Mt Albert Grammar School is among three big Auckland public schools that have closed their doors to out-of-zone students this year. Photo / Greg Bowker
A Herald survey reveals how many out-of-zone students leading Auckland public schools will accept for 2026. Ben Leahy investigates the pressure on popular state colleges and whether out-of-zone enrolments could eventually disappear.
Thousands of Auckland students have missed out on studying at their preferred public school next year as out-of-zone ballot results are released.
Figures compiled by the Herald show Epsom Girls’ Grammar and Auckland Grammar accepted just 135 of the almost 1000 out-of-zone students seeking to study Year 9 at the schools next year.
Macleans College, Mt Albert Grammar and Rangitoto College completely shut their doors to out-of-zone families, saying they had “no room”.
They are instead facing an unprecedented strain from growing in-zone student numbers fuelled by population growth, housing intensification, and a lack of new schools.
Mt Albert Grammar said its 2026 jump in in-zone students was “daunting”, while Selwyn College principal Sheryll Ofner said schools had to be conservative when offering out-of-zone places.
Trying to predict the exact number of students they would be teaching and needed room for was a “difficult guessing game”, given that new in-zone families could keep enrolling at any point during the school year.
“If you accept too many out-of-zone students, you can end up with a blowout in student numbers … with insufficient teachers and having to reconstruct your timetable,” Ofner said.
The growing strain has had inner Auckland principals appealing for help in recent years.
“We simply should be building new schools in high-demand areas,” Mt Albert Grammar headmaster Patrick Drumm said.
“It should have happened 10 years ago.”
Some principals believed another important step in reducing strain on big schools was to back proposed changes to the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA).
They believed curriculum reform would help raise student academic results at schools across the country and make all local schools more attractive to parents.
Instead, a trend of parents wanting to send children to the big inner-Auckland high schools while living in outer suburbs had set in.
That was in part due to inner-city schools trying to develop enticing academic and sports programmes.
A parent who toured Mt Albert Grammar’s sporting facilities with families from a West Auckland cricket club during winter said everyone was impressed by what the school offered.
But most lived out of zone and were realistic about their prospects of gaining enrolment through the ballot.
Other desperate parents have previously told the Herald about their thoughts of moving in with grandparents or faking home addresses so it appeared they were living in their preferred school zone.
Others have talked of miraculously finding God so they could qualify for Catholic schools, which often had lower fees than fully private schools.
Those trends could increase, given 2026’s ballot results suggest the odds of securing a coveted out-of-zone place are lower than ever.
At Epsom Girls’, an estimated 464 out-of-zone families competed for just 40 Year 9 spots – an acceptance rate of 9%.
Auckland Grammar accepted 95 from 520 applicants for an 18% acceptance rate.
North Shore schools Westlake Boys’ and Westlake Girls’ had better odds for out-of-zone parents.
They accepted almost 200 out-of-zone students each at an acceptance rate of between 30% and 40%.
Selwyn College in the city’s east accepted 60 students, or 34% of out-of-zone applicants.
Despite accepting more out-of-zone students than other surveyed schools, the wait lists at both Westlake Girls’ and Boys’ high schools had grown since last year.
Westlake Girls’ wait list was now up 79, jumping from 231 this time last year to 310 for 2026.
Westlake Boys’ list was now 460 – up from 410.
Nearly all schools reported in-zone enrolments being up.
Auckland Grammar headmaster Tim O’Connor said the school was facing “considerable growth”.
The number of families moving into its zone grew by 130 last year and will likely increase more in 2026, he said.
Mt Albert Grammar faced a projected 16% jump in Year 9 numbers next year, while Epsom Girls’ said it had experienced a “significant increase”.
The strain also prompted some principals to call for a deeper reflection on why parents were so desperate to get into certain schools.
Steven Hargreaves of Macleans College questioned whether the driver was linked to school philosophy.
“I wonder if there is a story looking at why some schools have waiting lists or have closed some enrolment categories, and others have empty rooms.”
Drumm echoed this, asking why some families didn’t want to attend their local school.
“Some of the recent positioning by schools around support (or otherwise) for the proposed changes to NCEA may provide an indication of the types of schooling that parents are seeking for their sons and daughters.”
His comments come after a rare public spat between New Zealand school leaders.
Principals from some of New Zealand’s wealthiest high schools this month publicly backed plans to scrap NCEA.
The coalition of about 64 principals urged the Education Minister to press ahead with fast-paced plans to implement a new Year 12 and 13 curriculum.
That contrasted with a letter signed by about 122 principals from a range of schools from high to lower socio-economic areas calling for an “immediate halt” to NCEA reforms until they were better planned.
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