A Rolleston primary school plans to stick with its open-plan classrooms.

That is despite Education Minister Erica Stanford wanting schools to return to the more traditional separate classroom model.

Rolleston's Lemonwood Grove Primary School principal Blair Dravitski told RNZ he planned to keep the school's open-plan classrooms.

The school opened in 2017 with purpose-built open-plan rooms.

Open-plan classrooms have attracted consistent criticism, with some schools spending their own funds remodelling the rooms to create separate classrooms.

Dravitski said he had worked at schools in the past that had traditional classrooms as well as the open-plan spaces. He said there were pros and cons for all layouts.

"These walls aren't magical; they don't create automatic success. For us, we've got a glowing Education Review Office (ERO) review. I've made many requests to the minister's office to come and visit and they've been politely declined.

"I'd love her to come and see us."

He said when parents came to view the school they were often surprised by how well the open-plan spaces worked.

"The comment we usually get is that they thought it would be noisier.

"My staff do a wonderful job of collaborating, working together to deliver high-quality educational outcomes for the learners that are in front of us. These situations are really successful for us."

Dravitski said his teachers were happier than most, because it created a situation where if a teacher was unwell, there were two other teachers who were familiar with the children who could step in.

"So therefore we have this situation where child anxiety [is low], child wellbeing is at an all-time high."

There were pros and cons to all environments, Dravitski said, and no environment would work for 100% of the children.

"These schools that are getting repurposed, the context may be different to mine. Let's get some perspective that in some areas these environments are working. Across the educational landscape, one size doesn't work for everybody.

"I fully respect my colleagues who have gone down the other path and put the walls back up, but at the same time they know their communities and their context better."

-RNZ