Survey Report of the Future of Catholic Schooling in the Wakatipu Basin
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Survey report of the future of Catholic Schooling in the Wakatipu Basin For the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dunedin By: Strategies Marketing Consultancy Ltd – Marijke Dunselman www.strategiesmarketing.co.nz August 2016 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................... 3 1. Context and Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 3 2. Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Rationale and purpose............................................................................................................................. 4 2.2 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................. 5 2.3 Summary of key survey findings .............................................................................................................. 6 2.4 Summary of comments ......................................................................................................................... 15 2 Acknowledgements A big thank you to the people who have taken the time to fill in the survey; parents or guardians of children at St Joseph’s, parents or guardians of children at other schools, parishioners of St Joseph’s Church and other interested people. They have provided us with solid information and feedback on the future of Catholic Schooling in the Wakatipu Basin. Thanks also to Gerald Scanlan, Gigi Hollyer, Trisch Inder and the board of Trustees of St Joseph’s School, who have helped with the development and testing of the survey and encouraged a total of 223 people to take the survey. The survey was distributed to St Joseph’s School parents, early childhood centres in the Wakatipu, several large local Facebook Groups such as Queenstown Trading and there has been an article in the Mountain Scene. 1. Context and Methodology A total of 223 people filled in the survey and 130 respondents put their name and email down to be kept up to date on the school development. There are 93 families at St Joseph’s school and 90 respondents fell under the category Parents of children at St Josephs. It can therefore be assumed that the majority of St Joseph’s parents filled in the survey. 154 of the respondents were Catholic. According to the 2013 Census, the total population of the Queenstown Lakes District was 28,224 with 67% living in the Queenstown school area (source: 2013 Census Statistics NZ). The number of Catholics for the Queenstown Lakes District was 3,045. Therefore, the number of Catholics in the Queenstown area is assumed to be 2,040 (67% of total). The survey’s confidence level (the probability that the sample’s results can be inferred on the survey’s population): 95% (Survey industry standard is 95%). The margin of error is the plus/minus range that can be placed on the sample’s results to indicate where the population’s results would fail. The industry standard is 5%. For the number of St Joseph’s parents who filled in the survey (90) as a total of all St Joseph’s school parents (93) the margin of error is +/- 2%. For the number of Catholic respondents (or have Catholic a connection as per enrolment criteria) (154) as a total of all Catholics in the Queenstown area (2,040), the margin of error is +/- 7.6%. The draft survey was sent to the working group and school board to review and test. The survey was executed online, using the online survey programme “Survey Monkey” (www.surveymonkey.com), offering sophisticated data reporting and cross-tabulation. Note that there are numerous ways to cross-tabulate the survey results. In the future, if there is a need to learn specific information about a particular group, then the survey software can easily get these results. 3 2. Executive Summary 2.1 Rationale and purpose The Catholic Diocese (as owner of Catholic schools in Otago and Southland, through the Bishop) and the parish of Queenstown are exploring future options for Catholic schooling in response to current and predicted population growth. The current school site is small and no longer central to the population it serves. The school has lost ‘market share’ to newer, larger State schools in high-growth locations between Frankton and Lake Hayes. There is anecdotal evidence that parents who would prefer Catholic schooling for their children are sending them to State schools for reasons of proximity and household convenience (work, transport, recreation, shopping). The parish and Diocese would like to understand better the priorities and preferences driving school selection by current or intending parents and how they would respond to a more central location for a Catholic school. We would also like to understand better how current and intending parents view the school/parish connection, the importance to them of parish and church activities as part of the choice for Catholic education and how the parish could better support and connect with families at the Catholic school. The purpose of this survey is to gauge opinion on Catholic education in the Wakatipu region. Currently about 5% primary aged students are getting a Catholic Education in the region. It would be desirable to get this figure to a level of 10-12% of primary aged children in line with other parts of the Otago/Southland Diocese. To future-proof Catholic Education as a choice for families living here, more growth needs to be allowed for and a couple of options are being assessed: Refurbish the current school buildings and grounds Relocate the school to a new location near Frankton, possibly in Remarkables Park Feedback of stakeholders will contribute to ensuring the best decisions are made for the Catholic school community moving forward. The survey report highlights the main findings as well as well as the question comments summary, providing more qualitative information. The appendices contain the survey comments and the survey results. At the end of the report, there are notes of a meeting held with the Ministry of Education in June 2016. 4 2.2 Conclusions The 223 survey respondents belonged to one of the following groups: Parent/guardian of student(s) at St Joseph’s School and/or with child/ren at an early childhood centre: 90 of a total of 93 school families responded to the survey, which is a very high response rate. Parent/guardian of students at another primary school, and/or child/ren at an early childhood centre: 61 respondents Not yet a parent but planning to be: 6 respondents Parishioner of St Joseph’s with NO children at primary school or at an early childhood centre: 30 respondents None of the above (but interested): 36 respondents The main criteria for school selection of respondents are values of the school, size of the school and reputation, and proximity to home. Currently, 52% of St Joseph’s families live closer to the Frankton area and 48% closer to downtown Queenstown. Despite this, 60% of St Joseph’s parents support a move to Frankton and 21% say maybe. Of all respondents, 56% support a move and 20% say maybe. 73% of parishioners consider the school-parish link extremely important, very important or moderately important. However, of all respondents only 45% consider it extremely, very or moderately important to have the school close to the church, and 52% of St Joseph’s parents. Having a multi-purpose school hall for church services as well as other activities could be a solution. Part of St Joseph’s parents like the smaller size school but most don’t like the small size of the grounds and older buildings of the current location. For the small number of people that prefer the school to stay in its current location, a redevelopment is supported. Since this survey has been conducted, there have been uncertainties regarding the school buses stopping as a result of the high school moving to Frankton and Melbourne Street possibly becoming a main road. The survey results relating to these topics have therefore not been included in the conclusions, even though these are likely to happen in the next years. Issues raised such as transport to school and the cost of a new school will need to be clarified. A clear plan for a possible new school location with solutions to the issues mentioned and developed in consultation with the working group and stakeholders will move this project forward. 5 2.3 Summary of key survey findings Group respondents belong to: 40.4% (90 people): Parent/guardian of student(s) at St Joseph’s School and/or with child/ren at an early childhood centre 27.3% (61 people): Parent/guardian of students at another primary school, and/or child/ren at an early childhood centre 2.7% (6 people): Not yet a parent but planning to be 13.5% (30 people): Parishioner of St Joseph’s with NO children at primary school or at an early childhood centre 16.1% (36 people): None of the above (but interested) Age: 15% of people surveyed are between 25 and 34 years old, 47% between 35 and 44 and 21% between 45 and 54 years old. Number of primary school-aged or younger children: 29% have no primary school-aged or younger children, 27% have 1, 35% have 2, and 9% have 3 or 4 primary school-aged or younger children. Where do respondents live: 66% live in Arrowtown, Frankton, Jack’s Point, Kelvin Heights, Lake Hayes Estate, Shotover Country,