Extra staff for school

Press, 5 August 1988, Page 5

Extra staff for school

By

JENNY LONG

St Albans School is being offered additional staffing for next year to help with the future of the whanau (family) class.

A decision to close the whanau class from next year had been announced and upset some parents.

The district senior inspector of schools, Mr Barry Nelson, said he had told the school that the Education Department would try to give it discretionary staffing of 0.5 of a teacher.

The school’s principal, Mr Bob Smith, said the school staff and committee had yet to consider the offer. Many people had to be consulted before a decision could be made. “It is not as clear cut as

saying, ’Here’s a staff member.’ There are other factors to consider.”

However, Mr Smith said he hoped everything would be resolved by the end of this term. Mr Nelson said that because of the level of staffing at St Albans School it had been difficult to

organise staffing and classes to meet the needs of all children.

He emphasised that meetings were ongoing and that no decision had yet beeen made as to whether the whanau class would proceed next year. Experience had shown that the whanau class was an effective way of furthering the development of Maori language and culture for children who had come from kohanga reo, Mr Nelson said.