Flat Bush breaks ground in education

A new style of education campus will be unveiled this month in a bid to cope with the population boom in the south of the Auckland region.

The Ministry of Education will reveal plans for two large campuses, encompassing primary and secondary schools and early childhood facilities, to meet growing population demands in Manukau City.

The proposals, which will be opened for public consultation, are for the Flat Bush area.

Education Minister Trevor Mallard said yesterday that the area's population was expected to grow to 40,000 over the next 15 years, and by 2021 about 8500 school-age children would live there.

These are the first plans to meet demands in one of the region's growth spots, which is expected to require an extra 40 schools over the next two decades.

The Flat Bush plans include four new primary schools, two junior high schools and one senior high school. One primary school - Baverstock Oaks - opened this year.

Most of the buildings will be housed on two campuses.

One in Jeffs Rd, planned to be developed within five years, would feature a junior high (years 7 to 10) and a primary (years 1 to 6). A second campus, near the future town centre on Ormiston Rd, would have a senior high (years 11 to 13), with a junior high and primary school.

Two further primary schools complete the proposals, one to the southeast and one to the southwest of the new town. All sites would include early childhood centres.

Auckland's projected growth bucks the national trend, which is expected to have primary school rolls dropping by almost 65,000 by the year 2020 and secondary rolls peaking in 2008 before sharply declining.

The region's population explosion is due to high immigration, relocation from elsewhere in New Zealand, ex-pats returning home, and natural population growth.

Other hot-spots include Albany, the Hibiscus Coast, Hobsonville and Takanini.

Large greenfield sites, ripe for new towns, for the first time provide the Government with the opportunity to build shared campuses, which would in effect integrate schooling and provide more stability through a child's compulsory education.