MoE confident student numbers add up
The Ministry of Education insists its roll growth data for the Ōmokoroa area is up-to-date, after campaigners for the fast-tracking of a planned 2025 high school asserted the Ministry’s population projections in a May 2019 report were 30 months out of date.
Katrina Casey, the MoE’s Deputy Secretary for Sector Enablement and Support, tells Lizard News actual student data from each school is recorded on the ENROL system, effectively a live register of enrolments in the Ōtūmoetai catchment.
Other data comes from the National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis, the multi-council SmartGrowth partners and major building developers, she says.
“We regularly evaluate factors affecting schooling provision, including largescale residential developments, infrastructure projects, and the impacts of Covid-19. As key data is updated, forecasts will change as growth patterns emerge.
“We monitor how primary school rolls are tracking compared to capacity as part of our forecasting for secondary provision. In this case, the analysis projects the need for a new secondary school in Ōmokoroa, planned to open in 2025.
“There is capacity at Ōtūmoetai College, Tauranga Boys' College, Tauranga Girls' College and Katikati College. We will manage short-term growth through the use of Enrolment Schemes and the provision of Roll Growth classrooms," she says.
Despite the 2018 census update not being available until mid-2021, the Ministry says sufficient information has been gathered from many sources to support decision-making.
Ōmokoroa students face five years of more than two and half hours per day of bus travel with standing room only, on the country's most dangerous State Highway. Two of my own children leave the house at 7am and get home at 4pm.
When asked for comment on how the Ministry regards student welfare, Kim Shannon, Head of Education Infrastructure Services says she recognises travel times around the Tauranga region have grown significantly due to traffic congestion.
“The Ministry doesn’t operate these buses. We provide funding to Tauranga Network Group which Ōtūmoetai College is part of. Please contact Tauranga Network Group about their bus services,” she says. The Ministry says bus companies are responsible for ensuring they don't exceed NZTA's Certificate of Loading safety limits.
The chair of Tauranga Transport Network Group, Henk Popping, says the school bus system is stretched to the limit by ever-increasing student numbers.
“Across many routes we are forced to have students standing in the aisle, despite our desire to have all students seated. The only way to solve this problem is for the Ministry to provide more funding to allow us to purchase more bus services.
“Many families choosing a co-educational or single sex schooling option from a more distant school are not supported by Ministry funding. Given the low speeds on SH2, the unfortunate reality is buses can be loaded to the legal limit to crawl to Tauranga. Our concern is students arriving at school in good shape and ready to learn,” he says.
Henk Popping says the Ministry is conducting a tender round for bus routes in which they intend to have a seat for each student, and he hopes the same approach will apply to schools like ours that manage their own buses.