Key dates and information
Please refer to the online version of the Key Dates to ensure you have access to the most up-to-date information.
Key dates for secondary assessment
24 July
Submission instructions published on 色诱直播 website for Kete Manarua, NCEA and NZ Scholarship portfolios with a submission date of 29 October
Portal open for all Kete Manarua submissions
1 August
Data file submission
Level 2 Visual Arts 鈥� art bag orders due:
25 August - 5 September
Te Reo Matatini me te P膩ngarau (assessment event 2)
1-12 September
Literacy and Numeracy (assessment event 2)
8-12 September
Level 2 and Level 3 DCAT assessment event
On this page
Term 3 online PN support sessions
You are invited to join our online support sessions hosted by our School Relationship Managers.
Each session within a topic covers the same content, just choose a time that works for you.
There is no need to register. Join the Teams meeting with the link.
Term 3 PN priorities
The key points will be:
- Derived Grade exams
- CAAs
- Externals file
Special Assessment Conditions (SAC)
These times were changed to previously published times.
The key points will be:
- SAC and exams
- Making entries, attaching conditions and preparations for externals
Data and entries
The key points will be:
- externals file - what to check
- resolving data issues.
CAAs, TAP膩 and the digital platform
The key points will be:
- preparing for the CAAs
- Assessment Master functions and new features
Submission of external moderation - reminder
A reminder that schools should submit material for external moderation for each standard in their moderation plan once the assessment process is complete. This means when internal moderation has been completed and results given to students.
At all NCEA levels, the material submitted for external moderation must be from the current year.
To support you with the process, we will be emailing PNs a monthly summary showing:
- standards where results have been reported but materials have not yet been submitted for moderation, and
- standards where materials have been submitted for moderation but results have not been reported.
The External Moderation page on the 色诱直播 website provides full details and instructions:
When submitting using the external moderation application, please include the following:
- a copy of the task and/or supporting resources
- a copy of the assessment schedule
- selected samples of student work consisting of the key materials that the assessor has used to make an assessment judgement.
It鈥檚 important that the student work includes the key materials used by the assessor to make their judgement. This helps moderators understand the basis for the assessment and provide more useful feedback.
If links are sent, please ensure they are set to be accessible by someone outside your school, and that the expiry date of the link is set to 90 days or more.
This is very important for SharePoint, which has a default expiry period of 30 days.
Contact your own SharePoint administrator to change this setting.
Rejected external moderation submissions
If your moderation submission shows a submitted date on your moderation plan, but the status changes back to "Submission 鈥� Not Started", it means the moderator has 鈥榬ejected鈥� the submission.
This 鈥榬ejection鈥� is most likely due to an inaccessible cloud storage link. However, other reasons could include incomplete student evidence or students not being identifiable, such as in a Dance performance.
You should receive a system email that tells you the submission has been 鈥榬ejected鈥� and explains what is needed to be done before making the submission again.
If you have any queries about a specific standard, please contact ams@nzqa.govt.nz.
Identifying school paid Examination Assistants and additional Examination Assistants for 2025 NCEA and New Zealand Scholarships
Examination Assistants are typically teacher aides who assist during end of year examinations as part of their existing school employment. They are onboarded as Exam Assistants.
Exam Assistants must be trained and matched to the individual candidate鈥檚 approved SAC conditions (e.g. reader, writer/typist). The nomination and onboarding of Examination Assistants commenced on Tuesday 1 July 2025.
Schools and kura are responsible for identifying and providing:
- a list of school paid Exam Assistants, and
- any additional Exam Assistants needed to support 膩konga requiring Special Assessment Conditions (Reader/Writer/Typist).
We recommend starting to gather this information now, ahead of the initial meeting between the Exam Centre Manager and the Principal鈥檚 Nominee.
Working with the Exam Centre Manager
If you have questions, please email the Assessment Delivery team:
New Derived Grade application tool
The new Derived Grade application tools are now available through your My色诱直播 login (see below image). There are two tools:
Please note: These tools are not used for derived grades at scale applications, such as for an event affecting a whole school. That process remains unchanged.
The process for making individual Derived Grade applications remains unchanged:
- The student completes an application form (an updated form is available on the 色诱直播 website or provided to them by the school) and submits this with supporting evidence to the school.
Complete the updated form - The Principal's Nominee checks the application form and supporting evidence.
- The Principal's Nominee submits all applications to 色诱直播 through the new tool.
New features include:
The ability to upload documents within the tool
You can choose to upload all the documents, write a summary of the event/illness, or both, whatever works best. If we need more information, we will ask you to upload all documents if you have not already done so.
The tool only displays the exams and standards the student is entered for, and only those that fall within the dates covered by the application
The derived grades at scale will be displayed if they have been submitted in a data file, otherwise the grades will need to be added manually. Grades can also be updated if required.
You can make multiple applications for a student
For example, if they are sick in the first week and then again in the last week of exams.
All communication is through the application tool
All communication happens securely within the application tool, rather than using email.
Application status
The application status will show as 鈥業n Progress鈥� once assigned to a 色诱直播 staff member.
If approved, the status will change to 鈥楢pproved鈥� after exams finish in December.
Declined applications are notified immediately.
Aromatawai M膩ori
Te Marautanga o Aotearoa (TMoA) | NZC kaupapa ako M膩ori Information and Resources
- Te Reo M膩ori
- Te Ao Haka
- Te Reo Matatini me te P膩ngarau
To view the 2025 Tautuhinga (Assessment Specifications) for TAP膩 and Kete Manarua assessments, Kete Manarua T奴mahi (Task), Tauaromahi (Exemplars) and other assessment material for the above subjects/w膩hanga ako, please go to:
About TAP膩 and Kete Manarua
For general information about TAP膩 and Kete Manarua methods of assessment, visit:
Guide to preparing for T奴mahi Aromatawai P膩tahi (TAP膩) external assessments
To help manage the delivery of TAP膩 external assessments, we have summarised a list of important information and resources to prepare 膩konga and kaiako for the TAP膩.
Te Reo Matatini me te P膩ngarau
Information about the TAP膩 1 assessment, including the assessments and assessment schedules, assessment reports, and FAQs, can be accessed at:
Te Reo Matatini me te P膩ngarau
Reminder 鈥� 2025 W膩nanga Aromatawai 鈥� register for upcoming drop-in sessions
Following the online workshops held during Term 1, 色诱直播 is hosting online drop-in sessions in the lead up to assessments to support kura and kaiako working with the new TMoA and NZC kaupapa M膩ori Level 1 achievement standards and Field M膩ori unit standards. These will cover both internal and external assessment. The drop-in sessions will be open for an hour and provide kaiako a chance to discuss any assessment-related questions with a subject-matter expert.
To sign up for a drop-in session or view the workshop recordings please visit:
Ringa Toi Exhibition 2025 鈥� Celebrating 10 Years 鈥� Submit artworks for consideration
We are now accepting artwork submissions for this year鈥檚 Ringa Toi exhibition which will be held at Te Papa Tongarewa, Museum of New Zealand, from Monday 15 September to Friday 28 September 2025.
If you are interested in submitting student work to be considered for this year鈥檚 exhibition, please complete and submit the artwork submission form by 22 August 2025.
Any p膩tai/k艒rero can be sent to ringatoi@nzqa.govt.nz.
Special Assessment Conditions (SAC)
Previous SAC updates
Previously published SAC updates can be found via the Communications link in your school鈥檚 My色诱直播 portal.
Attaching SAC provisions to exam sessions
The Special Assessment Exams Processing link on your SAC page for attaching SAC provisions to examinations is now open. Refer to page 38 of the SAC online tool guide for step by step instructions.
SAC online tool guide [PDF, 1.9 MB]
Please consult the previously published SAC Updates 2 and 3 for detailed advice.
Students requiring Braille papers or headphones
Please consult the previously published SAC Update 3 for detailed advice.
- Braille paper requests for the second co-requisite assessment event are due by 18 July.
- Requests for the end-of-year exams by 1 August.
SAC online question and answer sessions
We are planning several online question and answer sessions focused on end-of-year exams and the process to attach SAC to exam sessions. Please share with relevant staff.
Note that these times differ from those published during the LNA seminars earlier in the year.
Support
Please email sac@nzqa.govt.nz if you have any questions or need support on SAC processes.
Assessor Support
You can download a list of recently published Assessor Support resources and modules for internally assessed standards:
Published Assessor Support resources and modules [XLSX, 14 KB]
Authenticity declarations for submission of external standards
For certain submissions, an Authenticity Declaration is required. Schools must use the 2025 versions of these forms. Submissions using outdated versions may invalidate the candidate鈥檚 work.
See below for the list of standards that require an Authenticity Declaration. The DVC Authenticity Declaration form will be included with the personalised folders sent to schools in October.
Scholarship Dance - 93311
Authenticity Declaration form [PDF, 84 KB]
Scholarship Drama - 93304
Authenticity Declaration form [PDF, 148 KB]
Scholarship Music - 93305
Authenticity Declaration form [DOCX, 51 KB]
Scholarship DVC - 93602
Make the authenticity declaration on the personalised folder cover.
Scholarship Visual Arts - 93306, 93307, 93308, 93309, 93310
Visual Arts verification bag orders
Schools with Level 2 Visual Arts submissions for verification must send the portfolios in custom red bags provided by 色诱直播.
If your school is new to assessing Visual Arts at Level 2 or has lost the red bag, you can order a replacement through the:
The deadline for 色诱直播 to receive bag orders is 1 August 2025.
Further information can be found on the Visual Arts subject page under 鈥楳ore Resources鈥�.
University Entrance - Numeracy
As announced in 2023, from 2024 onwards, students can only meet University Entrance numeracy requirements through:
- the co-requisite Level 1 Numeracy unit standard (US32406), or
- te P膩ngarau unit standard (US32412), or
- the limited list of achievement standards [XLSX, 12 KB].
Learn more about the announcement
Students who met the previous University Entrance numeracy requirement before the end of the 2023 academic year are considered to have met the University Entrance numeracy requirement during the transition period of 2024 and 2025.
Learn more about the transition period
Please ensure any student who wishes to gain University Entrance from 2026 onwards meets the current requirements.
Learn more about the current requirements
Note this does not include the 鈥�266鈥� series of Unit Standards.
Lessons from May 2025 CAA and TAP膩 quality assurance
During the May 2025 Literacy and Numeracy | Te Reo Matatini me te P膩ngarau Co-Requisites assessments, School Relationship Managers completed 80 quality assurance visits to schools and kura across the motu.
The purpose of these visits was to evaluate how schools prepared for and delivered the assessments. We have compiled a downloadable summary of the good practice observed:
Lessons from May 2025 CAA and TAP膩 quality assurance [DOCX, 56 KB]
Checklist
The following checklist provides a quick reference of the actions associated with information in this email link.
See the Action items for Principal鈥檚 Nominee by calendar month
1 July data file submission
Check Batch Information after File Submission.
Check Key Indicators in your Provider login.
Check your confirmed entries for DCAT assessment event.
External entries
Remind Learning Support staff that the link for attaching SAC entitlements to the November external examinations has opened. These can only be processed if the external entries have been made for the SAC candidates.
Ensure all entries with requests for translated te reo M膩ori papers or answers in te reo M膩ori have been flagged.
Visual Arts
Order Level 2 art bags (if required).