Rumblings surface over Flat Bush junior high 'guinea pigs'

Steve Maharey

Plans for junior high schools in Flat Bush have had a mixed response despite assurances from Education Minister Steve Maharey that there has been thorough consultation and no opposition.

Mr Maharey yesterday announced $237 million would be spent in the next 10 years to build seven new schools in the Flat Bush area in Manukau City.

He said they would be needed as Flat Bush was expected to rapidly grow from its present population of about 2000 residents to 40,000 by 2020, including more than 8500 school-age children.

Following community consultation Mr Maharey decided two of the schools would be junior high schools to cater for Years 7 to 10 students (forms one to four) which were also known as middle schools.

Michael Williams, chairman of the Botany Community board, said while he was positive about the creation of seven schools there were mixed feelings about the concept of junior high schools with some concern the students would be treated as "guinea pigs".

While there was consultation about the structure of the new schools, he felt the Ministry of Education had pushed for the junior high school concept.

"They were very keen ... that's how I read it ... and the community to some extent does not exist yet."

Mr Williams said there were some positive aspects of the junior high school concept, which grouped young people aged from 11 to 14 in one school.

"They are going through major changes at that age and it is good to provide support, if that works."

However, he said the structure would be different from most other urban schools.

According to the Ministry of Education there were just six middle schools in New Zealand.

They were all opened within the past 11 years.

Mr Williams expected the Flat Bush community to be fairly mobile and there were concerns about how students would adjust if they moved out of a junior high school to attend an intermediate or secondary school.

There could also be practical issues for boards of trustees managing a school which employed teachers from both the primary and secondary teachers' unions, he said.

David Ellerly, principal of Somerville Intermediate School in south Botany, said the junior high schools were an exciting opportunity.

There was a long history of research on the special needs of pre-adolescent and early-adolescents which needed to be reflected in their teaching and learning rather than a senior school approach.

The chairman of the Auckland Association of Intermediate and Middle Schools, Athol Cartwright, said the benefits of middle schools were identified as far back as the 1930s.

For cost reasons intermediate and secondary schools had been built and it was now impractical to restructure the country's entire schooling system. But where opportunities for middle schools arose in new urban developments they should be encouraged, he said.

The PPTA, or secondary school teachers' union, said in a submission to the Flat Bush proposal the benefits of teaching Years 7 to 10 in a separate institution remained unsubstantiated and the schools would find it hard to attract specialist teachers.


JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS

* Take students from Years 7 to 10 (Forms 1 to 4).

* There are six now: Albany Junior High School (opened last year), Cambridge Middle School (1999), Berkley Normal Middle School, Hamilton (1998), Sunset Junior High School, Rotorua (1998), Clover Park Middle School, Manukau (1995), and St Andrews Middle School, Te Rapa (1995).