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Policies and Procedures Made Easy

Replace those dusty folders with an online living document


Core Policy and Procedure Set

We've developed a comprehensive core set of policies and procedures applicable and tailored to all New Zealand schools. Our experienced educationalists and expert writers work in collaboration with over 2000 schools to make sure you won't have to write another policy or procedure from scratch again.

Sign Up and Customise

Your school can subscribe for an annual fee to have access to our core set of documents. Once you've signed up, we'll ask you to fill out a questionnaire about how your school operates. We'll then use our specialised content management system to tailor the policies and procedures for your school. The resulting documentation is published online in a customised, password protected website that your staff, board of trustees, and school community can access from anywhere.

Reviews and Updates

Our collaborative, online self-review system will help you keep track of what needs to be reviewed. Your policies and procedures will be monitored and regularly updated to comply with New Zealand legislation, ERO and Ministry of Education requirements, and to reflect the outcomes of policy reviews by schools.

Advisory Service

We'll send you regular emails with reminders about reviews and audits, upcoming changes, and other relevant information.

New Policies as Needed

If a new issue arises for schools, we'll draft a new policy or procedure and make it available to all SchoolDocs schools.

What's Included?

  • 'Best practice' set of P&Ps
  • Customised for your school
  • Password protected website
  • Email advisories
  • Online review tool
  • Expert technical writing
  • Collaboration with 2000+ schools
  • Monitored content
  • Community support blog
  • Technical website support
  • Customized user dashboard 
  • Powerful search

Common Questions

The initial set up is free and SchoolDocs then charges an annual subscription fee. Based on the average fee, SchoolDocs equates to the cost of just four relief teaching days per year.

The annual subscription fee is determined by the roll size of your school.

 

 Annual Subscription Price (excl GST) *
Grade  Roll Size  Primary & Intermediate  Secondary & Composite/Area
 U1  1–50  $1230  $1742.50
 U2  51–100  $1332.50  $1845
 U3  101–150  $1435  $1947.50
 U4  151–300  $1537.50  $2050
 U5  301–500  $1640  $2152.50
 U6  501–675  $1742.50  $2255
 U7  676–850  $1845  $2357.50
 U8  851–1025  $1947.50  $2460
 U9  1026–1200  $2050  $2562.50
 U10  1201–1400  $2152.50  $2665
 U11  1401–1600  $2255  $2767.50
 U12  1601–1800  $2357.50  $2870
 U13  1801–2000  $2460  $2972.50
 U14  2001–2200  $2562.50  $3075
 U15  2201–2400  $2665  $3177.50
 U16  2401+  $2767.50  $3280
* Subscription prices effective for new subscriptions from 1 November 2024.

Optional Extras

  • International Students Module set up fee – $495 (excl GST)
  • RTLB Module for RTLB Lead Schools set up fee – $495 (excl GST)

Costs Saved by Using SchoolDocs

Paper-based documentation costs money – in photocopying, folders, surveys, and administration time controlling the documents – even if the board is writing the policies for free. Very often, the school is still not confident that their policies and procedures are up to date, accurate, and reflecting the latest requirements – and they can't access them online.

If the principal or senior management are researching, word-smithing, and updating content, the cost is hard to estimate – but if done to a high standard would have to amount to a minimum of 2–4 hours per month, or over $2,000 of a principal's time. One estimate is that the true cost to a school of performing these tasks properly is $10,000 per year, taking into account the value of trustee, principal, and staff time, and printing and distribution costs. The costs of poorly considered and out-of-date policies and procedures may be even greater. 

By implementing SchoolDocs at your school, you are freeing the principal and senior management team to focus on leading learning, you are freeing trustees to focus on governance, and you are receiving a very robust, up-to-date, and widely reviewed set of online policies and procedures.

  • Once you've completed the Get Started form below, we will get in touch and send you:
    • a service agreement 
    • our tailoring questionnaire
    • login details to our Model Site (containing the core set of policies and procedures).
  • When you're ready to commit, sign and post the service agreement to us. You can then start to complete the online tailoring questionnaire. At this point, the principal should be engaging with some of the content and using information from your existing set of policies and procedures. It takes a few hours to complete the questionnaire, but this task can be shared between the principal, board, and admin staff.
  • When the online questionnaire is completed, and SchoolDocs has received the signed service agreement, staff at SchoolDocs create a tailored website for your school. Building your website usually takes about 8 to 10 weeks from the time you complete the questionnaire, unless faster turn-around time is needed. We'll let you know if it's likely to take longer.
  • After we've finished the draft website, we'll ask you to read through the content and check that it's correct for your school. This step will typically involve largely the principal, but also key members of the board and staff. There are various other ways of engaging more fully with the content – for example, the Health and Safety Committee could review the heath and safety content and the various committees of the board of trustees could engage with their particular section of the set.
  • When the school is satisfied with the content, a resolution is passed at the next board meeting, adopting the SchoolDocs policies and procedures. The resolution could contain a clause outlining the need for a transition period from the old to the new.
  • SchoolDocs offers helpful information on how to advertise the site to your school community.

By signing up to the SchoolDocs service, you agree to the terms and conditions of the service agreement, which will be sent to you as part of the sign-up process, or a sample version can be sent to on request. You agree to pay the subscription price annually when invoiced.

If you decide to exit the service, after a minimum 2-year subscription, you may request a copy of the policy and procedure document set for you to maintain and manage – with the expectation that “© SchoolDocs Ltd” is displayed prominently wherever they are used.

Got another question or need more information?   Email Us  

“

The transition from our old and out of date system to SchoolDocs has been reasonably seamless. I appreciated the way in which the SchoolDocs team 'turned down' a request for an inclusion into our SchoolDocs as it would not have been best practice. There is security in knowing that SchoolDocs maintain best and safest practice for all parties.

Anna Miller, Principal, Barton Rural School