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The Ministry of Education has long dismissed talk of a state secondary school in Mangawhai (see next page), but now a not-for-profit charitable organisation is exploring plans to open an independent secondary school in the area in a year’s time.
Mangawhai Education Trust hopes to open a school in February 2025 that will ultimately accommodate year 7-13 students.
“We want to see our young people connected to and educated in Mangawhai,” the trust says on its website. “While there is an ever increasing demand for a high school in Mangawhai, the Ministry of Education has made it clear that there are no plans for this in the foreseeable future, so setting up an independent school is our only option at this time.”
Within a week and two days of announcing the plans last month, the trust received 190 expressions of interest from prospective parents in the community.
“It’s just completely blown us away,” trust chairperson and former school principal, Jill Corkin, said. “We knew there was a need, obviously, but the support has been overwhelming.”
Although it was early days, and the expressions of interest were not binding, she said the encouraging response gave them a lot of security in terms of going forward with their plans.
Information sessions will be held next month, and enrolments for Mangawhai College will be accepted from March.
In addition to interest from parents of prospective students, a local architect, an electrician, a planner and two fundraisers keen to see the plan come to fruition have also offered their services for free, Corkin said.
The trust has also had an early offer of financial support and was hoping for more. It’s putting together an investment brochure, and would be approaching people who might be interested in backing the project with capital investment.
“We’re definitely interested in talking to anybody who would be interested in helping us in that way.”
The envisaged school will have to start as a fee-paying institution. The trust says on its website tuition fees could be around $15,000 to $16,000 a year.
“We’ve been very upfront about this having to be a private school for now, and therefore fee-paying, but that doesn’t seem to have deterred people at this point,” Corkin said.
Looking ahead, the trust sees a “strong possibility” that Mangawhai College could become a partnership or charter school (Kura Hourua).
ACT’s coalition agreement with National includes a commitment to reintroduce charter schools, although Corkin said she did not see the legislation that would be required passing before late 2025, at the earliest.
She said how the Mangawhai plan unfolds will be dictated by what can be afforded at the outset. It was likely it would begin with two year groups and two teachers, and then expand from there.
Most expressions of interest had been from parents with children going into year nine in 2025. With Mangawhai Beach School catering for children up to year eight, “obviously parents are looking at their options beyond that. That’s a natural break point for local kids”.
Currently, high school students in the area attend Rodney College in Wellsford, Otamatea High School in Maungaturoto, or schools further afield. Corkin said some interest had come from parents of students at those schools who would like them to return to Mangawhai if possible.
The trust was looking at a couple of options of land to lease, with the idea that pre-built structures would be brought onto the site as learning spaces.
The aim was not to have a traditional school complex, with auditoriums and playing fields. Instead, Mangawhai College would aim to use local community facilities as much as possible.
“We have fantastic facilities in Mangawhai and lots of volunteer groups to work with,” Corkin said, adding that Kaipara councillors from the area had voiced strong support for the plans.
“From the point of view of being able to keep our young people here and educate them in the area, they have strong interest in that economically and for future growth as well.”
Over a career of more than 30 years, Corkin has been principal of Victoria Avenue School and Pakuranga Heights School in Auckland, and was the establishment principal of Snells Beach School, where she set up “everything from toilet paper to the curriculum”.
She does statutory intervention work for the Ministry of Education, and is convener of the annual NZ Principals’ Federation conferences. In 2017, she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to education.
Corkin has lived in Mangawhai for nine-and-a-half years, where she and her husband Alan – also a Mangawhai Education Trust trustee – have a real estate franchise.
The other two trustees are Natalie Fronczyk-Barlow, an accountant with 19 years of experience in corporate and small business accounting, and Julia Mitchell, a teacher with more than 15 years experience, including work at several international schools.
More info: https://www.mangawhaieducation.org.nz/
No ministry plans for a growing Mangawhai
In 2017, a senior Education Ministry official told Mahurangi Matters there were no plans under consideration for a secondary school in Mangawhai, on the basis that projected population growth did not warrant it.
“This area is already zoned for two secondary schools – Otamatea High School and Rodney College,” the then-sector enablement and support deputy secretary Katrina Casey said. “Both these schools have capacity available and the ability to grow, if required.”
Census figures the following year found that the population of Mangawhai village had risen by 84.7 per cent since the 2013 census, from 918 to 1329 people. The population of Mangawhai Heads had risen by 61 per cent over the same period, from 1239 to 1995 people. And the population of Mangawhai’s rural area had risen by 50.2 per cent, from 1398 to 2100 people.
Data from the 2023 census will only start being released in late May this year, but the population figures are expected to have been rising steadily since that combined number of 5424 in 2018. The 2020 Mangawhai Spatial Plan projects that the population will grow to about 14,500 by 2043.
That same Kaipara District Council-commissioned planning document, which aims to provide a high-level spatial picture of how Mangawhai could grow over the next 20-25 years, referred to the future need for a secondary school at Mangawhai, and recommended advocacy with the ministry.
“The projected population growth rate indicates a future need for a secondary school at Mangawhai. Discussions with the Ministry of Education about this need are ongoing.”
The document recommended that council liaise with the ministry and advocate for the provision of a secondary school at Mangawhai.
“The ministry has confirmed that it will continue to monitor and assess forecast demand for schooling in Mangawhai over the duration of the spatial plan, and work collaboratively with the council on any changes in the school network,” it said. “For any school, a site within the urban area is preferred to ensure schools are focus points for the community and are accessible by foot and bicycle.”
Asked for an update on the situation regarding calls for a secondary school in Mangawhai, Education Ministry Hautū (Leader) for Te Tai Raro (North) Isabel Evans said the ministry was “aware of the population growth in Mangawhai and are working with the local schools to manage this”.
Evans said the ministry delivered six teaching spaces to Otamatea High School last year and a further six would be coming in the first term of this year. It had also provided two additional teaching spaces for Mangawhai Beach School and another four would be delivered this year.
“Meanwhile, we are investigating the feasibility of future education provision,” she said.
