For northern residents

Jared Nicoll Reporter from Kapi-Mana News

We are working on another article about schooling issues in northern Porirua, particularly pressure on primary school rolls.
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In case you're interested, here is an update so far from the Ministry of Education's Deputy Secretary Sector Enablement & Support Katrina Casey.

Community engagement is an important part of our planning and something we do all the time. It’s important that we listen to communities and consider their views alongside other information- like existing schools and population projections.

We recently completed two rounds of community engagement with the Northern Porirua community and have been grateful for the feedback they’ve given us. They’ve told us they would like us to consider a new year 1 – 8 primary school located in or near the Aotea development.

We’re now reviewing all available information, including the most up-to-date demographic information for the Northern Porirua area before any final decisions are made. At the same time we are working with local schools to support them to manage their rolls.

Papakowhai School’s Board of Trustees has indicated they need to reduce the size of their school’s home zone to manage the numbers of students at the school. They’re currently consulting with their community about reducing their zone by excluding parts of the northern, eastern and southern boundaries of their current zone. Any areas removed from Papakowhai’s home zone will still be zoned for other schools. The area around Ascot Park and Aotea, for example is also zoned for Rangikura School.

Aotea College is not changing its home zone. It is however going through a significant redevelopment as a result of our around $20 million dollar investment which will provide the community with a modern, fit-for-purpose secondary school.

We’re hoping to go back out to the Northern Porirua community within the next term to update them on next steps.