Wellington's most overcrowded schools
Hundreds of schools are over capacity or at risk of becoming overcrowded as thousands of extra children turn up to school each year, Ministry of Education documents show.
They include nearly a quarter of schools in Wellington, which is one of six regions identified as experiencing the most growth in primary and secondary school rolls in 2016-17.
All primary schools in the central Wellington, South Wellington, Ngaio and Johnsonville areas are operating at capacity, and secondary schools are experiencing similar effects, particularly in Kapiti Coast, Upper Hutt and central Wellington.
Meanwhile, primary schools in small towns and rural areas such as Wairarapa and Tararua were in decline, the 2016-17 Education Network Assessment shows.
National predictions showed more than 10,000 new students would enrol in school between 2016 and 2017, and those projections increase by at least 3000 students each year until 2030.
The assessment, produced for the first time, outlines potential remedies, including new classrooms, zoning schemes, or simply monitoring roll numbers.
The documents, obtained by the Labour Party under the Official Information Act, show 214 schools are overcrowded, and 488 are at more than 85 per cent capacity, meaning they are at risk of becoming so.
Education Ministry deputy secretary of sector enablement support Katrina Casey said the at-risk category was simply a threshold to more closely monitor and plan accordingly. Capacity data was changeable, and did not always reflect new teaching spaces a school had received since. It also did not include board of trustees-funded buildings.
Following strict building code regulations, ‘‘being at or over capacity does not indicate there is anything unsafe about the school’’. More than $470 million had been allocated to fund more capacity for schools around the country in the past two years.
Labour education spokesman Chris Hipkins said the Government had not adequately planned for population growth.
‘‘Schools are ending up with kids in libraries, gymnasiums and school halls because they haven’t got enough classroom space.’’
He hoped the Budget would include ‘‘significant’’ investment in school infrastructure.
According to the figures, Wellington City’s most overcrowded schools were Newtown School, at 142 per cent capacity; Karori West Normal School at 137 per cent; and Island Bay School at 122 per cent.
The most overcrowded schools in rural parts of the Wellington region were Pahiatua School at 148 per cent capacity, and Martinborough School at 126 per cent.
Newtown School principal Mark Brown disagreed with the figures, and said there were enough classrooms for students.
It was working with the ministry around an enrolment scheme to combat overcrowding, Brown said, which could potentially be in place by term three this year.
Kapiti College was recorded at 116 per cent capacity, and principal Tony Kane said current enrolment was up at 1585 pupils, of which the school could comfortably accommodate 1350.
He said every spare space was being used to host the excess. ‘‘The marae, gym, function room, there’s a Whitireia-owned classroom we use ... You name it, we are using it.’’
Zoning rules were put in place three years ago, but Kane said it would be another couple before they had a marked effect.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education was putting money into a new performing arts space, which would house three new classrooms. ‘‘The ministry understands the situation.’’