School grapples with increasing roll
Fairfield School has trucked in new classrooms in response to a growing roll and already they will be full when it resumes lessons after the Easter school holidays.
The primary school is situated in Levin’s north-east, an area of town experiencing a housing boom and earmarked for significant future development.
Fairfield School principal Alisdair Maclean met with Ministry of Education adviser Simon Tafea last week and took him for a drive to see the extent of new housing in the area.
Maclean said the ministry was keeping a close eye on the situation and he was in regular contact with officials, such was the pace of change.
The school should have a roll of 464 students but in the past two years it reached more than 500.
If a student was within zone, it was duty bound to enrol them.
Maclean, who took up the post two years ago, said the wellbeing of children and staff had to be at the centre of all decision-making. The school had reduced its zone last year in an effort to manage growth and give certainty around roll size.
“It did relieve pressure. And the new classrooms have given us back our library and make-a-space area, which had been used as a classroom for the last six years,” he said.
Maclean said a certain amount of square metres had to be retained at schools for play and its existing buildings weren’t designed to be made into two-storey classrooms.
He said population growth had to have a co-ordinated, district-wide approach and not just one school dealing with the issue in isolation.
There were similar issues nationwide and Fairfield School was one of six in the Wellington region to receive a share of $10 million of funding towards short-term roll growth, announced last year.
Other schools in the region to get classrooms were Te Kura Kaupapa Ma¯ori o Te Ara Whanui (4), Kapakapanui (2), Waikanae School (4), Raumati Beach (1), and Heretaunga College (4).
A further $8.5m was announced for projects at five other schools, which were Foxton School, Freyberg High School, Terrace End School (Palmerston North), Te Pi’ipi’inga Kakano Mai I Rangiatea (New Plymouth), and Boulcott School (Lower Hutt).