School enrolment scheme ordered

ELMGROVE School has been ordered to develop an enrolment scheme to contain its burgeoning roll.

Board of trustees chairman Ben Baxter said the roll at the Mosgiel primary school was ‘‘very healthy’’, and while it was positive news for the school and the wider community, the school had a responsibility to ensure overcrowding did not become an issue in the future.

‘‘To address this, the Ministry of Education has directed our school to develop an enrolment scheme.’’

The board had prepared a proposed scheme and was now asking the community for feedback.

He said the scheme had three purposes — to avoid overcrowding; ensure enrolment selection was carried out in a fair and transparent manner; and allow the ministry to make the best use of surrounding state schools.

The introduction of an enrolment scheme would not affect children already enrolled at Elmgrove School, he said.

Those living within the proposed zone would have a right to enrol at the school, and those living outside it would only be able to enrol if there were places available.

‘‘However, we anticipate that we will always have vacancies for children from outside the zone.’’

Under the Education Act 1989, those enrolling from outside the zone would be prioritised. First would be children who had been accepted into a special programme run by the school; second would be siblings of present and former pupils; third would be children of former pupils; fourth would be children of school employees or board members; followed by all other pupils.

Mr Baxter said if more children within any of the priority groups wished to enrol than there were places available, then a ballot would be conducted to determine who was offered places.

‘‘Before making any decisions about the proposed scheme, including when it will likely come into operation, we would like to hear the views of both current and prospective parents and whanau, and others in our wider community,’’ he said.

Submissions close at 4pm on December 21.

NEW primary school enrolment zones have been proposed for Wanaka in preparation for the opening of Wanaka South School in 2020.

The new zones, which will likely be adopted bar any major objection, will see the town split into two.

Wanaka Primary School’s zone will cover a small but heavily-populated area between Ardmore St and Aubrey Rd, near the edge of Albert Town, while the Wanaka South School zone will extend from the airport right up to Cardrona township and the Matukituki Valley.

The zone of the new school will also include Albert Town and the central Wanaka area west of Ardmore St.

Hawea Flat School’s current zone will remain unchanged, covering the Hawea, Hawea Flat and Luggate communities.

While this will result in a drastic change, Wanaka Primary School board chairman Andrew Howard said current students and younger siblings would still be able to attend the school despite being outside the zone to ‘‘ensure minimal disruption during the transition period’’.

Wanaka South School’s establishment board chairman Ian Hall said a public meeting would be held on December 4 to provide the community with further information on the proposed zones, although noted the zones were virtually set in stone at this point.

‘‘If there’s something glaringly obvious that needs to be changed, I’m sure the Ministry of Education will take that on board, but I think it’s highly unlikely there will be any changes to what has been proposed.’’