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QUEENSTOWN PRINCIPALS SAY TIME FOR GOVERNMENT ACTION

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August, 2011

Principals of Queenstown's two largest primary schools say it's time for Education Minister Anne Tolley to take action, with all schools in the basin facing new enrolments daily.
Remarkables Primary School principal Debbie Dickson and Queenstown Primary School principal John Western were among about 40 people at a public meeting called by the Wakatipu Education Community Group in Queenstown this month.
The group of concerned mothers called the meeting after a shock announcement last week that the Education Ministry was proposing an enrolment zone for the new Remarkables School, which opened last year. The plan would exclude subdivisions that the new Frankton school was originally built to cater for, including Lake Hayes Estate, Quail Rise and Tucker Beach.
Mrs Dickson said after the meeting she was expecting "120-plus" new entrants at the start of next year and no children leaving. The ministry had projected the opening roll for 2012 would be about 300.
That roll reached 343 this month and the school would open to year 7 and 8 pupils next year.
Parent and City Impact Church early childhood centre manager Shaun Vining said there were about 330 preschoolers aged four in the Wakatipu area at present, after a "baby boom" in the district in 2007.
He had 220 children on his waiting list. Of the 104 families represented at his centre, 65 per cent lived in Lake Hayes Estate or Quail Rise, which would be excluded under the ministry proposal. Once the waiting list children were included that figure jumped to 85 per cent. "Every day we're getting people coming into the centre very emotional about this whole situation."
Two families from his centre were planning to leave town because it was "getting just too difficult".
Mr Western said the situation was getting urgent and Ms Tolley needed to intervene. "This is the flagship of our country in many ways, our children deserve it like any others."
His school could take more students but would need more buildings first, and his board would not accept "any more relocatable classrooms". The school had 11 of those.
Group member Kate Smith urged people to make submissions to Remarkables Primary School by tomorrow so they could be included in the school's feedback to the ministry.
Remarkables Primary School board chairman John Stalker said the ministry was working on promised plans for a second new primary school. A project team was also negotiating over potential sites for a new high school.
District Mayor Vanessa van Uden urged the community to support the group and "hold the ministry accountable". The council had offered the ministry help with projections and solutions.