“If you are attending, please fill out an absence form to inform our tari. Here is the OFFICIAL page of TOIT TE TIRTI.”

In another email to whānau, another teacher wrote: “The board and school support the hikoi. We believe Te Tiriti benefits and enriches all who call Aotearoa, New Zealand home. If you intend to go to hikoi with your children, please inform the school. “His absence will be recorded as justified.”

Yesterday Seymour told Herald Parents who took their children out of school to go on the hīkoi would have to explain their absences.

“Any student who reaches a clearly defined threshold of days of absence will trigger an appropriate and proportionate response from their school and the ministry.

“My expectation is that schools will treat protesting students as explained but unexcused absences,” Seymour said yesterday.

Today he doubled his bet on that korero.

“Teachers must know the rules of political neutrality established by the Teaching Council.

“A teacher’s job is to give children the tools to make the most of their opportunities in life, not to influence them to follow their personal beliefs,” Seymour said.

“My bill will not harm anyone, but these students will be harmed by losing valuable learning time.”