This learning community cluster includes two state secondary schools.

Schooling

1. Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti is also temporarily located within this cluster (see also Christchurch Central Secondary Cluster).
2. Hillmorton High School
3. Cashmere High School 

School governance

There are three types of schools: state, private (or registered or independent) and state integrated schools. State integrated schools are former private schools which, while now “integrated” into the state system, also provide programmes around their particular religious or learning philosophy.

State and state integrated schools, while government funded, are managed by boards of trustees. Private schools receive only partial funding from the Government. Day to day management of all schools is the responsibility of the principal.

The Crown is responsible for property provision for state and special character schools to ensure students have access to their closest school. The proprietors of state integrated and private schools are responsible for their own buildings. The South West Secondary cluster includes Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti, a special character school which temporarily relocated to Halswell following the February 2012 earthquakes.

School boards are required to develop individual charters and annual plans and report their performance against these.  You will be able to access the school charter from your school or on Find a school.

Education Review Office (ERO) reports on school and early childhood performance are publicly available.

South West Christchurch secondary cluster ERO review cycle

Hillmorton High School	3 years
Cashmere High School	3 years
Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti (Temporary Location)	Under review

School roll changes

In March 2010, prior to the earthquakes, the secondary schools in this cluster provided teaching and learning to 2477 students. While individual rolls have fluctuated, the combined secondary roll in this cluster has declined by 141 to 2336 at March 2012.

Individual school March rolls, 2008, 2010, and 2012:

 

The following chart shows the ethnic composition of the combined cluster school rolls by percentage of total combined roll

Education achievement

National Certificate in Education Achievement (NCEA)  is the main secondary school qualification for students in years 11-13. NCEA can be gained at three levels – usually level 1 in Year 11, level 2 in Year 12, and level 3 in Year 13. Any student who demonstrates the required skills and knowledge to the level of a particular standard, achieves NCEA credits. Each student receives a School Results Summary that presents all standards taken throughout their school years, and the results for each. Since NCEA was introduced, more students are leaving school with qualifications. The National priority is that 85% of all school learners will have achieved NCEA Level 2 by the time they leave school.

This table shows the numbers of school leavers in the Christchurch South West Secondary Learning Community Cluster who gained NCEA level 2 before leaving school.

Cluster:	Christchurch South West Secondary
	Total School Leavers				Maori				Pasifika
Year	Number Below L2	NCEA L2 and above number		Total no. of leavers	Number Below L2	NCEA L2 and above number	Total no. of leavers		Number Below L2					NCEA L2 and above number				Total no. of leavers
2009	141	301		442	22	27	49		11					5				16
2010	145	344		489	19	25	44		14					15				29
Note: 2011/12 data is live and cannot be released.

Special Education

Special Education delivers specialist services and support to learners with special education needs across this cluster. This includes support to schools, teachers, parents, families and whānau. Conductive Education is provided for identified high needs learners at Cashmere High School. 

Māori and Pasifika provision

Māori-medium education programmes involve students being taught either all or some curriculum subjects in the Māori language, either in immersion (Māori language only) or bilingual (Māori and English) programmes. There are no Māori or Pasifika bilingual units or language programmes delivered by schools in this cluster.

English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision

ESOL provision for refugee and new migrant learners from non-English speaking backgrounds is provided to 28 secondary learners across the schools in this cluster.

Land – State schools only

School sites sit outside the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) land classification process and will not be given any Technical Category foundation rankings, though the land in the surrounding residential area of this cluster has been classified TC2 and TC3. Geotechnical assessments on the state school sites in this cluster indicate land issues may compromise continued education provision.

Further Ministry commissioned assessments may be required at a later date, should any of these sites be further developed.

Buildings – State schools only

There are 124 teaching spaces included in the 17,536 square metres (of useable space) of teaching and learning and administration areas across this cluster of schooling provision. The teaching, learning and administrative space is incorporated into 64 actual buildings. All of these buildings suffered damage during the earthquakes.  Repairs have yet to be made to the building stock. Condition assessments confirm earthquake strengthening will be required, over time, across 19 buildings within the cluster. There are weather tightness issues in a further 12 buildings.

Building condition information – State schools only

	Number of buildings	Number of buildings with EQ damage	Number of buildings with strengthening required	Number of buildings with weather tightness repairs required	Number of buildings with strengthening and weather tightness repairs
Cashmere High	39	39	11	10	3
Hillmorton High	25	25	8	2	0
Cluster	64	64	19	12	3

Based on March 2012 rolls – a minimum of 111 teaching spaces will be required for ongoing teaching and learning in this cluster, as below.

School rolls and classroom numbers – State schools only

	March 2010 roll	Classroom (no.) current (July 2012)	March 2012 roll	Estimated classrooms required at March 2012
Cashmere High	1749	80	1674	77
Hillmorton High	728	44	662	34
Cluster	2477	124	2336	111

The way forward

Extensive condition assessments and engineering investigations have confirmed all buildings in this cluster remain fit to occupy – unless already isolated. A number of the buildings across this cluster will, however, require remediation and strengthening over the longer-term.  1 is not considered cost effective to repair. This includes 14 teaching spaces. 

Future planning

The earthquakes provide an opportunity, as outlined in the Education Renewal Recovery Programme [PDF; 881kb], to consider options for revitalising the greater Christchurch education network that go beyond simply replacing what was there. Discussions with schools, communities and providers within this cluster will be key to informing decisions around the future shape of education for the South West Christchurch Secondary education community. Ways to enhance infrastructure and address existing property issues, improve education outcomes, and consider future governance will form part of these discussions. 

Community engagement

The Ministry of Education will formally consult with this cluster and its community on the possible shape of future education provision. This will include providing detailed information on the issues and options affecting the cluster for community consideration. In line with the support signalled in the Education Renewal Recovery Programme [PDF; 881kb] for improved collaboration, this will provide an opportunity to gain further suggestions around shared provision across schools and services within specific areas of interest and the wider community, as appropriate. Boards will formally consult with their communities where closures or mergers are indicated.

Check out the engagement schedule for further details.

Secondary schooling

A separate discussion will also be held with state secondary schools around secondary provision going forward.