School cut aims to ease pressure
School board member and Christchurch Christian Schools co-ordinator Andy van Ameyde said the small private Queenstown school had room for up to 50 or 60 in its new Frankton premises.
At present it had two teachers for its 21 pupils, who ranged from new entrants through to Year 8.
%26quot;Were a small independent school and our fees at the moment are $4000 a year, but our board has decided to reduce that to $1600 a year,%26quot; Mr van Ameyde said.
The school applied 18 months ago to the Education Ministry to be integrated into the state school system but the ministrys decision has been put on hold until its Wakatipu area strategy for schools had been completed, he said.
State integration would pay for teachers salaries and operating costs.
The school board had decided to substantially lower its fees in the meantime to make the school more affordable.
Under integration the school would teach the state curriculum but with a special Christian-Protestant character, just like Catholic schools taught with a Roman Catholic flavour and Maori schools with a Kura Kaupapa component, Mr van Ameyde said.
%26quot;Were working towards teaching the New Zealand curriculum.
Teachers (from Southern Lakes Christian School) are coming to Christchurch for professional development once a term.%26quot; The school could already take 20 more pupils with the two teachers it had at present and its spacious new premises in the Frankton Arms complex had plenty of room for more.
%26quot;Weve got room for more pupils … theres been a whole raft of bad news about the capacity pressures on schools and this is some good news,%26quot; Mr van Ameyde said.
The school had Queenstown Lakes District Council permission to use the huge adjacent Frankton lakefront reserve as its supervised playground and had also recently upgraded its computer suite thanks to community grants.
%26quot;Because were small we can do different things.%26quot; The school board was just waiting for the ministrys area strategy to be completed so its integration could be approved.
%26quot;At the moment people are sending their kids to integrated special character Christian schools like John McGlashan and St Hildas (in Dunedin) we believe parents need the choice.%26quot; Public open days will be held on April 9 and 16 and May 7 and 14 from 9am until midday.
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