Te Kura opens Invercargill office as school roll grows
Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu has opened a new regional office in Invercargill as part of its response to a nationwide increase in enrolments.
The state-funded distance education provider is New Zealand’s biggest school with a roll of about 30,000 students from early childhood to secondary level. It has its headquarters in Wellington.
Chief executive Te Rina Leonard said having an Invercargill office “was always on the cards”.
“Te Kura is committed to becoming more involved in communities that we serve.
“A part of that is being present in communities. Having an office really signals to our Southland families and students that we’re here [and] we want to serve them.”
Te Kura will also open an office in Queenstown today.
Leonard (Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Raukawa) was appointed chief executive in May 2023 and was the first Māori woman to hold the position.
She has strong ties to Southland – she was born in Invercargill, attended Southland Girls’ High School, and worked in the city after qualifying as an educational psychologist.
Te Kura, formerly known as The Correspondence School, celebrated its centenary in 2022.
The school had seen an increase of 200% in student enrolments from the South Island during the past few years.
“It really signifies that young people are looking for more flexible ways of learning,” Leonard said.
“We want the network magic to happen for Invercargill and Southland.”
Nationally, half of its 2000 new enrolments in 2023 came through the nonenrolled gateway, meaning those students had been removed from their previous schools for not attending and picked up by the Ministry of Education’s attendance service.