KEY POINTS:
A day of mass truancy in Auckland primary schools is partly behind the shortening of the next school year.
Another day will be cut from the primary school term next year to allow the fortnight break between terms one and two to continue.
It means the primary school year will be a week shorter compared with last year.
Widespread reports of primary students not turning up on the first day of term two after shorter April holidays last year contributed to the cut.
The deputy secretary of education for early childhood and regional education, Rawiri Brell, said principals reported many primary students did not return to school on April 26 last year because secondary schools were still on holiday. Concerns about having enough time for students to recover and for schools to complete maintenance were also raised.
Auckland Primary Principals' Association president Ken Pemberton said parents were unhappy with primary and secondary school holidays not being aligned - and had voted with their feet.
"In our school, parents would have been out of the country or at the skifields and so they wouldn't have come back just for the primary kids," said Mr Pemberton.
"In other areas, parents might be working and because their older kids were home they wouldn't have bothered to send their [younger] kids to school."
The length of the primary school term will vary over the next few years, as public holidays fall on different days of the week.
The April holidays were shortened to respond to a demand to start the school year in February rather than January.
However, schools have now been given more say in when their holidays will be.
Education Minister Steve Maharey issued new term dates for next year and 2009, which give schools more flexibility in determining their opening dates.
They will be able to open any time between the day after Auckland Anniversary Day and the day after Waitangi Day. Schools serving the same community must consult to establish a common opening day.
