A new collaboration between four Dunedin primary schools appears to be keeping a lid on bulging rolls and keeping teacher-pupil ratios in check.
Andersons Bay, Grants Braes, Musselburgh and Tainui Schools have been working together on a zoning scheme this year, aimed at limiting out-of-zone enrolments to stop some schools in the area from overflowing and others from having empty classrooms.
The primary school pupil population has been increasing steadily in the area, because it has good housing for first-home buyers seeking to start families.
It is also growing because schools such as Tomahawk, Rotary Park and Forbury have closed in recent years, creating more demand for classroom space.
Andersons Bay School principal and Otago Primary Principals' Association chairman Hamish McDonald said significant roll growth was putting the primary schools under pressure, because it had the potential to overcrowd some schools and close others because of a lack of pupils.
The pressure spurred the schools' boards of trustees to collaborate and consult the Ministry of Education to implement enrolment schemes, to make sure the demand was spread more evenly.
The ministry wanted to use excess capacity at surrounding schools rather than build new classrooms at crowded schools.
Andersons Bay School will launch its enrolment scheme on Monday, and Mr McDonald said that as a result, there would be no more spaces at the school this year for pupils who live outside the school's enrolment zone.
"There could be more spaces available next year. I don't know how many.
"Later on this year, the board of trustees will predict what our roll is doing, and identify if there are likely to be spaces available for the first half of next year. If there are, the spaces will be advertised.''
Grants Braes School implemented a scheme in December last year to manage this year's roll.
Earlier this year, principal Gareth Taylor said the school would have no room for pupils living outside its zone this year.
Tainui School principal Shelley Wilde said her school established an enrolment scheme in July 2005 to control the number of pupils.
Mrs Wilde said Tainui was collaborating with the other schools to ensure pupils in the wider area were not disadvantaged.
She said the school had only ‘‘a small number of spaces'' available for new entrant pupils from out of zone, and the senior school was full.
About eight out-of-zone pupils wanting places in year 3 and 4 classes at the school had already been turned away this year, she said.
"From time to time, we do have spaces available. It just depends on what age the child is and whether there is a space in that particular class.''
She said the situation was "pretty fluid'' because if there was an influx of in-zone pupils, it cut the number of spaces the school could make available to out-of-zone pupils, and vice versa.
Mr McDonald and Mrs Wilde said the zoning collaboration appeared to be working well.
"It's very early, but at this stage, I would have to say the enrolment scheme collaboration is working very well,'' Mr McDonald said.
"But if numbers continued to grow, we would certainly be in conversation with the Ministry of Education to talk about what other options are available for space.''
He said building more classrooms and shrinking enrolment zones were possible options.
However, he believed the enrolment schemes were helping schools in the area avoid those outcomes.
Musselburgh School principal Debbie Smith was unavailable for comment.
