Last month the Herald asked: should you buy a house in the Grammar zone or live somewhere else and send your kids to private schools?

That story was mostly a comparison of private school fees and property prices.

But in my view "Grammar or Kings?" is the last thing anyone should be thinking about when it comes to choosing a school.

I used to write about schools a lot.

I've interviewed many principals, teachers and researchers, read the research and sat in classrooms watching teachers work. I know a bit about it.

And here are five questions I think are important.

The standout in all this is McAuley High School, a Catholic school for girls in Otahuhu.

What about all the other "top schools"?

A former principal of Macleans College, spectacularly located on the coast in east Auckland, told me once his aim was to beat the academic performance of Auckland Grammar.

And from time to time, Macleans has done exactly that.

At other schools with high socio-economic catchments, they've done much the same.

Westlake Girls and Boys, Western Springs, Carmel, Baradene, Rangitoto and Takapuna Grammar are all justifiably proud of their academic records.

And like Macleans, St Peters College, right next door to Auckland Grammar, has been outranking its more famous neighbour on some measures.

The Grammar zone and private schools don't have a monopoly on achievement.

There are many schools in Auckland - single sex and co-ed, church and secular, state and private, city fringe and suburban - that are good at the core business of academic success.

What about all the other good schools?

Digging deeper, a high socio-economic catchment doesn't make a school good. The reality is that - in the language of economics - input determines output.

Children from wealthy backgrounds are likely to do better in school than children from poor backgrounds.

Partly, this is because wealthy people are likely to have been well educated themselves: they know the value of it and they instil it in their children.

And partly it's because wealth makes raising children easier, not least because there is money for books and computers, ballet and sport and holidays. And for a warm, dry home you won't be evicted from.

But here's the thing.

If your children are loved, if they are talked to and read to, exposed to stimulating experiences, feel safe and secure,

If they do not spend their time hungry or cold or sick, if they learn the skills to make friends,

If they come to believe they have a worthwhile place in the world, as individuals and as part of a culture,

And if they are encouraged to imagine, to dream,

If they are helped to learn how to take risks … if they are helped to live well,

They are likely to do well at school.

Provided, that is, they go to a decent school. And there are lots of them, at all socio-economic levels.

As the Herald's own analysis shows, many schools perform much better than you might expect from their "inputs".

Avondale, Mt Albert Grammar, Mt Roskill Grammar, St Mary's, Marist, Selwyn, Auckland Girls Grammar and Onehunga are all mid-decile schools with strong academic records. There are others.

That's a key thing to look for: a school whose students do better than those at other schools with similar backgrounds.

A school where output exceeds input.

It doesn't mean an old or traditional school, either.

In Albany and Ormiston, the relatively new junior and senior high schools are doing well and play a vital role in building their local communities.

Schools like One Tree Hill College, formerly with a poor reputation, have worked hard and successfully to turn themselves around.

Shining examples: integrated, church schools and kura kaupapa

Integrated or church schools, whatever their socio-economic position, tend to do extremely well.

So do kura kaupapa, where the students are immersed in te reo Maori and te ao Maori. They consistently outperform most other schools with similar socio-economic backgrounds, by some margin.

In 2022, Te Kura Maori o Nga Tapuwae had the highest NCEA pass rate of any state school in the country and every school leaver attained University Entrance or better.

It's a Mangere school in the mid-range of socio-economic factors.

The standout in all this is McAuley High School, a Catholic school for girls in Otahuhu.

Despite having, by the old reckoning, a decile one catchment, its academic record has for many years been as good as a typical decile seven school.

I know former students of McAuley and the light shines out of them.

The principal there, now retired, once told me it was because of their faith, and you're welcome to believe it.

Me, I think she was a great leader (and I assume her replacement is too), they have many fine teachers and they have become experts at integrating home, school and student in a three-way commitment to great schooling.

Looking for a school to give your child the best start in life?

Look for those things.

Good leadership, good teachers and what Education Hub founder Nina Hood calls "the strong culture, the strong sense of belonging, the creation of an environment that has a clear set of values associated with it".

Church schools, kura, and private schools have a ready framework for this, but state schools can achieve it, too.

In my view, the Ministry of Education should work out what McAuley does and bottle it. The rest of the system has much to learn from that school. Read more

• Simon Wilson is a senior writer for the New Zealand Herald.

State-Integrated schools were left out when the government announced at the end of last year it was giving state schools $400 million to spend on their buildings as part of a wider package of infrastructure spending.

The Association of Proprietors of Integrated Schools says the government should have included them in the handout because State-Integrated schools are entitled to the money as much as any other state school.

The State-Integrated schools are funded on the same basis as state schools but are entitled to charge attendance dues which can be used to cover the cost of loans used in building construction e.g. classrooms, maintenance and insurance which are not provided by the state.

Association spokesperson Paul Ferris says it had been negotiating with the government for a share of the money for most of the year.

"This is not a matter of discretion, this is a legal entitlement that we have under the agreements we have with the government on integration," he says.

"In the Catholic space, we give the government the use of $2.6 billion dollars worth of property to use rent-free every year and the government agree to maintain it to a similar standard to a similar state school and if they spend it on a state school, they should be spending it on a state-integrated school."

In September the government told him it could not afford to extend the payment to state-integrated schools.

This week the Association filed papers in the High Court in Wellington seeking a judicial review of the government's decision.

Ferris says state-integrated schools were part of the state network and the government was obliged to maintain the schools' property to the same standard as other state schools.

The building payments state schools will be getting are worth between $50,000 and $400,000 per school.

Ferris says extending the money to state-integrated schools would cost about $50 million.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins (pictured) won't comment on matters before the court or the government's legal strategy.

"State-integrated school representatives, however, have contacted the government and I look forward to discussing this topic, and others, with them early in the New Year. I remain hopeful we can find a satisfactory solution," he says.

"I remain supportive, in principle, of finding a solution in this area, however, our challenge is being able to fund a solution given the impact of Covid-19 on our country.

"The government has decided to set aside the remainder of the Covid Response and Recovery Fund in the event, for example, that New Zealand experiences a further wave of Covid-19. Therefore, any initiative to accelerate upgrades of the state-integrated school portfolio will now need to be considered as part of decision-making for Budget 2021."

Source

• RNZ
• Image: Newstalk ZB

Br Sir Patrick Lynch said the integrated school system "is a New Zealand invention that suits our needs and what it more, it works".

"In the process it ensures integrated state schools are not political footballs every time parliamentary elections come around," he said.

Continue reading

The Ministry of Education's rejection of Destiny's proposal comes after the church was earlier turned down to run a charter school.

The church says the rejection is disappointing as its case was compelling and valid.

"We have other schools in New Zealand that are Christian-based or religious-based, and it seems okay for them to be integrated," spokeswoman Anne Williamson said. Continue reading

The minster of education Hekia Parata has made a commitment to resolving this issue in the term of the present government.

But she has not said how she expects to resolve it and warns that there were many competing demands for Government money.

Association of Proprietors of Integrated Schools chief executive Pat Lynch said its members wanted the Government to pay for any future changes.

"Ultimately, the focus of the conversations we're having with Government, is that in principle the Crown agrees that when the Crown changes the curriculum requirements, which have a capital expenditure component, that the Crown says, look that's our cost."

Brother Lynch said proprietors also wanted the Government to pay off some of the $200 million they had borrowed over the years for capital works on their schools.

He would not say how much they wanted, but reducing the sum would allow proprietors to lower the fee known as an attendance due that they charge parents to cover the debt.

"We're saying to the Government, can we have some understanding that some of that money can be paid back, because we'd like to give some of that money back to the banks, so we can lower attendance dues for parents."

Source

• Radio New Zeland
• Image: St-Thereas.school.nz

The new position as development manager for the school will entail him fundraising for the school's new buildings, board of proprietors chairwoman Phillipa Guerin said.

"The role's sole purpose is raising funds for future-proofing the school's buildings," Guerin said.

Laws made the decision to relocate to South Canterbury as a lifestyle change for his young family.

"I have lived my life in reverse."

"I have had 26 to 27 years in public life, now it is time they [the children] came first in my role as a solo father," Laws said.

"I'm devoted to my children."

"That said, with all my local government and health board experience, I am happy to help if people want me to share that with them," he said.

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: cdn.radiolive.com

Most Christian schools are integrated schools and must focus their enrolments on Christians. Charter schools would get the same funding, without those restrictions.

Christian school leaders say that will interest schools that want to help poor communities.

However, they also say the Government might be better off simply freeing up the regulations that govern integrated schools.

The New Zealand Association of Christian Schools is an association that seeks to foster the establishment and the well being of Christian schools in New Zealand

The membership consists of

• Christian schools including Christian teacher training establishments
• Organisations which serve Christian education
• Individuals who are involved in Christian schools

There are currently about 60 full member schools and about another 25 with whom the association has occasional contact.

Source

• Radio New Zealand
• Image: Immanuel Christian College

Education officials are clamping down on charging practices at taxpayer-funded integrated schools, with at least one school told to return a bond parents have been required to pay.

This coming term $4000-a-year Bethlehem College in Tauranga is refunding a $500 attendance dues bond it has charged all its families for years, after the Ministry of Education ruled it was unlawful.

Education Minister Anne Tolley has also expressed concern that a leasing arrangement between the school and its owner, the Christian Education Trust (CET), enables it to get around the integrated schools legislation.

The Association of Proprietors of Integrated Schools says the Ministry of Education wants its members to stop including collection fees in the attendance dues they charge for the upkeep of school property.

Collection fees range from 2% - 6% of the attendance dues, some of which are more than $2000 per year.

The association says it has legal advice the fees are okay.

It says the two organisations have agreed to seek a High Court judgement on the matter and the case is likely to be heard in three or four months.

Source

• Radio New Zealand
• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: sunlive

The rising amount of money for integrated schools has been driven by an increase in pupils going to the schools.

• Under the National Government, six private schools had become integrated, and two new Catholic integrated schools had opened.
• Four applications for integration had been considered this year, with integration to become effective for Ashburton Christian School from July.
• Wanganui Collegiate School was given the go-ahead this week by Education Minister Anne Tolley to begin integration negotiations, after it first applied in 2009.

Association of Proprietors of Integrated Schools chief executive Pat Lynch said more parents were sending their children to integrated schools, attracted by the schools' special characters. Integrated schools were getting no more money per pupil than state schools, Brother Pat said.

But Post Primary Teachers' Association president Robin Duff said the figures showed wealthy integrated schools were using the extra taxpayer money to have low pupil-to-teacher ratios.

"Advertising brochures for integrated schools talk about low teacher-to-student ratios, which is being propped up by the state."

Meanwhile, many state schools were struggling to make ends meet. The move towards integrated schools meant they were getting less government funding and staffing, Mr Duff said.

Source
stuff.co.nz