West Coast schools are investigating how they will upscale and absorb the children of Gloriavale if the Government decides to close the religious commune’s school.
Commune leaders have a hard deadline of tomorrow to convince the Ministry of Education (MoE) that its extreme fundamentalist Christian school rel="" title="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/childrens-commissioner-calls-for-urgent-closure-of-gloriavale-christian-school/HUQPRPJGWJC55HBPD2XJLHNGKM/">is safe and should remain operating.
Several Education Review Office (ERO) assessors have been inside the remote community this week.
If the school is closed and homeschooling permissions are withdrawn, about 220 children will need to leave the commune daily to attend public schools on the outside.
Multiple buses and drivers will be needed for the job – and the local schools will need new teachers, classrooms and other specialist support.
A local education source told the Herald that counsellors would likely be needed to help the children adjust to the outside world.
Complex decisions will need to be made on clothing: both local schools have uniforms that expose the lower limbs – something the children, who have worn Gloriavale clothing since birth, will not be used to.
Gloriavale’s leadership told the Herald they are working on the issues raised by education officials and intend to meet their deadline.
The MoE last month put Gloriavale on notice that its school was on the brink of closure based on “serious concerns” that it was not a physically or mentally safe place for children.
Secretary for education Ellen MacGregor-Reid wrote to Gloriavale Christian School with a warning that she was considering cancelling its registration, and giving them five weeks to respond with solutions.
A succession of reviews by the ERO over several years has highlighted a raft of problems, including staff misconduct and understaffing.
In particular, a damning 2023 ERO review found the school did not meet six of the eight criteria for private school registration, and the education was “inadequate”.
Not all Gloriavale children get to attend school. About half are homeschooled, and others have received an education the Government has deemed lacking.
Since 2023, ERO has been asking Gloriavale to allow full attendance to children with “complex additional needs”.
The curriculum has also been criticised as sexist. Senior schooling – from age 15 – teaches girls sewing, cooking and childcare. Boys are taught subjects such as farming, carpentry and engineering.
The ministry has been openly assessing other schooling options for the community – “to prepare for different possibilities”, said Andrea Williams, acting hautū (leader) Te Tai Runga (South).
“This includes ... measures to help students transition smoothly, should changes be required,” she said.
The two closest local schools are Lake Brunner School, about 40km away from Gloriavale, and Awahono School in Grey Valley, about 80km away.
Lake Brunner School currently has 58 students, and Awahono School has 105. A Gloriavale influx could change them both beyond recognition.
A well-placed education source in the region told the Herald that taking Gloriavale students to outside schools will require delicate, specialist help from the MoE.
The source said they understood local schools are thinking and preparing for every eventuality, including the potential for portable classrooms, additional teaching staff and mass transport.
“It’s not as simple as just popping them into a school. There’s a lot of layers that would have to come with that,” said the source.
They also said pastoral care would be required to reduce the likelihood of culture shock among the children.
Lake Brunner School principal Amanda Bailey wouldn’t be interviewed, telling the Herald: “We’ll just be following ministry directives.
“We’ll obviously do whatever we’re told to do and support those families in whatever way.”
Awahono School principal Vanessa Wallace, responding on behalf of the school’s board of trustees, told the Herald it would continue to work within MoE guidelines.
“Should numbers increase ... our board would work with the Ministry of Education to manage any extraordinary roll growth,” Wallace said.
The ministry had not had any formal conversations with the school about potentially taking students from Gloriavale Christian School, she said.
Issues such as what the students would wear would also need to be carefully considered.
Both local schools have uniforms of shorts and skirts to the knees, and T-shirts and polo shirts to the elbows.
The Gloriavale girls are accustomed to wearing long blue dresses and white headscarves. The boys wear blue trousers and long-sleeved collared shirts.
Williams said that once tomorrow’s deadline passes, education officials will review the school’s response “and all available evidence before deciding what happens next”.
The 2024 ERO special review of Gloriavale stated: “ERO is not yet assured that all learners’ physical and emotional health and safety is closely, regularly and sufficiently considered and monitored across all schooling provisions.
“The inconsistent application of some policies and procedures poses risk to children, given a history of unsafe practices within the Gloriavale community.”
“The Gloriavale Christian Trust Board and the school board must ensure that policy implementation and reporting is rigorous and beyond question.”
After repeated ERO audits failing the school on important markers, Children’s Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad recently called on the school to be closed “urgently”.
Meanwhile, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston has not ruled out closing the community altogether.
Upston is the lead minister in a 10-minister group created to respond to ongoing issues at the troubled commune.
Gloriavale Leavers’ Support Trust manager Liz Gregory said she and former members of the religious community that she has helped resettle believed the school should close if it couldn’t prove it was safe.
Leavers had “long-term concerns about educational provision at Glorivale and are pleased the ministry seems to be taking the issue seriously,” Gregory said.
She said if the school is closed, yet homeschooling is allowed to continue, education bosses must make sure it is carried out off-site.
Home schooling is mainly carried out in shared hostel-type accommodation blocks filled with families.
“If homeschooling were to continue, it would be better that each family was living in its own sort of safe space with autonomy,” she said.
“I just don’t think the ministry would accept homeschooling from a person who was living with seven children in a caravan park, with no car and no money of their own. I’m pretty sure they’d say, ‘No, I don’t think so’.
“You just can’t homeschool in an environment like that.”
ERO assessors have been looking at the community’s homeschooling programme.
In a statement to the Herald, Gloriavale’s leadership said it did not have an issue with the way the MoE or ERO had handled the matter of its school.
“School staff and the school board have been working on a response to the ministry’s concerns, and this will be completed shortly,” it said.
The leaders would not say whether they believed their school was up to standard. “We will not be making comments on this while the matter is under investigation,” their statement said.
Data collected in the 2023 Census showed 279 of the commune’s 468-strong population were aged under 15, including 102 children aged under 4.
The median age at Gloriavale is just 12, compared with a nationwide average of 38 years.
The Gloriavale community was founded by Neville Cooper (also known as Hopeful Christian) in the 1960s. Cooper was jailed for five years on a raft of sex offences.
Another Gloriavale leader, Howard Temple, resigned as Overseeing Shepherd in August, after being convicted of sexual offending against girls and women at the West Coast Christian community.
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 33 years of newsroom experience.
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