Principal Rick Geerlofs contacted the ministry’s resourcing division late last week to advise the school had enrolled 35 pupils since the start of this year.
"We’ve been enrolling two to three new students each week and that has meant that our current school roll sits at 25 students over and above the guaranteed staffing we were given at the start of the year," Mr Geerlofs said.
"It’s creating considerable pressure at year 8 level, and we would love to be able to split that into a further class."
The roll increase was unusual for this time of year.
"We’re getting constant queries for enrolment and that is definitely bucking the trend that we’ve seen over previous years.
"It’s wonderful."
If enrolment growth continued at the present rate, another request for further staff might be needed, Mr Geerlofs said.
The school’s roll was now about 530 pupils — up significantly from the 458 recorded in the March roll return this year.
Mr Geerlofs said staffing was calculated using complex formulas, so it was not as easy as just asking for a specific number of teachers.
"I’m hopeful that we can have another full-time staff member."
He believed the unexpected roll growth was a result of the school’s growing reputation as a place of "innovation and thinking outside the circle".
In recent years, the school had established an urban farm at which pupils grow food for the school canteen; the Kaika energy project in which organic waste is turned into biofuel and liquid fertiliser to use on the farm; Kaika BeeCo which makes beehives; and sport and active education initiatives.
Many of the new pupils were coming from other city schools, but some were also from other parts of the country and overseas.
Mr Geerlofs said pupils from three Auckland families had enrolled recently because their parents had sought work in Dunedin, possibly to escape the "rat race" and take advantage of the city’s more affordable housing.
Rebecca Barnard (12), formerly of Auckland, was enrolled two days ago.
She said she came to Dunedin with her mother who recently took a job in the city.
"It was pretty easy to slip into school here.
"I’m really liking Dunedin. The people are really nice."
It was hoped the ministry would respond to the request for staff early next week.
Bayfield High School principal Judith Forbes said her school was also experiencing roll growth, but had room to accommodate the extra pupils.
"We’ve had quite a number of new enrolments — some from other Dunedin schools and some from outside the city."
Otago Secondary Principals’ Association secretary Gordon Wilson said principals around the city had noticed a rise in the number of enrolments at the beginning of term 2 in May.
He believed the influx was created by families moving to the city from the North Island "for various reasons".
"There’s the normal churn of students moving between schools, but what schools are telling me is that they have received quite a few enrolments from out of town, and of course we’ve got the intakes of refugees continuing as well."
Mr Wilson said he was not aware of other schools needing extra staff to cope with the increase in pupil numbers.
