The Ministry of Education has apointed a limited statutory manager to improve student achievement and retention rates at troubled Bay of Islands College.
The move has been applauded by primary school principals in the area who were highly critical of the school's low NCEA level-one (former School Certificate) pass rate of 10.8 percent in 2004.
Yesterday the 450-pupil school put its official NCEA level-one pass rate for 2005 at 42 percent, an improvement principal Bruce Devine put down to strategies he put in place 15 months ago. The 2004 national pass rate for other decile-two schools in NCEA level one was 38.2 percent. Official figures were unavailable.
Ministry of Education Northland manager Chris Eve said the ministry had for a few years had concerns with the school's low NCEA level-one pass rates. Also, too many students were leaving school without qualifications.
Limited statutory manager Barbara Judge, who began her role last month, has the final say in managing curriculum, leadership and assessment within the school. She will stay at the school indefinitely, advising Mr Devine and the board of trustees. Mr Devine felt "very positive" about her appointment as she would provide an independent voice to help overcome the school's weaknesses and herald its strengths. He said the school had had "excellent" level-two and level-three results for a few years. Asked how he felt about harsh criticism from his peers, he said: "Unprofessional. I just wish people had listened to our predictions (of good results)." Kawakawa Primary School principal Peter Witana and Moerewa School principal Keri Milne-Ihimaera said Mrs Judge's appointment vindicated their belief Bay College was failing its students. Both said the 42 percent pass rate was not good enough.
Around September, Mr Witana blasted the college in an email he sent to primary school principals in the college's catchment area.
"What do we do - blindly go on busting our butts to get our kids up to where they should be and send them off to Bay College and let them fail?" Mr Witana wrote.
The poor academic results prompted parents at Kawakawa and Moerewa Primary Schools to consider teaching year-nine (third form) and 10 studies. Students then would have been sent to the college for year 11. That request was recently turned down by the Ministry of Education because of fears Bay College would be "seriously destabilised" by losing 40 students.
Mr Witana hoped Mrs Judge would give "the kids the deal they deserve". "What they've been getting is damn terrible," he said.
He also was critical that Mr Devine compared the latest NCEA level-one results to national averages for other decile-two schools because "lower-decile kids aren't dopier than kids in richer areas".
Ms Milne-Ihimaera was disappointed year-nine and 10 students could not stay at their current schools as she believed it would have been a positive way to help improve the college. She said there was a real possibility parents would refuse to send their children to the school.
A parent from Kawakawa Primary School, William Wiki, refused to send his daughter to the college because it was "unsafe". "It sucks (not allowing a year-nine and 10 unit) because they're stopping our children from reaching their goal. There's no understanding of our children," Mr Wiki said.
But Margaret Beattie, a parent from Moerewa School, said it was appropriate for primary schoolchildren to move on to high school. She believed all schools had some poor academic results as some children were simply not interested in learning. "It all boils down to how the kids are raised before they go to Bay College," Mrs Beattie said.
Ministry intervenes at troubled Bay College
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