Country school on the move
A historic country primary school in the Tasman region will be moving to the centre of a residential development in a fast-growing town nearby.
Ranzau School in Hope, which celebrated its 175-year anniversary in 2023, will be relocated to a Richmond subdivision, the Ministry of Education has confirmed.
Richmond’s population was rapidly increasing, and the preferred option following consultation was to consider building a new primary school within the subdivison.
“Subsequent discussions with the Ranzau School board and their community led to the decision to relocate their school onto the Berryfield site,” Ministry Hautū (leader) Te Tai Runga (South) Nancy Bell said.
Recapitation of outlying primary schools in the Waimea catchment was also part of the preferred option, meaning some schools increasing the year levels they educated from year 1-6 to year 1-8.
Community consultation on how to best to respond to projected school aged population growth in the Waimea area concluded in 2021, and the ministry gave master planning for the new school the green light in November last year.
The timeline for the relocation and the delivery of the new facilities was yet to be confirmed, and the ministry was in the “very early stages” of the project, with master planning set to begin in 2024.
“Throughout the relocation process, we will continue working with the Ranzau School Board and their community,” Bell said.
Master planning would take around six months. The school would have capacity for 250 students, catering for new entrants to year 6 pupils.
The Government bought a 3ha site for a new school in Richmond West in 2020, which now sits across the road from a commercial centre that includes a Sprig & Fern tavern.
Then Minister of Education Chris Hipkins said that by 2028, an additional 320 primary, 130 intermediate and 390 secondary places were expected to be needed in the Waimea catchment. Those numbers were expected to more than double by 2048.
Ministry acting Hautū Te Tai Runga (leader) Andrea Williams said the community consultation process did consider the area’s older school age populations, along with primary school options.
“Waimea College and Waimea Intermediate were considered as part of the community engagement process, but the potential expansions of these schools were not part of the options presented as part of the formal consultation process,” Williams said.
And the boards of other two schools in the Waimea catchment had already applied to to recapitate following the consultation process, Williams said. Wakefield School would begin accepting year 7 students this year, and Appleby School in 2025.
Williams said the ministry would continue to work with Tasman District Council as they planned for future population growth, which would have an impact on school roll projections and trends.
The Richmond West area that Ranzau would call home in the near future was less than a decade old. In 2019, the area was expected to have about 1200 new homes within 10 years.
Richmond’s population had grown 14% between 2018 and 2023, and intensification of Richmond had been proposed by the council.
Ranzau School principal Dave Sampson said though the school had known they would moving to Richmond in the future for some time, he was pleased to have definite confirmation from the ministry.
“It certainly gives that assurance of things happening, and look, we’re really excited about it, staff, students, board, everyone, community, we’re really excited about the new possibilities that can be created at the new site,” Sampson said.
He said Ranzau’s relocation to the subdivision guaranteed the longevity of the school.
“And it really enacts our school vision of empowered learners and inspiring possibilities you know, on a new site that’s bigger, got more facilities, got more access to local resources,” he said.
“We certainly see it as an exciting opportunity to really give our community and our learners just an incredible learning pathway, and really see them flourishing.”