{"id":114597,"date":"2025-11-02T21:15:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T21:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/114597\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T21:15:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T21:15:08","slug":"christchurch-principal-says-ministry-of-education-threatened-to-withhold-classrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/114597\/","title":{"rendered":"Christchurch principal says Ministry of Education threatened to withhold classrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThey say you have to have a zone <\/a>or you won\u2019t get new buildings for the population growth, so they say that\u2019s not a threat, but to me, that sounds like a threat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ministry of Education acting south leader Andrea Williams said Norman\u2019s claim was incorrect. <\/p>\n

Williams said before funding new classrooms, the ministry must first look at non-property solutions to manage or mitigate overcrowding.<\/p>\n

\u201cImplementing an enrolment scheme is one such measure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is significant residential development underway and planned within the proposed enrolment home zone. The ministry will continue to monitor growth in the area to determine when additional classroom capacity may be needed to meet the needs of residents within the home zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consultation has now closed on the ministry\u2019s proposed zone scheme for Rowley, with feedback being reviewed by the board of trustees.<\/p>\n

The zone is proposed to begin from January next year.<\/p>\n

Norman said the process felt pointless.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the email from the ministry requesting the meeting was, \u2018oh, we need to speed this up because our timeline is very tight\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that would indicate to me that they still are really focused that they\u2019re going to put a zone in. So why the consultation? Is it just a tick a box?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ministry of Education operations and integration leader Sean Teddy said zones prevent overcrowding <\/a>and guarantee local students a place<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe analyse and assess the need for enrolment schemes across the motu to help manage overcrowding, ensuring local students can attend schools in their area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

OneRoof reports some families are paying up to $800,000 for in-demand school zones.<\/p>\n

Teddy said there are options for students who do not want to attend the only school they are zoned for.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey include applying to an out-of-zone<\/a> school, state integrated school, private school or charter school, or seeking support from the Ministry of Education for a directed enrolment, or exploring alternative education providers<\/a> like activity centres or home education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norman said while zoning has merit, it shouldn\u2019t limit choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI use the analogy, we have a number of different restaurants, some restaurants I really enjoy going to. Others don\u2019t like that restaurant, but they prefer something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019ve got options, but we take the options away from our children, even though we\u2019re forcing them to go to school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaime Cunningham is a Christchurch-based reporter with a focus on education, social issues and general news. She joined Newstalk ZB in 2023 after working as a sports reporter at the Christchurch Star.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThey say you have to have a zone or you won\u2019t get new buildings for the population growth,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[25441,138,4487,2562,81654,4527,84,81655,28874,111,139,69,1118,29192,312,4062,18937,12419,61,81653,49817],"class_list":["post-114597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-adopt","tag-business","tag-christchurch","tag-claims","tag-classrooms","tag-doesnt","tag-education","tag-enrolment","tag-ministry","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-principal","tag-says","tag-school","tag-threatened","tag-threatening","tag-to","tag-withhold","tag-zone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}