Estelle Sarney: Sense of community lost as rolls expand

Small rolls keep a sense of community. Photo / Thinkstock

For most parents of primary-aged children, their school's sense of community, of "family", is vital. We let our little ones go through its gates every morning, and need to know they'll be safe, happy and cared for (as well as educated) by the time we pick them up at 3 o'clock.

Both my kids went from new entrants to Year 8 at Balmoral School, and it more than doubled in size over those 10 years.

But the two principals who served in that time retained a family-friendly atmosphere and the kids never felt overwhelmed.

Balmoral already has 860 students, and hearing it will grow to 950 and have to build three-storey blocks sounds scary.

Principal Malcolm Milner said the school would spend the next year planning how to accommodate that growth in a way that doesn't impinge on the sense of community the kids feel.

But he agrees that if allowance for even one new primary school had been made in the Unitary Plan, the school wouldn't be faced with the pressure, expense and disruption it will face for the next three years.

The council and Ministry of Education might think we have to get over our love of the "Kiwi way" of primary education - small rolls in single-level schools with plenty of outdoor space - but I would argue it's that model, and the sense of fraternity that arises from it, that has made our primary education system one of the best in the world.