Troubled school vows to fight closure

Mangere's Pacific Christian School has been closed because of safety fears. Photo / Sarah Ivey

A troubled private Christian school forced to close at the end of last term over safety fears for children will fight to re-open.

As the 72 pupils from the Mangere-based Pacific Christian School finish the year at other schools, the Education Ministry has confirmed the school board intends reapplying for registration.

The school had its registration suspended last month after "serious and ongoing" concerns were raised about the safety of its pupils.

It included police being called to the school after allegations teachers hit pupils to control behaviour.

Last year, an 11-year-old student stabbed another young pupil in the head with scissors.

Head of sector enablement and support Katrina Casey said the school had indicated it wanted to get back its registration.

"The school wants to address the issues," she said. "Once we have received its plan, we will make a final decision on the school's registration and whether it will reopen next year."

She said the school had until the end of the fourth term to present a plan on how it intended to address issues raised by the ministry, the Education Review Office and police.

"We want to ensure a safe learning environment for children where students have good opportunities to learn and progress," Casey said.

Most of the school's 72 pupils had either enrolled in new schools or advised the ministry they intended to enrol at the start of term four.

Families had selected 18 different schools for their children to attend. There were still 11 children whose families had not told the ministry where they would go to school.

"We remain ready to help those families and we will be following up next week to ensure those children have found new schools," Casey said.

Attempts to contact the school were unsuccessful.