KEY POINTS:
Parents of a special character school in Ellerslie are petitioning to overturn a ruling that its 6-year-old kindergarten students must be in class longer.
At issue in the unusual case is the definition of a school day, which becomes a legal need once a child turns 6.
It follows five years of negotiation between education officials and the Rudolf Steiner Waldorf Schools, where children aged 6 and 7 all start school together at the beginning of the year.
Michael Park School principal Dee Whitby said the kindergarten lengthened its day for 6-year-old kindergarten students by almost two hours last month to comply with the law.
All its kindergarten students used to be released at 1.30pm but the 6-year-olds, who are officially enrolled at the adjoining school, now have to stay until 3.20pm.
Since the change, the school has been inundated with complaints from unhappy parents.
The move split the kindergarten's "family group" model, core to its philosophy, which saw 4, 5 and6-year-olds all learn together. "That's the rub, that's why it's not so easy to comply," said Ms Whitby.
"It's often commented on as being an incredible strength, the way the children interact - they play together,the older ones look after the littler ones."
She said 100 per cent of parents of the early childhood centre's 5-year-old pupils moved their child from the school roll to the kindergarten roll to avoid longer school days.
Federation of Rudolf Steiner Waldorf Schools in New Zealand national co-ordinator Sue Russell said a three-year memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Education on the issue expired at the end of June.
She said under the "school day" definition, 6-year-olds needed at least four hours of teaching time.
"These children who in a state situation would be already in school, in a Steiner situation they are actually still in kindergarten."
Ms Russell said the eight state-integrated Steiner schools were extending session times to comply with the law, while the four private institutions were exempt.
