This framework provides school staff, coaches, parents and whānau, and health providers with information on concussion management within the Aotearoa New Zealand secondary school setting. The aim is to ensure that all students who sustain a concussion are well supported during their recovery and to enable a successful return to learning and activity/sport.

This document provides a framework that your school may adopt and tailor within its own contexts, including policies and procedures to use as templates. Appendices include information on how to recognise when a student has sustained a concussion, what information to provide at the time of injury, medical referral pathways, and the school’s and individual responsibilities for implementing a recovery plan.

We have based the information in this document on international best practice for concussion management. We were also informed by research conducted by New Zealand Rugby, the University of Otago and Auckland University of Technology (AUT), the new ACC Concussion guidelines for sports-related concussion (2025), and by various stakeholders of secondary schools, and sports and health care provider organisations as part of the FRANCS project.