Teachers were covering up to 25 absences a day
Manurewa High School closed early Friday after weeks of relying on employees to absorb additional teaching duties, with school leaders saying prolonged staff absences had pushed classroom coverage beyond sustainable levels.
The South Auckland secondary school told parents and students it would end classes at lunchtime on 29 May after a sustained rise in staff absences linked to illnesses and other events.
In a message to families, the school's senior leadership team said employees had been taking on additional relief duties to keep classes operating and ensure students continued to have teachers in front of them.
“Our staff have been working above and beyond doing relief through a number of recent illnesses and events. This is to ensure all our classes have teachers in front of them and that learning continues to a high standard,” Manurewa High School said in a statement.
The school said maintaining normal operations had increasingly depended on employees covering for absent colleagues.
“We as a school rely heavily on the goodwill of staff to do this to ensure all classes continue as normal, which impacts staff non-contact and planning time,” the statement read.
The statement provides a direct illustration of a workforce challenge facing schools when absences persist over an extended period: maintaining service levels while protecting employees' scheduled planning and preparation time.
Absenteeism climbs far above normal levels
According to the school, 29 staff members were absent on Thursday and required their classes to be covered by relief teachers. The school said it would typically cover between 10 and 15 absent staff per day.
“For context, today alone, 29 staff are absent and need their classes to be covered by a reliever, normally we are only covering 10-15 staff per day.”
School leaders said elevated absence levels had become routine over recent weeks.
“Covering larger numbers of between 20 and 25 staff daily has become common over the last couple of weeks.”
The school concluded that the arrangement could no longer continue.
“Unfortunately, we cannot sustain this, and we are notifying whānau that we are closing school at the end of lunchtime on Friday, May 29.”
Manurewa High School had previously shortened a school day in June 2025 for similar staffing reasons, indicating that workforce availability has remained a recurring operational issue for the school.
The closure also occurred against a wider staffing backdrop facing New Zealand's secondary education sector.
New Zealand's Ministry of Education forecast in March a shortfall of 710 secondary teachers this year and 510 next year. Those estimates were higher than the ministry's previous projections of 550 and 330 respectively for the same periods.
While Manurewa High School attributed the early closure to recent illnesses and other events affecting staff availability, the teacher supply forecasts provide additional context to the staffing pressures schools may face when managing absences and securing relief coverage.
Managing a school of more than 2,200 students
Manurewa High School is one of Auckland's largest secondary schools, with more than 2,200 students enrolled based on the previous year's roll.
Given the size of the student population, the school said it would implement staggered releases beginning at 1:50 pm.
“Due to our large numbers, we will begin our staggered finish releases from 1.50pm to help ensure all students are safely released by 2pm.”
Students who were unable to leave immediately because of age or transportation arrangements would remain under supervision on campus.
“If your child is unable to go home because of their age (they are under 14) or they need to wait for the bus, then they can remain in school and are expected to go to Te Pae Tata when all other students are released.”
The school also confirmed that activities away from campus would continue as scheduled.
“All offsite Trades programmes and trips will continue as per usual.”
Manurewa High School thanked families for their support and understanding. The school has been approached for comment.
The school's statement drew attention to the operational impact of prolonged staff absences. Administrators said they had relied heavily on employee goodwill to maintain classroom coverage and acknowledged that the arrangement had affected staff non-contact and planning time. After several weeks of covering between 20 and 25 absences daily, the school said the situation had become unsustainable and decided to end classes early on Friday.
