POSSIBLE BREAK IN HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29245, 1 July 1960, Page 15

POSSIBLE BREAK IN HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING

There ■ are indications that the Christchurch Post-primary Schools’ Council will have a breathing space before it has to consider the location of its next high school and whether it is to be single-sex or co-educational. Education Department projections of likely enrolments Suggest that numbers of new entrants will tend to taper off after 1962 so it is by no means certain when or where more high schools will be required. At present the council has the Mairehau and Hillmorten High Schools under construction to open next year, sites acquired in Breens road (Bryndwr) and Tuckers road (Northcote) and another under consideration in Hornby. The Burnside and Papanui High Schools, respectively, , are fairly close to the first two sites, but the Riccarton High School is some distance from Hornby so the last may be needed first Since its formation, the Postprimary Schools’ Council has opened high schools at the average rate of one a year. This year two opened simultaneously and the same thing will happen again next year. This should take care of immediate needs, particularly as the accommodation at any new school develops until the initial third-form pupils reach the sixth form. Many schools seem to bet settling at more than 800 pupils. Settlement

Occupation of new sites depends on the pattern of settlement. Some new housing areas attract largely young couples whose families are born there and have to pass through primary school before a strong demand for a high school arises. Others attract more mature families and a high school is needed within a few years. In either case school sites have to be reserved before. all land is taken up. That is why the council has already -acquired sites in areas of obviously large potential population. With two single-sex schools for boys and two for girls available and outer areas most easily served by co-educational schools, the latter type has been chosen for all recent additions to the

ring round Christchurch. The single-sex versus co-educational school Argument has not been revived for some years. Now that Heritage has passed on the opinion of some servicemen’s widows that there is a need for more single-sex high schools, the Post-primary Schools’ Council has agreed to reopen the matter when the future schools are planned. Clearer Picture A break in new high school building will give time for type preferences to become clearer. Every new high school has started with some disadvantages. Most of them “have been only half built when enrolments opened and some parents doubted whether they would be ready on time. Grounds were not developed. At this stage headmasters and staff were not known. And some parents were chary of enrolling pupils at a school which would start with a third form only and lack the influence of traditions and older pupils. In the first year they have not been able to show fully their effect on the spread of eurolments. However, once into their second or third year, new schools have had considerable "pull” and in the last two years comparatively new schools have had the biggest numbers of applications. By the time the Post-primary Schools’ Council next considers the need for a new school and its type, most of the new schools will be well established and their place in the enrolment picture should be fairly well stabilised. No Figures No figures on individual school's applications, acceptances, or rejections have been released this year. It is therefore not known (outside principals and boards of governors) how heavy has been the demand for singlesex schools, how many pupils nominated a co-educational school as a second choice, or whether the demand was for certain schools or schools of a certain type. It is reported that one single-sex school did not fill its accommodation on the first round. Some years ago, when a new single-sex school opened, it received only a small proportion

of the pupils rejected at another single-sex school. When the situation is reviewed again, the Post-primary Schools’ Council should be better able to assess the relative demand for certain schools as such, single-sex co-educational schools, and district schools. If more single-sex schools were decided upon, the council would be faced with The tricky question of where it would be located. Some balance has to be made in boys’ and girls’ schools. One suggestion made privately is that the Christchurch West High School be converted to a singlesex school because of its central position, another is the Breens road and Tuckers road sites be 'used for girls' and boys' schools.