Charter school roll surpasses 2,100 students

September’s roll return data tells us what we already knew; families want schooling options that reflect the needs of their children, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. Data released today shows that as of September 1, 2026, there were 1,965 students enrolled in 19 charter schools, up from 215 students when the first seven schools opened in 2025. On 12 October 2026 Pakaraka School in Northland with 63 students became the first state school to convert to a charter school. With that conversion, as of yesterday, 2,117 students were enrolled in charter schools. “These numbers show that diversity and choice in New Zealand’s schooling system is important to parents,” Mr Seymour says. “On 1 July last year we had just seven schools. Today we’ve more than doubled that to 12 and more than seven times the number of students are enrolled. “While the largest increase in enrolments occurred at the start of the school year, we’ve continued to see growth throughout the year. Families are changing schools when they find an option that better suits their child’s needs. “At Christchurch North College, 33 more students have enrolled as of 1 September since March. These are college aged s

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