New Ōmokoroa schools construction paused, again

The Ōmokoroa peninsular, north of Tauranga, will not be getting its first high school anytime soon. Photo / John Borren

“Baffling, silly and ridiculous.”

That is how a father describes a Ministry of Education decision to put the construction of two new Ōmokoroa schools on ice, saying he will move rather than put his kids through an up to 90-minute bus ride on a highway notorious for delays to attend high schools in Tauranga.

The ministry says the delay is because the area is not growing as fast as others and it must prioritise areas of “greatest need” for investment.

Former Education Minister and Tauranga-based Labour list MP Jan Tinetti says the backtrack is “unbelievable” and “doesn’t make any sense”.

Land on the corner of Ōmokoroa and Prole Road has been put aside for schools. However, the development has been paused. Photo / Alex Cairns

The government bought land on the corner of Prole and Ōmokoroa Rds for the primary school and peninsular’s first secondary school in 2019 and allocated funding in 2021. Tinetti, as minister, announced last year that work would start this year and the schools would cater for more than 1100 students.

The Bay of Plenty Times reported earlier this month the schools were among up to 350 projects in pre-construction on hold for a value-for-money review by the ministry.

Ministry deputy secretary Jocelyn Mikaere said this week there would be schools in Ōmokoroa in the future, but not in the timeframe initially announced, and funding for the new schools in Ōmokoroa has not been withdrawn.

“We understand this news is disappointing for the local community. However, in the meantime, we have enough planned capacity across the schooling network to cater to primary and secondary students from Ōmokoroa.”

The Prole Rd site remains ringfenced for the new schools and designated for education purposes.

She said on a national scale the Ōtūmoetai catchment, which included Ōmokoroa, was “not experiencing significantly high growth” and regionally it was growing slower than other catchments in Bay of Plenty and Waikato.

Ministry of Education Te Tai Whenua (central) hautu (leader) Jocelyn Mikaere. Photo / NZME

The regions’ five fastest-growing areas for school-aged students were Pāpāmoa, Piako, Hamilton West, Tauranga and Hamilton East.

She said the ministry must prioritise its property investment to areas where the “need is greatest, and we will reassess the timeframe for construction of the Ōmokoroa Schools on a year-on-year basis, using national prioritisation data”.

Factors included student roll growth and pressure in the existing school network and across the national new schools’ programme.

Roll data was monitored three times a year and ministry staff met regularly with territorial authorities to understand to understand future housing developments and growth, Mikaere said.

Composite picture showing the lack of change in the land use over the space of a year. Photo / Alex Cairns

Ōmokoroa is expected to be home to 10,000 people in the future, according to the local council, with new planning rules to allow for more houses to be built signed off this month.

Resident Darren A’Court has two children who recently started primary school and said he was planning to leave the area if the secondary school was not finished by the time they needed it.

“Who would want to live there when you have to put your kid on a bus for an hour and a half?” A’Court said.

A’Court said he and his family had moved to the area with the knowledge the school was proceeding.

Students living north of Tauranga can spend an hour and a half on the bus in the morning and an hour in the evening, a parent says.

He said he viewed the decision to hold off the school as “baffling, silly and ridiculous” because the primary schools were “bursting at the seams” and had set up temporary classrooms to accommodate students.

“Someone mentioned to me yesterday that their kid was being taught in the library as there wasn’t any room,” he said.

A’Court had seen the growth firsthand coaching the Ōmokoroa FC minis programme, where registered players went from 70 to 130 in a year due to more young families moving to the area.

Tinetti said it was “simply unbelievable” the area’s growth did not warrant a new school.

Jan Tinnetti had been involved in the Ōmokoroa school project during her time as Education Minister.

“How come that growth was at a level that sustained a new school this time last year and now it’s not?” she said.

Tinetti said the Government was not putting priority where the “greatest need” was or “putting our kids at the centre of those choices”.

Coromandel MP Scott Simpson of National said the former Government made commitments and raised expectations “they simply couldn’t deliver on”.

He said the delay in construction was a blow to local families.

“I am pleased that they have reconfirmed their commitment to build both a new primary school and a high school, but just not as quickly as I and local families would have wanted,” Simpson said.

Coromandel MP Scott Simpson. Photo / Hagen Hopkins

In 2018 Jo Linthwaite started a petition to Parliament to build Ōmokoroa a high school but her daughter is now in her second year at Tauranga Girls’ College.

Her daughter travelled to class from Whakamārama, where it was an hour-and-a-half bus ride to school and an hour back.

But Linthewaite said during the Wairoa Rd roadworks last year, her daughter would often be nearly an hour late and miss critical class time as she missed the connecting bus in Bethlehem.

Whakamārama mum Jo Linthwaite started the petition in September. File photo /George Novak

“It’s just horrific for them, and there were a lot of kids really frustrated and upset,” she said.

The mother knew of parents who drove their children instead, adding to the congestion.

“They are starting roadworks again and we are all holding our breath for that.”

Linthewaite said she believed the easiest solution was to hold out on the new primary school, and pool funding into a high school inclusive of the intermediate years.

Traffic backed up on State Highway 2 between Tauranga and Katikati.

“If we take the year 7s and 8s out of the primary school, it opens up space for the primary schools.”

Linthewaite said the plan for the new primary school had come from the Ministry of Education rather than the people who signed the petition.

“No one in the area believes we need another primary school. It’s a college that is important.”

Ōmokoroa Point School principal Sandra Portegys said they had put in six classrooms over the past four to five years to deal with the roll growth.

Three of those were temporary modular classrooms, which cut into the school’s field space “significantly”.

“I was disappointed to hear the news, especially the secondary school as they were going to take on our Year 7 and 8 students.”

Western Bay of Plenty Mayor James Denyer was approached for comment.

Harriet Laughton is a multi-media journalist based in the Bay of Plenty.