Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
Record-breaking growth pushed school rolls to 850,999 enrolments this year, 19,961 more than at the same time in 2023.
Ministry of Education figures showed most of the growth happened in secondary schools, which grew by 13,066 students, and in Auckland, which gained 9741 pupils.
It is the second year of high growth after schools grew by 15,887 enrolments in 2023. Immigration has been driving the growth.
The enrolment figures included 2915 adults, 1397 young people in alternative education, and 8156 fee-paying international students.
Auckland schools had 294,219 children this year, 3 percent more than in 2023.
Canterbury schools also grew 3 percent, with 103,787 children, 2923 more than the previous year.
Slightly fewer children (482,066) identified as Pākehā than in 2023, while 208,653 identified as Māori and 111,690 as Pacific.
The number of children identifying as Asian reached 170,0447, an increase of 21,895 or 15 percent since the same time in 2023.
Within the Asian group, the number of Indian children surpassed Chinese children for the first time.
There were 53,237 Indian, 49,593 Chinese, and 41,950 Southeast Asian school children.
The vast majority of school children (720,234) attended state schools, with 96,824 at state integrated schools and 33,941 at private schools.
There were 13,750 children in kaupapa Māori schools.
The figures were based on schools' 1 July roll returns to the Ministry of Education.
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