, th 27 August 2020 WAIMEA NETWORK SCHOOLING REGIONAL REVIEW No doubt parents will have seen last week’s article in the Waimea Weekly about Nick Smith petitioning for the Ministry of Education to purchase land in the new Berryfields (Lower Queen Street) sub-division and to build wa new primary school. A similar article has been in the Nelson Mail. I have had a number of parents and media asking me about my views and so I will outline some of my thoughts for your consideration. I think it is really important to do what is best for all students and families on the Waimea Plains. Recently, Nick Smith visited me and we spoke at length about his desire for a new primary school built at Berryfields. It would be fair to say we agreed on some ideas but disagreed on the need for this to be a primary school (or would there be a more suitable site on the Waimea Plains)? I have been on a working party formed by the Ministry of Education over a year ago, to look into the possibility of the Ministry of Education purchasing land in the Berryfields area and the possibility of building a new school. We have looked and discussed numerous options. The Ministry of Education have started undertaking community consultation. Firstly, a community consultation evening at the Brightwater School hall (Tuesday 11th August) and then there was meant to be another evening in the Waimea College hall (Thursday 13th August). The latter was postponed due to COVID Level 2 conditions. The Ministry of Education will be notifying schools and community of a survey that community members can complete – details to be sent out later. At the Brightwater meeting the Ministry of Education representatives presented a brief outline and initially mentioned only 3 possible alternatives to be considered (a new primary school at Berryfields, outlying primary schools to include Year 7 and 8 pupils, and moving Ranzau school to Berryfields). They later indicated other possibilities were also being considered. I mentioned a very important table hadn’t been shown that showed the projected numbers of students in each school zone for the next 30 years. When one views this, I am firmly of the belief that building another primary school in Lower Queen Street is rather short- sighted. Rather a bigger, long-term picture needs to be considered. When one looks at it one can certainly see the overcrowding in future years at certain schools and that is what needs addressing now. Cumulative number of state school students over time within each School catchment (additional students) Year 1-6 Primary Schools July 2019 count By 2028 By 2037 By 2048 Appleby School 113 122 122 122 Brightwater School 303 332 370 471 Henley School (Nelson) 437 503 654 654 Hope School 61 61 61 85 14 Cambridge Street Phone: (03) 544 8959 http://www.richmondprimary.school.nz Richmond, Nelson 7020 Absence Text: 021 135 7891 Ranzau School 79 97 97 328 Richmond School (Nelson) 505 670 744 744 Wakefield School 301 336 376 566 Year 1-6 Primary Total 1,799 2,121 2,424 2,970 A concern I have about those who are signing Nick Smith’s petition is they may not be unaware about the predicted size Waimea Intermediate and Waimea College are likely to grow to in the next 10, 20, 30 years. My grandsons live in the Richmond School zone and I certainly don’t want them to be just ‘a number’ in a very large intermediate or Waimea College with say 2500 - 3000 students. Many parents of children at Richmond School are telling me that both schools are too big already and they want another intermediate and/or college built. July 2019 count By 2028 2028 - 2037 2038 - 2048 Waimea Intermediate 740 868 985 1165 Waimea College 1774 2163 2568 3046 What these figures indicate is that these are the student numbers living in each schools catchment area. That doesn’t mean all those children go to that school. Richmond School is a good example of this. We had 505 primary aged children in our catchment on the 1st July 2019. Our 1st July 2019 roll number was in fact 469. This means only 92% of the children attend Richmond School. Other students in our catchment are home-schooled, attend the Richmond kura, attend One Global School (Headingly Lane), St Paul’s, Nelson Christian Academy (Stoke) and other local schools (Hope, Ranzau, Appleby and Henley). Ranzau and Henley along with us have enrolment schemes and we have overlapping zones where the children can attend either Henley or Richmond School and similarly either Ranzau or Richmond School. If one extrapolates this percentage out to 2037/2047 the maximum number at Richmond School would be 684, and this is without adjusting our school zone. Similarly, the Ministry of Education’s projected number for 2028 being 670 would indicate around 616 attending Richmond School. Both extrapolated numbers in my opinion are way too high and Richmond School would never reach anywhere those numbers. In the last 4/5 years we have ended the year with 495 – 508. We will end 2020 with approximately 510. I’m not sure schools like Brightwater School and Wakefield School will be in a hurry to re-capitate (keep their Year 7s and 8s) with projected significant increases in some school numbers in a number of years’ time. It could be a fool-hardy move. It may well be some/many of these parents would prefer their Year 7 and 8 children to attend an intermediate. Re- capitation for outlying schools is not a given. Historically, I am aware of a local Nelson school who converted over to being a full-primary school (Years 1-8 pupils) 20 or so years ago and it was only partially successful. A number of years ago the school reverted back to being a contributing school (Years 1–6 pupils). Soon the RTLBs (specialist teachers) whom we host in the old 1927 building on the corner of Cambridge St and Oxford Street are moving to Salisbury School. This will free up this classroom for Richmond School’s use. Where the old dental clinic/public health nurses building (no longer used by them) near to our swimming pool, these could be removed and two new rooms could be built. We can accommodate another two classrooms by the staff carpark. We can definitely accommodate five more classrooms at Richmond School without encroaching onto the front playing fields. Furthermore, the Henley, Ranzau and Richmond School zones can be adjusted so student numbers can be reallocated. So, in my opinion there is no need to build another primary school. The Ministry of Education’s property funds would be better spent on building another more appropriate school or schools to accommodate not only the short term growth of primary aged children but intermediate and college aged students through to 2028 (8 years) and beyond through to 2048. I advocate for the promotion of children walking, biking or scooting to school. The vast majority of our children do so now. Some all the way from Hill Street and beyond. The vast majority of children attending Richmond School live ‘in-zone’ and we don’t have any coming to school by bus. The Berryfields development is presently in the Richmond School zone and some sections are in the Ranzau School zone. Some of the houses are a mere 400 metres from Richmond School as the crows fly. The majority are closer to Richmond school than our furthest away houses that are presently in our school zone. A number of our students already come from Lower Queen St, Stratford Avenue, Lammas Street and Beach Road and safely walk or scooter to school using the traffic lights and pedestrian crossings. The younger children accompanied by parents. It would be fair to say (in my opinion) that previous governments, Transit NZ and the TDC have failed to satisfactorily address the bottle neck of traffic at the Richmond Gladstone Road/Queen Street intersection we are presently experiencing and it is only going to get worse. Having said that, there are still alternatives that could provide children and families safe access to Richmond School from Berryfields. This will also mean the students and families can safely travel to other schools such as Waimea Intermediate, St Paul’s, Waimea College and Garin. We need to cater for more than just primary school aged children. Future planning means visionary planning for more than the next few years. People could also use the same alternatives access ways to easily visit the Richmond CBD – all within walking distance for most. One sensible alternative providing an underpass near Jubilee Park. Another alternative is an overpass. There are nearby underpass examples. Under Salisbury Road by the Aquatic Centre, under the bypass by the Aquatic Centre, under the motorway north of the freezing works, and there is also one for the public under the main road at Brightwater (from the stock yards into the back of Brightwater School). All highly successful in reducing the need for people to cross the roads/streets. One needs to look in greater depth at the projected numbers of children in the Richmond, and in fact the Waimea region, to fully appreciate where there is a need for another (perhaps different concepts) in the region. One also needs to look closely at the actual recent figures. The tables above are projected numbers by Ministry of Education personnel in Christchurch. The actual 1st July 2019 numbers of Year 1 – 6 students in the Waimea primary schools (St.Paul’s, Henley, Wakefield, Appleby, Ranzau, Hope, Brightwater and Wakefield) make interesting reading and one does wonder if there will be the significant increases the Ministry of Education is predicting when the numbers don’t support significant increases during the last 6 enrolment years (in fact they show a decrease).