Charter school put on notice

Whangaruru charter school - Te Kura Hourua Ki Whangaruru NAG 20Feb15 - THE BEGINNING: Whangaruru charter school trustees Hori Parata (left) and Robert Carpenter with students when the Northern Adv

A controversial Northland charter school has been put on notice by the Minister of Education with it needing to address "areas of serious concern" within 28 days.

Minister of Education Hekia Parata is in Whangarei today and met with the trustees behind Te Kura Hourua ki Whangaruru this morning to deliver the news.

"I have become increasingly concerned at the cumulative failures in performance that have seen declining numbers of kids enrolled, sporadic school attendance and the knock-on effect on educational performance," Ms Parata said.

The kura, located on a farm 65km north-west of Whangarei, has been plagued with problems since it opened at the start of last year. While the school started last year with 61 students, despite the fact it was funded for 71, the roll quickly dropped. It now sits at 37 - the lowest it has been.

Trustees had 28 days to address the issues with a specialist audit to be conducted at the school after that time to assess progress.

The school had failed to meet two of the performance standards set out in the contract- high number of unjustified absences and a low number of students.

"I have not at this stage determined if these failings are capable or incapable of being remedied," Ms Parata said. She also had concerns around achievement rates.

However, Ms Parata said she did not want to predetermine the outcome of the audit.
"The issuing of a performance notice is a step in the process to both protect the rights of these students to get a better education while protecting the use of taxpayers' funding."
While in Whangarei Ms Parata was flanked by ACT's David Seymour. The two were visiting Te Kura Hourua O Whangarei Terenga Paraoa, a Whangarei charter school that received a positive report from the Education Review Office at the end of last year.

Charter schools are funded by the Government but set their own curriculum, school hours, holidays and pay rates.

They were strongly opposed by opposition political parties and teaching unions, but were implemented as part of the National party's confidence and supply agreement with ACT.