Interim decisions for Aranui cluster announced – May 2013

On 22 May, Minister of Education Hon Hekia Parata announced an interim decision for five schools in Aranui affected by the Government’s Education Renewal Plans.  Those five schools are Aranui High School, Aranui Primary, Avondale Primary,  Chisnallwood Intermediate and Wainoni Primary.

In September last year, the Government proposed that the five schools should close and a new single-site campus be established for years 1 to 13.

Following an extended consultation period with affected schools due to the complexity of the proposal, the interim decision is that:

• the new year 1-13 campus should be established on the current Aranui High School site
• Aranui High School, Aranui Primary, Avondale Primary and Wainoni Primary should close on 27 January 2017.  If these interim decisions become final, the single-site campus would be operating by term one in 2017.
• Chisnallwood Intermediate should remain operating on its current site. Its future would be reviewed in 2020.

All schools will be given until 3 July to make further comment, provide feedback and add to their submissions about the interim decision. It is expected that the final decision will be announced by September 2013.

Read more on the Aranui cluster interim decisions.

Interim decisions for 31 schools – February 2013

On 18 February, 2013 Minister of Education Hon. Hekia Parata announced interim decisions for 31 of the 38 schools affected by the initial proposals outlined last year.

This announcement took into account the considerable feedback received from schools since September 2012, when proposals were released for consultation, and broader decisions being made about the future of Christchurch.

12 of the 31 schools should not close or merge as originally proposed.

Six schools should remain open (Burnham, Burnside, Duvauchelle, Okains Bay, Shirley Intermediate and Ouhuria (which should relocate to West Belfast when the population grows sufficiently).

The following seven schools should close: Branston Intermediate, Glenmoor, Greenpark, Kendal, Linwood Intermediate, Manning Intermediate and Richmond.

Three mergers (six schools) should not proceed and remain separate: Bromley and Linwood Ave, Gilberthorpe and Yaldhurst, and TKKM o Waitaha and TKKM o Te Whanau Tahi (in the latter case, one should relocate to another part of the city to ensure better access).

Six mergers (12 schools) should proceed: Burwood and Windsor, Central New Brighton and South New Brighton, Discovery One and Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti, Lyttelton Main and Lyttelton West, North New Brighton and Freeville, and Phillipstown and Woolston (on the Woolston site).

These interim decisions only affect 31 schools because two (Hammersley and Le Bons Bay) have already voluntarily closed and the five that are part of the campus proposal (Avondale, Aranui, Wainoni, Chisnallwood Intermediate and Aranui High) have an extended submission period.

All 31 schools were given until 28 March to make further comment, provide feedback and add to their submissions about the interim decisions. Twelve schools accepted their decisions and the Minister subsequently finalised the decisions and announced them on 27 March. Of the remaining 19 schools, the Minister announced decisions on 29 May. Sixteen schools received final decisions and decisions for three were deferred so consultation could occur on two new proposals.

The secondary schools are working to together on their proposals for the future of secondary schooling in the greater Christchurch area. Proposals for consideration are expected to come to the Minister in May 2013, after which formal consultation will occur.

The Education Renewal work is part of the Government’s plan to invest $1 billion in Christchurch to build the best schooling network in the country.