Liberton Christian School's board of trustees is worried it
will have to turn new-entrant pupils away by the middle of
2013, following the Ministry of Education's decision to
disallow a roll cap increase at the Dunedin school.
Principal Fiona Sizemore said the roll was restricted to 75
pupils, a cap the school reached by July.
Earlier in the year, the school applied for a roll-cap
increase to 100 pupils, but this week the Ministry of
Education turned down the application.
''We will have a full roll for next year,'' Mrs. Sizemore
said. ''We're hoping not to be in a situation where parents
will have to be told there's no room.
''We could find ourselves in that situation by the end of
term 2.
''We are disappointed, but we understand the decision.''
Mrs. Sizemore said the ministry denied the application
because it believed there were still plenty of spaces for
pupils at other North Dunedin schools.
However, she said the majority of the school's pupils came
from outside the Pine Hill area, and it provided
special-character education.
The school was not in competition with other ministry
schools, and she believed parents should be able to have the
option of sending their child to Liberton if they wished.
Despite the ministry's decision, Mrs. Sizemore said the
school would forge ahead with its plans to build a fourth
classroom, in the hope the ministry would approve a new
roll-cap application, to be lodged early next year, she said.
The school was established in 1982 but was integrated into
the state system in October 1999.
While complying with the ministry's national curriculum
framework, the school's years 1 to 8 curriculum is taught
from a Christian perspective, as set out in the school's
special-character statement.
john.lewis@odt.co.nz
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