Education Ministry guillotine hangs over troubled Northland charter school

The school, in tiny, rural Whangaruru, has faced a raft of issues including truancy, underachievement. Photo / Thinkstock

A troubled charter school is under pressure to sack its leadership team or face closure.

The Ministry of Education has signalled Northland's Te Pumanawa o te Wairua School could be terminated as early as May if "appropriate and experienced" personnel cannot be found.

Documents released yesterday highlighted the extent of the ministry's concern about the school - which was warned last week by Education Minister Hekia Parata that it had one month to make changes before it underwent a specialist audit.

The school, in tiny, rural Whangaruru, has faced a raft of issues including truancy, underachievement and a falling roll since it opened last year at a cost of $3 million.

Advice to the minister laid blame for the issues squarely at the feet of management.

"The ongoing issues present at the school are directly attributable to the quality of the leadership and management running the school," the report said.

Next to that line, Ms Parata had written: "YES".

The report went on to say that a member of the Nga Parirau Matauranga Trust, which has the contract to run the school, had taken a part-time operational role in the school this year, but it was "not clear they have the required skills to effectively manage the education director or the operations of the school".

The report included a timeline of possible actions for the school following the audit. If the school was incapable of being remedied then the minister could give the school written notice of termination in April, and formally terminate the agreement by the end of May.

Charter schools are funded by the Government but set their own curriculum, school hours, holidays and pay rates.

They were strongly opposed by opposition political parties and teaching unions, but were implemented as part of the National party's confidence and supply agreement with Act.