By JULIE MIDDLETON
New zoning rules are preventing two Manurewa brothers from going to the same school, despite anecdotal evidence that splitting siblings up in such a way could be harmful.
Arran Hampton, who will be five in September, wants to join his six-year-old brother, Craig, at Clayton Park Primary School.
But under zoning regulations, to be enforced from July 16, Clayton Park has created a "home zone" for new entrants.
It ends one street away from the Hampton family's Mahia Rd home.
Out-of-zoners wanting to attend the school must submit to a ballot process.
However, the school principal, Bernard Barradell, said a ballot, which would give priority to siblings, was unlikely to happen because the school was full.
The boys' mother, Kirsty Hampton, said she was angry and frustrated that appeals to the Ministry of Education had got her nowhere.
"The attitude was that there was nothing they could do," she said.
Arran, who attends a kindergarten next to the school, was so keen to attend that he had already picked out favourite teachers, she said.
"He's adamant that's the school he's going to."
It was important that the children were schooled together for practical and safety reasons.
The only options she and her husband could see were to pull Craig from a school where he was happy to send him elsewhere with Arran, or to move the family from its rented house to another in the home zone.
Educationists say that such a situation could be harmful in terms of both socialisation and education.
Being sent to a different school from a sibling "has the potential to make one feel a little on the outer," said the University of Auckland's Dr Robyn Dixon.
"It may not be as easy to play with friends when friends don't live next door."
She said that splitting the boys up would put added pressure on their parents, which might affect educational achievement.
Dr Judy Parr, a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland's School of Education, agreed. "There's quite a lot of research that shows that the more parents participate in their children's schooling, the better the children do."
But parents dealing with two different primary schools would be "torn both ways."
Mr Barradell said he was sympathetic to the Hamptons but had to stick to regulations. "The ministry's attitude is this is how the law works," he said. "I have told all the parents that the chances of us having a ballot are fairly remote.
Although the school would lose 60 children to intermediate school at the end of the year, 90 new entrants for the home zone would be lining up.
The school could not open another classroom, which he estimated would cost $90,000 it did not have, because the Ministry of Education would not pay for the extra out-of-zone pupils.
He could not bend the rules because he did not want to set precedents.
He said the board of trustees was reluctant to have an enrolment scheme.
"But the other option is a school of 800 to 900 in a few years.
"We don't have the room in our grounds - the grounds are not big enough now, in our view."
MPs are trying to help the Hamptons and other affected families.
Act list MP Donna Awatere-Huata said there was "no possible way to justify tearing families apart. Zoning separates rich from poor, Pakeha from Maori - and now brother from brother."
It was, she said, a "ghastly example," but was not isolated.
"I know of at least nine more examples. At Glendowie Primary School, there are seven new-entrant kids whose little brothers and sisters can't go to the same school because of the home zone."
The Ministry of Education could not be contacted.
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