School stands by decision to send pupils home

A high school is sticking by its decision to send over 1000 students home to learn despite being investigated by the Ministry of Education.

Kamo High School in Northland has started sending its 1225 pupils home for five days over the school year because principal Richard Abel said it was the only way to cover teachers' increased time away from the classroom.

Whangarei Boys' High School is also asking students to stay home for five days.

Mr Abel said in his school's April newsletter that asking students to stay home was the "most effective" way to respond to "inadequate resourcing".

Mr Abel also said the ministry had contradicted itself -- Associate Education Minister David Benson-Pope had said there were enough teachers to cover increased teacher non-contact time, but at the same time said increasing class sizes and reducing subject options were quite sensible options.

The ministry is investigating the schools.

Mr Abel and Whangarei Boys' High School headmaster Al Kirk said last month the Government had not given them enough teachers to cover teachers' five hour non-contact time per week, which is one hour up from last year.

Under the secondary school teacher employment contract, all high schools must endeavour to provide five hours' non-contact time per week.

Teachers use that time to mark work and prepare lessons.

In his newsletter, Mr Abel said the school had explored its options before opting to have the children stay home.

The options included asking students to arrive at school an hour later, or leave one hour earlier.

However, this was not acceptable as many students use buses linked to primary school runs.

"It would, in our opinion, be a quite unreasonable burden on our community to have those 600 or so students unsupervised during this time every week," Mr Abel said.

"Many" parents had supported the school's decision.

"It is our hope that the Government will respond to public demand and resource schools more adequately in all ways -- including appropriate staffing -- to ensure contractual entitlements can be met without adversely affecting students educational achievements," Mr Abel said.

Mr Kirk could not be reached for contact.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)