Remote school an unlikely survivor

A state primary school with just four students remains open while others with much larger rolls were closed down last year.

Pipiriki School, 1 1/2 hours' drive from Wanganui, has been the subject of two critical Education Review Office reports which have listed a range of issues from bullying to leadership and teaching problems.

However, despite these problems and a falling roll, the school - which got more than $42,000 in operational funding each year since 2002 - remains open while other rural schools have closed.

The situation was "bizarre", said Ken Brown, head of the board of trustees at Northland's tiny Orauta School, open for the last four weeks in defiance of a closure order from the Ministry of Education.

"That goes to show how silly the Government is. How do they justify their actions? How do they justify what they do?" he said.

Pipiriki School was last week the subject of an Education Review Office report which recommended the Government take "urgent steps to assure the education of the children".

It said "leadership and teaching deficiencies" were putting students' education at risk. The roll - which dropped from nine in 2003 to three last year - was not helped by the unexplained absences of several pupils.

Two of the pupils at the school, which is on the Whanganui River, cross the river each day. Some days their mother rows them, on others they hitch a ride with passing jet boats.

The kids are taught by principal Gaye Whitu - whose husband heads the board of trustees - and a part-time relief assistant, in an open-plan classroom that could cater for up to 50 kids.

The school collected an extra $6500 for remedial training for the principal and the board in 2003-4.

Despite the extra funding, the standard of teaching and management had not improved since the first heavily critical ERO report in May 2003.

The school no longer had problems with physically and verbally aggressive behaviour from students, but that could be because only one pupil was present on the day of inspection, ERO noted.

The Ministry of Education's Wanganui office manager, Anne Devonshire, said the Ministry was very clear about the need to resolve the school's educational problems quickly, and had already started to address the financial problems by appointing a limited statutory manager last October.

Closure was still an option, but the Ministry had to look at the provision of schooling across the three river schools, Mrs Devonshire said.

"It's a fairly remote spot, so once you close the school that really ends an option."

A formal partnership had been struck with local iwi group Te Puna Matauranga O Whanganui to decide the future of Pipiriki and neighbouring Ranana and Te Kura o Parikino schools, which have also had recent negative ERO reports.

But associate education minister David Benson-Pope, responsible for the ERO, said he had asked for and received a report on the school.

"It's plain to him this school is no longer viable," a spokesman said. "He is advised the ministry is working with the local community on the future provision of education in this area."

Pipiriki principal Gaye White said the local iwi was not concerned if her school was closed as long as a school remained for the children of the river area.

She rejected the criticisms of her standard of teaching, saying she provided "quality education" that was "100 per cent Maori".

While none of the four students could read English well, two had recently transferred from a kura kaupapa school in Auckland, and one was a new entrant.

"I believe that I am delivering quality. But we've only got four kids at this school, and it's not viable."

ERO did not understand that the school was focused on the cultural and spiritual aspects of learning.

Mrs Whitu also denied suggestions from ERO that only one student attended the school last year, saying that on the day the three review officers visited the river was too high too allow the other pupils to cross.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY