Principal Heidi Hayward is concerned for the safety of children walking and cycling to and from school because there is no footpath along Mt Cargill Rd to the school's entrance.
Instead, there is a footpath from Harvey St, then Mt Cargill Rd, to the closest school boundary line.
The only pedestrian access or cycle access to the school was via a rugged track down to the school's sports field.
It was too dangerous to access the main school entrance on foot or bicycle via the roadside, where there was no space to walk, let alone build a footpath, she said.
''... over winter the field becomes wet and impassable. The trail becomes a bog and you get absolutely drenched.''
The school board of trustees decided it might be easier to form a gravel path around the side of the school's field for access and applied for funding from the ministry. It was informed it was the DCC's responsibility to build a footpath alongside the road.
The board then applied for $500 for the path through the DCC's community grant small project scheme, but was turned down by Dunedin City Council events and community development team adviser Paul Coffey, who said the application was denied because the proposed path would be built on Ministry of Education land and council believed funding was the ministry's responsibility.
Miss Hayward believed it was the DCC's role to help school communities identify the barriers to active, safe and sustainable travel, to and from school, and to develop and implement action plans.
She said the school would eventually find funding to pay for the path, but it was likely to come from the school's teaching and learning budget, which would ultimately short-change her pupils' education.
