KEY POINTS:
The school struck by tragedy last year when six of its students and a teacher were killed in a canyoning accident has been overrun with enrolment applications.
East Auckland's Elim Christian College has been in the spotlight since the April 15 incident when a group from the college were hit by a torrent of water while canyoning in the Mangatepopo Gorge near Turangi.
Staff thought the tragedy might have discouraged people from enrolling their children at the school.
However, principal Murray Burton said the school, with a roll of about 540, had received double the enrolment applications of previous years.
"The numbers have been hugely up. We've had people desperate to get their children in - it's very hard to say no," he told The Sunday Star Times
Mr Burton, who was named North & South magazine's New Zealander of the Year , said the school had always had to turn prospective students away but the number applying for the new term starting tomorrow was unprecedented.
"I think (people) saw the quality of some of the students and how they've coped with the tragedy and how they were interviewed in the media."
- NZPA
