Sylvester school on track to open in 2019
Hamilton north’s newest primary school is set to open in just over a year, despite earlier concerns a change in government left it in limbo.
Founding principal of Sylvester school, Tony Grey, was prompted to come forward after a report that the school was in jeopardy.
Grey wanted to assure the community that the primary school is on track for a 2019 opening, with building work well under way.
The article followed reports that the Government was looking to scrap contracts for four new charter schools.
But Grey said the school in Sylvester would not be affected because it’s a public private partnership (PPP), as opposed to a charter school or partnership school.
PPP schools are designed, built and maintained by a private company or group, and everything else runs as a state school does.
Whereas a partnership school, also known as a charter school or kura hourua, is run by a private group and is free to set their own curricula, school-day lengths, school terms and teacher pay-rates. The private group, instead of the ministry, is also responsible for meeting education criteria and staying financially viable.
Both schools get the same funding per child from the Government.
Grey said the PPP model allowed staff and the school board to concentrate on the children instead of worrying about ‘‘getting someone in to fix the roof’’.
He hadn’t come forward earlier as he is still principal at Te Kowhai School and that is his priority until the end of the term.
‘‘The opportunity to set up a brand new school was one of the only opportunities that was ever going to entice me away from Te Kowhai,’’ Grey said.
‘‘From my perspective it’s an awesome model. It’s a state-of-theart school, with room for 600 students initially.
‘‘It’s really stunning and there’s been no expense spared.’’
Five schools have been built in Hamilton’s northeast since 2003 and Sylvester will be the sixth.
The school will cater for Year 1 to 6 pupils and is being built at the corner of Borman Road and Hare Puke Drive.
Grey says he has plenty to do before he leaves the school he’s been principal at for a decade, and will not be taking inquiries for Sylvester until next year.
He will spend 2018 setting up Sylvester school and developing the curriculum and the culture.
During that time, he’ll be based at an office at Rototuna High.
The bid for Sylvester school was won by the SHAPED consortium led by PIP Fund II.
They will maintain the site for 25 years, which is usually the term for these contracts, said Kim Shannon, head of infrastructure services for the Ministry of Education.