Schools under pressure as population boom looms

Warkworth schools are at capacity and two more schools will be required by 2030 to accommodate population growth, according to local principals.

Conversely, the Ministry of Education says there is ample time to buy land in Warkworth and the existing eight schools in Mahurangi will cope.

A Ministry report released in April said the number of students in Mahurangi would likely more than double in the next 15 years, from 2650 to 6100.

But Ministry head of sector enablement and support, Katrina Casey, says no sites have been identified for new schools as Warkworth is only experiencing mild growth.

“We’ve been talking to schools about which options would work for them in planning for growing rolls,” she says. “These include managing enrolment zones and providing extra classrooms when schools need them.

“Warkworth, Snells Beach and Matakana schools are due to do further work on enrolment schemes to help them manage roll growth, and we will support them with that.”

Mahurangi College principal David Macleod says the school is already 75 students over its capacity of 1225 students and the Ministry needs to buy land now to prepare for the future.

The college is planning to demolish two single-storey classroom blocks and replace them with double-storey blocks, which will increase the school’s capacity to about 1800, but he says that is the limit for current the site.

“The Ministry thinks we can grow to 2000, but I can’t see how we would cope with another 700 students. We don’t have enough field space as it is.”

However, Mr Macleod says the Ministry won’t fund the construction until its roll climbs even higher. In the meantime, it has to make-do with an increasing number of prefabricated classrooms.

“We’ve got good long-term plans, but the Ministry won’t let us build in advance. We have to be in deficit first.”

A Ministry report, produced by education consultants Pedersen Pierce, says Warkworth’s population is likely to triple in the next 10 to 15 years, but growth in the next five years is expected to be relatively slow. Mr Macleod says the Ministry needs to seize this window of opportunity and “land-bank” for a second high school before the population boom hits.

“Now is the time to prepare.”

The report said the college would probably reach a capacity of 2000 students within the next 15 years and recommended that the Ministry explore “a joint venture with a tertiary provider to develop a joint campus that supports secondary/tertiary/workplace transition”.

Mr Macleod says his preferred option is to build a second campus on an adjacent site.

“We could have a junior high school and a senior high school with shared grounds and facilities, and run by a single board of trustees. But we would still be very constrained by the lack of playing fields. At the moment we’ve only got one rugby field and one soccer field, and it’s not enough.”

Another option being explored is building a second school at a new site, possibly in a public-private partnership (PPP).

Under a PPP, a private partner is responsible for designing, building, financing and maintaining school property over a long-term contract, but has no involvement in the school’s curriculum or management. New Zealand’s first PPP school, Hobsonville Point Primary School, opened in 2013 and there are four more proposed for Auckland, Christchurch and Queenstown.

Meanwhile, Warkworth School is also feeling the strain of a growing roll and principal Cynthia Holden agrees that the Ministry should be buying land now for a second primary school.

The school is already at capacity with 600 students.

A major redevelopment is underway, starting at the junior school and then later at the senior school, which will increase capacity to 700 students by 2017. However, the lack of sports fields will impede further growth. The rebuild of the junior school will only replace the existing 16 classrooms and not increase capacity.

There are plans in future to add a further two classrooms to the junior side.

The Ministry has agreed to refurbish the senior school and increase the number of senior classrooms from 10 to 12. This work is expected to start in July next year and finish in early 2017.

“We are likely to be a rolling construction site for the next two years,” Ms Holden says.
At current growth rates, the school will reach its capacity of 700 students by 2019.

Ms Holden says it is likely a zoning system will then be in place so students will have to attend their closest primary school.

“Matakana and Snells Beach schools still have room for growth. But in the long-term, Warkworth will need a second primary school and the Ministry needs to identify an area central to new housing developments and purchase land.”

The Pedersen Pierce report said a second primary school would be needed in the “medium to long term”.

The Rodney section of the Auckland Council District Plan, notified in 2000, shows land near McKinney Road zoned for a school. The proposed Unitary Plan includes no detail of future school sites. This detail would likely be included in a Warkworth Structure Plan.