Notifications Gateway 2026
A trial Notifications Gateway is available for schools and kura making new SAC applications for all students attempting Level 1 to 3 standards in 2026.
- The Notifications Gateway for new Year 11 2026 applications opens on 5 January 2026.
- The Notifications Gateway is open to all other levels from 6 February 2025
- The Notifications Gateway is optional for schools and kura to use.
The current Approvals Gateway can still be used for any applications at the school’s or kura discretion — for example, if the SENCO is new or inexperienced, or in any cases where a decision by NZQA is preferred.
If you use the Notifications Gateway, NZQA approval is not needed, and you don't need to submit supporting evidence unless it's required for a monitoring process.
Rolling over 2025 notifications into 2026
Schools and kura can roll over 2025 notifications into 2026 as notifications from 1 February 2026 in the usual way.
SAC monitoring
During the trial period, NZQA may monitor the use of the Notifications Gateway by way of an auditing process to ensure that applications are appropriate to the needs of the students.
An outcome of this monitoring could be to require applications to be submitted using the Approvals Gateway only.
Restrictions on the Notifications Gateway
NZQA reserves the right to restrict access to the Notifications Gateway, if required. Restrictions could be for certain schools or kura, or for certain categories of SAC applications.
For 2025 and 2026 applications, braille papers, signing readers and signing supervisors can only be applied for through the Approvals Gateway.
On this page
What schools and kura must continue to do
- identify students with learning or other difficulties that impact on fair assessment, and to determine what SAC support is appropriate
- design inclusive environments influenced by knowledge of students
- discuss the option of SAC with students and their whānau
- gather evidence of students' needs
- use one of the gateways to tell NZQA what SAC students require
- monitor students' progress and trial supports as needed.
Information for teachers, students and whānau
The Ministry of Education has produced 2 short overview documents with more information. Please feel free to draw from these (and edit or contextualise them for your own school or kura) if you would like to share information about the trial with your teachers, students and their whānau.
Download information for teachers in Te Reo Māori (external link)
Download information for teachers in English (external link)
Download information for students and whānau in Te Reo Māori (external link)
Download information for students and whānau in English (external link)
How to decide whether to use the Notifications Gateway
The Notifications Gateway is optional. The current Approvals Gateway remains active and may be used for any SAC application.
Senior leaders in schools and kura are encouraged to consider their own policy on the use of the Notifications Gateway. It may be better if some or all applications continue to be submitted through the existing Approvals Gateway.
Factors to consider include:
- the relative experience of the SENCO or the person who prepares SAC applications
Participation in the Approvals Gateway process provides feedback on the suitability of SAC applied for and on the evidence used to determine need. Using this gateway will improve the judgements made by the SENCO. - cases of uncertainty
If the school or kura is unsure whether SAC is appropriate for a particular student, the Approvals Gateway provides more certainty using experienced NZQA assessors.
- situations where there is a disagreement between the school and whānau view.
By using the Approvals Gateway, an independent view on how best to address the student’s needs can be obtained.
If a school or kura decides to only use the Approvals Gateway, NZQA can temporarily remove access to the Notifications Gateway on request. Please contact us to discuss this:
Requesting additional SAC using the Notifications Gateway
If you want to request a SAC for a student that is additional to the standard options that are available for that condition, do not add this request to a comment box in the application. As notifications are not read by NZQA staff, this message will be overlooked.
There are 2 approaches you can take:
- use the Approvals Gateway for this application
As these applications are read by NZQA staff, your message will be picked up.
- use the Notifications Gateway to submit the application.
Then, open the submitted application by clicking on the NSN and add your request in the Notes & Messages section. This will be read by NZQA staff.
Guide for submitting online SAC applications
Download the Special Assessment Conditions (SAC) online tool guide [PDF, 1.9 MB]
SAC applications for literacy, numeracy, te reo matatini and te pāngarau co-requisites assessments
A SAC application is not required (through either gateway) for students who are only completing NCEA co-requisite assessments.
Schools and kura should provide support for these students as appropriate. However, if a school or kura requires certainty, a SAC application may be submitted.
Further information on the provision of SAC for the co-requisite assessments
Contact the SAC team
If you have a question or feedback, contact the SAC team at sac@nzqa.govt.nz