Schools take stock after decile changes

Gate Pa School principal Richard Inder will get more funding to provide students with extra support thanks to a drop in the school's decile rating. Photo / John Borren

Some Western Bay schools will be getting a funding boost while others will be tightening their belts as a result of the latest decile review.

Schools around the country were to receive a letter today informing them of the outcome of the review. Decile rating reviews are carried out after every census.

Arataki School principal Dene Langley yesterday told the Bay of Plenty Times he had received a call to say the school's decile rating would go up from 2F which would result in a funding drop.

If the school went up one level to 3G it would equate to a funding loss of $70.29 per student. "It will definitely be a problem. We just have to tighten our belts," he said.

He hoped they would find a way to cope with a change in finances without passing the costs on to parents.

Otumoetai College principal Dave Randell said he was not surprised the school's rating dropped.

"We went from a decile 8 to a 7," he said.

"We were expecting it. The intermediate we get 95 per cent of our students from dropped from an 8 to a 7 last time."

The change would mean an extra $50,000 a year, which would pay for an extra teacher aide and a few more computers, he said.

Gate Pa School principal Richard Inder was pleased his school would receive an extra $25,000 after dropping from decile 2E to 2D.

"It's always tight balancing what we want to provide for the kids and what we can provide. Even just running a surplus budget takes a bit of creativity every year," he said.

"This has given us more lee-way to do that."

Mr Inder said the extra funding would allow him to provide extra programmes for students. "It just means we can put more children through Reading Recovery."

The school was starting up a Maths Specialist Teacher programme next year and also hoped to set up an Accelerated Learning in Literacy programme, Mr Inder said.

Greenpark School principal Graeme Lind was surprised to find out his school's rating had dropped from 6.

"We've gone back to a 5 which we used to be," he said.

"I thought it would have gone the other way."

Mr Lind said the change would equate to an extra $18,000 for the school.

Merivale School, Brookfield Primary School and Tahatai Coast School all retained their decile ratings.

Tahatai Coast School principal Ian Leckie said decile ratings were the fairest way to allocate targeted funding.