Scheme offers more choice of schools

Press, 25 February 1987, Page 8

Scheme offers more choice of schools

Christchurch secondary school pupils may have much more choice about what school they attend if a new enrolment scheme now before the Secondary Schools Council is approved. The scheme — drawn up by a working party of three, headed by Dr Graham McNally — was considered by the council last evening. The scheme would allow about 80 per cent of each year’s third-formers a choice of what school they attended, Dr McNally said.

Its main features are:

• A very small geographic zone around each school, from which every child would have an absolute right to attend that school. This zone could be as small as half a kilometre.

• Each school would have a maximum allowable roll. This would be based on the previous year’s actual roll, plus an additional 5 per cent In this way, schools could grow if they constantly filled their maximum roll. However, the roll would never be allowed to exceed the physical capacity of existing school buildings.

• Preferential admission would be given to

only a very small number of out-of-zone pupils. These would be children with siblings who attended, or had attended, the school and those with identifiable health or social reasons for wanting to attend the school.

Dr McNally said the category of "social reason” would have to be defined tightly to ensure it was not abused. It could include, for example, a case of two siblings having to be separated, or difficulties caused by a family break-up. All other pupils would be selected by use of a ballot if the total number of applications exceeded the total allowable roll.

A small, independent group would be established to oversee any ballots that might be necessary to administer the scheme, and solve any disputes that might arise. Integrated schools would come under the scheme, and all the above conditions would apply to them.

Dr McNally said the working party envisaged schools’ becoming more specialised, and developing "special characters” under the scheme, as a means of attracting pupils. Parents, or prospective

pupils, would apply to a school because they wanted the sort of education it could offer, he said. However, if there were too many applications the selection would be fair, and the school would have no choice in setting selection criteria.

The working party anticipated that a ballot would only have to be used for, at most, five schools in Christchurch. The mechanism for setting the maximum roll would ensure that, in most cases, that roll exceeded the number of applications, Dr McNally said. Problems might arise where, because of changing housing patterns, some schools had very few pupils living within the guaranteed zone, he said.

In these cases, the schools would have to define the characteristics they wanted to adopt, and set out to attract out-of-zone pupils. Education Department assistance would probably be required so that these schools had something different to offer, he said.

Dr McNally said the scheme was intended, to increase the choice available to parents, to make schools more accountable and more responsive to

their communities, and to encourage diversification in educational styles and philosophies.

It will now be discussed by individual school boards, which will be asked to comment on the proposals.

If the scheme is to be working for enrolments of 1988 third-formers it must be approved by the Minister of Education, Mr Marshall, by August 1.