Enrolments at faith schools on the rise

Mathilde Noordzy with daughters Emily-Jane (L) and Rose-Anna. Photo / Janna Dixon

Parents are rushing to enrol their children in religious-based education - with one principal saying the Catholic brand is "very hot" at the moment.

About 66,000 children were in Catholic education last year, up a quarter since 1996.

Over the same period the number of children in integrated schools rose by a third to more than 86,000.

Integrated schools are former private schools which get some Government funding if they keep their special character. Almost all the 338 in New Zealand have a religious and values focus.

Rolls were increased last year at 10 state-integrated schools in Hornby, Lower Hutt, Marton, Queenstown, Timaru and throughout Auckland.

The surge in interest comes despite long waiting lists and bills for "donations" sometimes running into the thousands.

Auckland's Catholic Sacred Heart College had a waiting list of 500 but was "inundated every day" with interest from prospective parents, said headmaster Jim Dale.

He said parents didn't mind the $3000 annual donation because the school had a good reputation for academic success and a "holistic" values-based education.

"The Catholic brand is very hot and very high."

Chief executive of the Association of Integrated Schools, Pat Lynch, said there were several reasons for increased interest, including:

More non-religious parents wanting their children to have a values-based education;

A large increase in birth rates;

The arrival of more migrants with religious roots;

The academic records of integrated schools.

The principal of Auckland's Elim Christian College, Murray Burton, feared enrolments would drop after six students and a teacher were killed in the Mangatepopo canyoning tragedy in 2008. But demand for a place in the state-integrated school was so great it had permission to double its roll to 1000 students.

"People have been beating our door down," said Burton.

The waiting list was 400 last year and this year was already sitting at 300.

Some students spend about $26 a week on bus fares travelling from as far as Remuera.

Burton said some pupils had no active involvement in the church, and he believed their parents wanted them to learn "good values".

He said people believed the decile-nine school, which requests $1600 a year in donations, dealt with the 2008 canyoning tragedy with integrity. He said the Education Ministry's Auckland office rejected the bid to increase the roll but was overruled by Education Minister Anne Tolley.

Burton believed the ministry was concerned he would take too many kids from local state schools.

But he said that would not happen because the school took students aged 5 to 18, and the impact would be spread.

LONG WAIT BUT PATIENCE REWARDED

When mother Mathilde Noordzy put her children on the "huge wait list" for Elim Christian College last winter she thought it could be years before they got in.

But she was ecstatic when the Education Ministry allowed the school to increase its roll.

Her daughters, Rose-Anna Schuurkamp, 11, and Emily-Jane Schuurkamp, 8, were accepted this year. Her son, Ben, 10, remains on the waiting list.

Noordzy wanted her children at Elim Christian College because it taught all age groups, "instils good values into our children" and "builds their character".

She said it took about 40 minutes to get to school from the family's Clevedon home but the girls "love" their school, which was "strict, but with a smile".

Noordzy said the canyoning tragedy had not put her off. She said staff handled the situation well. Disaster could strike anywhere - as the Christchurch earthquake showed.