Call for action over 'tidal wave' of pupils

Queenstown Lakes District Council Mayor Jim Boult has called for the Ministry of Education to be more proactive in managing the "tidal wave'' of pupils coming into the area, after this year's school rolls broke the 5000-pupil mark for the first time.

Recently released March roll statistics show the number of pupils in Lakes District schools have increased from 2972 pupils in 2010, to 5027 pupils this year.

Much of the growth in recent years has been in the area's two secondary schools.

Mt Aspiring College's March roll broke the 1000-pupil mark for the first time in the school's history when it recorded 1091 pupils, and Wakatipu High School was close to breaking the same boundary when it recorded 977 pupils.

Mr Boult said the skyrocketing growth in population had already swamped the newly built and enlarged Wakatipu High School, and he called on the ministry to be more proactive in providing solutions, which may include further expansion of existing schools or building more new schools.

"I have some sympathy for the Ministry of Education in that they've probably been caught out a little bit by the level of growth.

"But we have been pointing out to them for some time now that this is happening.

"In particular, take a look at the new Wakatipu High School which was only started in use at the beginning of last year, and it's already outgrown.

"Then take a look at the rolls of Shotover and Remarkables primary schools and you can see a tidal wave of students coming [to the high school] in coming years.

"That's purely on the Wakatipu side, and exactly the same thing is happening in the Upper Clutha.

"The ministry needs to get quite proactive. We don't want the same thing to continue.''

Mt Aspiring College principal Wayne Bosley was excited about the roll growth.

He believed it was driven by the large number of young families moving to the district, and young couples coming to the district and then having families.

He said the roll was forecast to continue growing for the foreseeable future, so the school was working closely with the ministry on developments of its campus, to ensure the facilities were more "future proof''.

It was hoped the first stages of a five-stage multimillion-dollar school expansion project would begin later this year or early next year, he said.

Plans show several changes to the school, including an extension to the gymnasium, the construction of a new administration block, and two double-storey blocks to house the junior school, the arts and technology.

The entire development is likely to take at least three years, and will have enough space to accommodate up to 1800 pupils, he said.

• A full review of all school rolls in Otago and Southland will appear in Saturday's Otago Daily Times.

john.lewis@odt.co.nz