27th August 2020 - richmondprimary.school.nz · Wakefield, Appleby, Ranzau, Hope, Brightwater and...
Transcript of 27th August 2020 - richmondprimary.school.nz · Wakefield, Appleby, Ranzau, Hope, Brightwater and...
14 Cambridge Street Phone: (03) 544 8959 http://www.richmondprimary.school.nz
Richmond, Nelson 7020 Absence Text: 021 135 7891
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No doubt parents will have seen last week’s article in the Waimea Weekly about Nick Smith petitioning for the Ministry of
Education to purchase land in the new Berryfields (Lower Queen Street) sub-division and to build wa new primary school. A
similar article has been in the Nelson Mail.
I have had a number of parents and media asking me about my views and so I will outline some of my thoughts for your
consideration. I think it is really important to do what is best for all students and families on the Waimea Plains.
Recently, Nick Smith visited me and we spoke at length about his desire for a new primary school built at Berryfields. It would be
fair to say we agreed on some ideas but disagreed on the need for this to be a primary school (or would there be a more suitable
site on the Waimea Plains)?
I have been on a working party formed by the Ministry of Education over a year ago, to look into the possibility of the Ministry of
Education purchasing land in the Berryfields area and the possibility of building a new school. We have looked and discussed
numerous options. The Ministry of Education have started undertaking community consultation. Firstly, a community
consultation evening at the Brightwater School hall (Tuesday 11th August) and then there was meant to be another evening in the
Waimea College hall (Thursday 13th August). The latter was postponed due to COVID Level 2 conditions. The Ministry of
Education will be notifying schools and community of a survey that community members can complete – details to be sent out
later.
At the Brightwater meeting the Ministry of Education representatives presented a brief outline and initially mentioned only 3
possible alternatives to be considered (a new primary school at Berryfields, outlying primary schools to include Year 7 and 8
pupils, and moving Ranzau school to Berryfields). They later indicated other possibilities were also being considered. I mentioned
a very important table hadn’t been shown that showed the projected numbers of students in each school zone for the next 30
years. When one views this, I am firmly of the belief that building another primary school in Lower Queen Street is rather short-
sighted. Rather a bigger, long-term picture needs to be considered. When one looks at it one can certainly see the overcrowding
in future years at certain schools and that is what needs addressing now.
Cumulative number of state school students over time within each School catchment (additional
students)
Year 1-6 Primary Schools July 2019 count By 2028 By 2037 By 2048
Appleby School 113 122 122 122
Brightwater School 303 332 370 471
Henley School (Nelson) 437 503 654 654
Hope School 61 61 61 85
27th August 2020
WAIMEA NETWORK SCHOOLING REGIONAL REVIEW
Ranzau School 79 97 97 328
Richmond School (Nelson) 505 670 744 744
Wakefield School 301 336 376 566
Year 1-6 Primary Total 1,799 2,121 2,424 2,970
A concern I have about those who are signing Nick Smith’s petition is they may not be unaware about the predicted size
Waimea Intermediate and Waimea College are likely to grow to in the next 10, 20, 30 years. My grandsons live in the
Richmond School zone and I certainly don’t want them to be just ‘a number’ in a very large intermediate or Waimea
College with say 2500 - 3000 students. Many parents of children at Richmond School are telling me that both schools are
too big already and they want another intermediate and/or college built.
July 2019 count By 2028 2028 - 2037 2038 - 2048
Waimea Intermediate 740 868 985 1165
Waimea College 1774 2163 2568 3046
What these figures indicate is that these are the student numbers living in each schools catchment area. That doesn’t mean
all those children go to that school. Richmond School is a good example of this. We had 505 primary aged children in our
catchment on the 1st July 2019. Our 1st July 2019 roll number was in fact 469. This means only 92% of the children attend
Richmond School. Other students in our catchment are home-schooled, attend the Richmond kura, attend One Global
School (Headingly Lane), St Paul’s, Nelson Christian Academy (Stoke) and other local schools (Hope, Ranzau, Appleby and
Henley). Ranzau and Henley along with us have enrolment schemes and we have overlapping zones where the children can
attend either Henley or Richmond School and similarly either Ranzau or Richmond School. If one extrapolates this
percentage out to 2037/2047 the maximum number at Richmond School would be 684, and this is without adjusting our
school zone. Similarly, the Ministry of Education’s projected number for 2028 being 670 would indicate around 616
attending Richmond School. Both extrapolated numbers in my opinion are way too high and Richmond School would never
reach anywhere those numbers. In the last 4/5 years we have ended the year with 495 – 508. We will end 2020 with
approximately 510.
I’m not sure schools like Brightwater School and Wakefield School will be in a hurry to re-capitate (keep their Year 7s and
8s) with projected significant increases in some school numbers in a number of years’ time. It could be a fool-hardy move.
It may well be some/many of these parents would prefer their Year 7 and 8 children to attend an intermediate. Re-
capitation for outlying schools is not a given. Historically, I am aware of a local Nelson school who converted over to being a
full-primary school (Years 1-8 pupils) 20 or so years ago and it was only partially successful. A number of years ago the
school reverted back to being a contributing school (Years 1–6 pupils).
Soon the RTLBs (specialist teachers) whom we host in the old 1927 building on the corner of Cambridge St and Oxford
Street are moving to Salisbury School. This will free up this classroom for Richmond School’s use. Where the old dental
clinic/public health nurses building (no longer used by them) near to our swimming pool, these could be removed and two
new rooms could be built. We can accommodate another two classrooms by the staff carpark. We can definitely
accommodate five more classrooms at Richmond School without encroaching onto the front playing fields. Furthermore,
the Henley, Ranzau and Richmond School zones can be adjusted so student numbers can be reallocated. So, in my opinion
there is no need to build another primary school. The Ministry of Education’s property funds would be better spent on
building another more appropriate school or schools to accommodate not only the short term growth of primary aged
children but intermediate and college aged students through to 2028 (8 years) and beyond through to 2048.
I advocate for the promotion of children walking, biking or scooting to school. The vast majority of our children do so now.
Some all the way from Hill Street and beyond. The vast majority of children attending Richmond School live ‘in-zone’ and
we don’t have any coming to school by bus.
The Berryfields development is presently in the Richmond School zone and some sections are in the Ranzau School zone.
Some of the houses are a mere 400 metres from Richmond School as the crows fly. The majority are closer to Richmond
school than our furthest away houses that are presently in our school zone. A number of our students already come from
Lower Queen St, Stratford Avenue, Lammas Street and Beach Road and safely walk or scooter to school using the traffic
lights and pedestrian crossings. The younger children accompanied by parents.
It would be fair to say (in my opinion) that previous governments, Transit NZ and the TDC have failed to satisfactorily
address the bottle neck of traffic at the Richmond Gladstone Road/Queen Street intersection we are presently experiencing
and it is only going to get worse. Having said that, there are still alternatives that could provide children and families safe
access to Richmond School from Berryfields. This will also mean the students and families can safely travel to other schools
such as Waimea Intermediate, St Paul’s, Waimea College and Garin. We need to cater for more than just primary school
aged children. Future planning means visionary planning for more than the next few years. People could also use the same
alternatives access ways to easily visit the Richmond CBD – all within walking distance for most. One sensible alternative
providing an underpass near Jubilee Park. Another alternative is an overpass. There are nearby underpass examples. Under
Salisbury Road by the Aquatic Centre, under the bypass by the Aquatic Centre, under the motorway north of the freezing
works, and there is also one for the public under the main road at Brightwater (from the stock yards into the back of
Brightwater School). All highly successful in reducing the need for people to cross the roads/streets.
One needs to look in greater depth at the projected numbers of children in the Richmond, and in fact the Waimea region,
to fully appreciate where there is a need for another (perhaps different concepts) in the region. One also needs to look
closely at the actual recent figures. The tables above are projected numbers by Ministry of Education personnel in
Christchurch. The actual 1st July 2019 numbers of Year 1 – 6 students in the Waimea primary schools (St.Paul’s, Henley,
Wakefield, Appleby, Ranzau, Hope, Brightwater and Wakefield) make interesting reading and one does wonder if there will
be the significant increases the Ministry of Education is predicting when the numbers don’t support significant increases
during the last 6 enrolment years (in fact they show a decrease).
- Year 6s – 443
- Year 5s – 357
- Year 4s – 351
- Year 3s – 332
- Year 2s – 312
- Year 1s – 319
These figures are very interesting considering there are already new subdivisions in Richmond and the Waimea/Tasman
area.
One downside of re-capitation as some parents at the Brightwater meeting rightly pointed out, is the present contributing
schools (Year 1-6 pupils) is they are not able to cater for the Technology Design activities (that is, cooking, woodwork,
metalwork, sewing for us from an earlier generation). The Ministry of Education personnel at the Brightwater meeting
believed that Waimea Intermediate could provide this with Year 7 and 8 students from outlying schools busing them into
the school. The Waimea Intermediate representative at the meeting rightly pointed out that this would be unlikely as their
facility is already used to full capacity. So, if there is to be a school at Berryfields then that school could well have a new
Technology Design building that could cater for the outlying schools.
At the Brightwater community meeting there were other views expressed and there are others worthy of consideration:
A Year 7 – 10 Middle Years school.
A bilingual school for the Waimea West and South region.
A kindergarten on the site.
A new intermediate and/or a new college.
A new co-ed secondary school out Waimea West direction that also caters for pupils from the Upper Moutere, Tasman,
Mapua region.
These are my views. Others shared their views at the Brightwater School hall consultation meeting. No doubt there will be
other opinions shared at the next meeting at Waimea College during September (date yet to be determined). Please take a
moment or two and fill out the Ministry of Education’s survey (when it is available on-line) and let the Ministry of Education
know your thoughts.
NEXT PTC MEETING Monday 21st September
7pm in school staff room
Visitors and new members very
welcome
LUCKY BOOK CLUB Due Monday 7th
September
FRIDAY 28th August
Money raised will go to the Cancer Society and
our Rich Topic ‘The Savannah’ (World Vision).
Dress up in green, yellow & orange
Drawing competition of a daffodil
Bring coins for a Savannah coin trail
Stickers, tattoos & fabric daffodils for a
donation
THE SAVANNAH
Don’t forget about the home learning
project for children/families. We sent
information home last week about it.
Remember this is not compulsory but is a
great opportunity to share knowledge on
what the children are learning about the
Savannah. Projects come to school on
Thursday 10th September for displaying
on Friday 11th.
Savannah Coin Trail
We are still going ahead with the Savannah coin trail on Friday. The money raised
from this will go towards a World Vision project. So bring your small change!
POSTPONED – Daffodil Day
Unfortunately, we have to postpone our daffodil day fund-raising activities because
of Covid Level 2 restrictions.
DISCLAIMER These are notices we include on request of organisations and individuals.