Hostels?
Can the principal make me stay away from school for disciplinary reasons?
Can the principal send me home from school?
The principal has asked my parents to withdraw me from the school. Is this OK?
I’ve been banned from my English class. Is this OK?
Can my school punish me for something that happens outside of school time?

You do have rights!

Each year thousands of students are kicked out of school. Many feel ashamed, angry or powerless. Most are unaware of their legal rights. This information sheet outlines the law relating to stand-down, suspension, exclusion and expulsion. It tells you about your rights and explains how they can help you if you are about to be kicked out of school.

Do I have the same rights in State, Integrated and Private Schools and Boarding Hostels?

No. There are 3 types of school in New Zealand: state schools, integrated schools, and private (or “independent”) schools.

A state school is a public school; an integrated school is one that used to be private, but has agreed to be funded by the government and abide by the Education Act 1989 and other laws applying to state schools (this includes all Catholic schools); a private school is one which is outside the state system.
Students in state or integrated schools have the same legal rights when it comes to stand-down, suspension, exclusion or expulsion. Different laws apply to private schools. The main part of this information sheet is about the rights of students in state or integrated schools.

Different laws apply to Boarding Hostels than to the schools they are attached to. If you are a boarder, you have a lot less rights in the Boarding Hostel than you do while you are actually at the school.

Private Schools and Boarding Hostels are dealt with in a separate section at the end of this information sheet.
Can the principal make me stay away from school for disciplinary reasons?
Stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions and expulsions are the only ways that schools can legally make you be absent from the school for disciplinary reasons. Students can also be sent home if they have an infectious disease, or aren’t clean enough to be at school. Apart from that it is illegal for you to be kicked out without your school following the procedures described in this information sheet.
Can the principal send me home from school?
It is illegal for schools to send students home during the school day unless they have been stood down or suspended. For example your school can’t tell you to go home and get changed into correct uniform, or tell your parents to take you home until you are prepared to behave or get a haircut.

The principal has asked my parents to withdraw me from the school. Is this OK?
Parents are sometimes asked to withdraw their child from the school rather than face exclusion/expulsion, or students may be asked to sign themselves out. This is illegal. The principal will often present this as an act of kindness to save you and your parents embarrassment. However signing students out can simply be an easy way out for the principal, and can leave you worse off than if you were suspended because:

Sometimes school staff get rid of students by asking them or their parents to withdraw them where there are no legal grounds for suspension, or where the Board of Trustees would be unlikely to exclude or expel the student.

I’ve been banned from my English class. Is this OK?
Some schools use what they call “withdrawal”, “in school suspensions” or “community service”. Although you can be sent out of class for a short time if you need to calm down or are being disruptive, you can’t be deprived of your right to an education unless you have been stood-down or suspended. Any system which means that you are missing out on substantial periods of schooling without actually being stood-down or suspended is illegal, although your schooling doesn’t necessarily have to take place in a class-room.

Students have the legal right not only to attend school but to be educated. This means that schools have to provide a quality education programme that is meaningful. Sometimes students are banned from particular classes. This is illegal unless the student is given an equally good education elsewhere. If you have not been stood-down or suspended you have the right to receive an education in all your subjects, not just to be at school. Therefore being put for example in the library to do work for extended periods of time, without a teacher being present, may not be providing you with the education you have a right to.

Can my school punish me for something that happens outside of school time?
Schools power to punish students, including the power to stand them down or suspend them, comes from their need to be able to educate people in an orderly atmosphere, and to make sure the safety of students while they are in the school’s care.
So you can be stood-down or suspended for what you do in your school life but not for what you do in your private life. It can sometimes be hard to work out what is school life and what is private life. Generally schools can punish you for your actions while:

a) You are at school; or
b) During school time (if you are wagging); or
c) You are on school trips or activities; or
d) You are on transport provided by the school; or
e) You are in the school’s care.

Usually you would be considered to be in the school’s care while you enter or leave the school’s premises at the end of each day. However you aren’t in the school’s care just because you are in school uniform or on the way to or from school, as schools do not in fact patrol every street in a neighbourhood to make sure you and other students are safe.

Schools could probably also stand students down or suspend them for actions, which directly affect the school environment, such as setting fire to the school. But you can’t be stood-down or suspended for your actions out of school time, and away from the school’s premises. For example the school could not punish students for smoking marijuana at a party on the weekend, or for shop-lifting after school. These may be matters for the police, but they aren’t directly related to schooling, and are outside of the school’s authority (you could of course be suspended for planning thefts or drug deals while at school).


How far schools can exercise their authority over you at the beginning and end of the school day and how far away from the school zone is a grey area of law. It is not clear because it has not yet been decided by a New Zealand court.